First Contact: Mental Illness and Public Safety in Arizona

REGISTER HERE

Jan. 6, 2012

8:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m.

ASU Downtown Phoenix

Event sponsored by

Morrison Institute for Public Policy

and Center for Applied Behavioral Health Policy

Arizona State University

One year after an untreated mentally ill person allegedly shot 18 people at a Tucson grocery store, killing 6 and gravely wounding Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords and others, we assemble experts to discuss the critical intersection between law enforcement and health care and to ponder what can be done in our communities to reduce the possibilities of future January 8ths. We will explore the proper  balance between public safety and public health systems — focusing on the “first contact” between law enforcement officers (or other citizens) and individuals with mental illness who appear dangerous to themselves or others. We will consider Arizona’s current statutory/policy context and best practices in other states, while considering statutory and/or policy changes Arizona should pursue.

Speakers/panelists/presenters:

• Dr. Joel Dvoskin, Ph.D., forensic psychologist with expertise in in treatment of persons with serious mental illness and/or substance abuse disorders
• Bill Montgomery, Maricopa County Attorney
• Dr. Chris Carson, M.D., CEO of ConnectionsAZ
• Charles Arnold, partner in Frazer, Ryan, Goldberg, & Arnold, L.L.P., and specialist in behavioral-health law
• Officer Nick Margiotta, Phoenix Police Department liaison with the regional behavioral health care system  
• Dr. Michael S. Shafer, Ph.D, professor and director, ASU Center for Applied Behavioral Health Policy
• William Hart, senior policy analyst, Morrison Institute for Public Policy
• Sue Clark-Johnson, executive director, Morrison Institute for Public Policy 

Event location:

Arizona State University Downtown Phoenix Campus

Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication

555 N. Central Avenue, Auditorium 128

Phoenix, Arizona

Registration/Information

•  Event admission: No charge, but registration is required.
• Parking: Space reserved for $3 per hour at ASU Visitor Lot on East Fillmore Street between 1st Street and Central Avenue, directly north of the Cronkite School of Journalism building.
  (Inform the attendant that you are attending the forum; disregard “lot full” sign, if it is out.) Questions: Call 602-496-1023

Diverting mentally ill from the CJ system: Communtiy Roundtable FEB 2012

ROUNDTABLE FORUM
First Contact: Mental Illness in the CJ System

Sponsored by David's Hope and the Arizona Mental Health and Criminal Justice Coalition

THURSDAY
FEBRUARY 2, 2012

7:00 - 9:00 PM

Taking place within the historic

A. E. England Building
ASU DOWNTOWN CAMPUS
424 N. Central Ave. Phoenix 85004

Sign in begins 6:30pm.

Forum is free and open to the public.

Please join us in this mediated discussion regarding those with mental illness,
as their lives intersect with law enforcement.

Parking is available in ASU Visitor lots where credit cards may be used. There is also a public lot on the northeast corner of N. Central and E. Fillmore which requires $5 cash and has no time limit

MORE INFORMATION: 602-774-4382
www.davidshopeaz.org

Roundtable Participant List 

February 2, 2012

 
Cecil Ash Arizona State House of Representatives
Barbara Broderick Chief, Maricopa County Adult Probation
Chris Carson CEO, ConnectionsAZ
Tom Chabin Arizona State House of Representatives
Justin Chase Director of Crisis Services, Magellan Health Services of Arizona
Sean Connolly Lieutenant, Phoenix Police Department, South Mountain Precinct
Joy Green Advocate and Board Member, David’s Hope
Laura Irish Director of Mobile Crisis, TERROS Behavioral Health Services
Nick Margiotta Director of Crisis Intervention Training, Phoenix Police Department
Bill Montgomery Maricopa County Attorney
Frank Munnell Chief, Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office
Dawn Noggle Mental Health Director, Maricopa County Correctional Health Services
Suzanne Rabideau CEO and President, Crisis Response Network Inc.

Agenda

 
7:00 pm Dr. Michael Shafer, “Five Reflections” Director, ASU CABHP
7:10 pm Roundtable Dialogue
8:00 pm Audience Q&A
8:50 pm Closing remarks, Mary Lou Brncik, Founder, David’s Hope

Special thanks to Emily Jenkins, President and CEO of the AZ Council of Human Service Providers and Kelly Carbello, Executive Director of David’s Hope, for moderating this forum.

Morrison Institute: Mental illness and public safety in Arizona

Register today

First Contact: Mental Illness and Public Safety in Arizona
FRIDAY, Jan. 6, 2012

8:30 a.m

ASU Downtown Phoenix

Event sponsored by

Morrison Institute for Public Policy

and Center for Applied Behavioral Health Policy

Arizona State University

One year after an untreated mentally ill person allegedly shot 18 people at a Tucson grocery store, killing 6 and gravely wounding Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords and others, we assemble experts to discuss the critical intersection between law enforcement and health care and to ponder what can be done in our communities to reduce the possibilities of future January 8ths. We will explore the proper balance between public safety and public health systems — focusing on the “first contact” between law enforcement officers (or other citizens) and individuals with mental illness who appear dangerous to themselves or others. We will consider Arizona’s current statutory/policy context and best practices in other states, while considering statutory and/or policy changes Arizona should pursue.

Arizona State University Downtown Phoenix Campus

Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication

555 N. Central Avenue, Auditorium 128

Phoenix, Arizona

Registration/Information

• Event admission: No charge, but registration is required.
• Parking: $5 pay lot on Fillmore Street just east of Central Avenue.

How to be an Ally to Sex Workers

Felt this was appropriate here, given the week of action and the Sex Workers Outreach Project. I hope folks will turn out to support either the event in Tucson on 12/17, or the action in Phoenix on 12/18. Bring red umbrellas!

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UPCOMING EVENTS:

Sunday December 13 - Saturday December 19: 

Week of Humanity and Action.

Monday,December 14: Begin 5th Special Legislative Session.

Thursday, December 17: International Day to End Violence Against Sex Workers (SWOP-Tucson Memorial).

Friday December 18: SWOP-USA Demonstration at the AZ Department of Corrections HQ in Phoenix.

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How to be an Ally to Sex Workers

(Courtesy of SWOP-Chicago)

1) Don’t Assume. Don’t assume you know why a person is in the sex industry. We’re not all trafficked or victims of abuse. Some people make a choice to enter this industry because they enjoy it, others may be struggling for money and have less of a choice.

2) Be Discreet and Respect Personal Boundaries. If you know a sex worker, it’s OK to engage in conversation in dialogue with them in private, but respect their privacy surrounding their work in public settings.  Don’t ask personal questions such as “does your family know what you do?” If a sex worker is not “out” to their friends, family, or co-workers, it’s not your place to tell everyone what they do.

3) Don’t Judge. Know your own prejudices and realize that not everyone shares the same opinions as you. Whether you think sex work is a dangerous and exploitative profession or not is irrelevant compared to the actual experiences of the person who works in the industry. It’s not your place to pass judgment on how another person earns the money they need to survive.

4) Watch Your Language. Cracking jokes or using derogatory terms such as “hooker”, “whore”, “slut”, or “ho” is not acceptable. While some sex workers have “taken back” these words and use them among themselves, they are usually used to demean sex workers when spoken by outsiders.

5) Address Your Prejudices. If you have a deep bias or underlying fear that all sex workers are bad people and/or full of diseases, then perhaps these are issues within yourself that you need to address.  In fact, the majority of sex workers practice safer sex than their peers and get tested regularly.

6) Don’t Play Rescuer. Not all sex workers are trying to get out of the industry or in need of help. Ask them what they need, but not everyone is looking for “Captain Save-A-Ho” or the “Pretty Woman” ending.

7) If you are a client or patron of sex workers, be respectful of boundaries. You’re buying a service, not a person. Don’t ask for real names, call at all hours of the day/night, or think that your favorite sex worker is going to enter into a relationship with you off the clock.

8 ) Do Your Own Research. Most mainstream media is biased against sex workers and the statistics you read in the news about the sex industry are usually inaccurate. Be critical of what you read or hear and educate yourself on who exactly is transmitting diseases or being trafficked.

9) Respect that Sex Work is Real Work. There’s a set of professional skills involved and it’s not necessarily an industry that everyone can enter into. Don’t tell someone to get a “real job” when they already have one that suits them just fine.

10) Just because someone is a sex worker doesn’t mean they will have sex with you. No matter what area of the sex industry that someone works in, don’t assume that they are promiscuous and willing to have sex with anyone at any time.

11) Be Supportive and Share Resources. If you know of someone who is new to the industry or in an abusive situation with an employer, by all means offer advice and support without being condescending. Some people do enter into the sex industry without educating themselves about what they are getting into and may need help. Despite the situation, calling the police is usually never a good option. Try to find other organizations that are sensitive to the needs of sex workers by contacting the organizations listed below.

12) As you learn the above things, stand up for sex workers when conversations happen.  Share your personal stories if you so choose.  Don’t let the stigma, bigotry and shame around sex work continue.

Remember it’s important that sex workers be allowed to speak for themselves and for allies to not speak for sex workers but to speak with sex workers.

Realize that sex work transcends ‘visible’ notions of race, gender, class, sexuality, education, and identities; sex workers are your sisters, brothers, mothers, fathers, lovers, and friends. Respect them!

Get Active! Contact your local SWOP Chapter to find out what you can do or form your own in the city you live in.

This list composed by the members and allies of Sex Workers Outreach Project-Chicago.

Top Ten Places to Suicide: Arizona.

UPCOMING EVENTS

December 10: International Human Rights Day

 

December 15: Fifth Special Legislative Session Begins

December 17: International Day to End Violence Against Sex Workers (Tucson Memorial Service).

December 18: SWOP-Tucson Demonstration at the Arizona Department of Corrections, Phoenix.

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This is an impressively-written article, and it's about time people caught on to how to deal with someone who's suicidal - I don't understand what took so long, or why this is novel. I'd like to see all the Department of Corrections and MCSO staff  take that class on managing suicidal crises. 

We've been killing ourselves at twice the rate we've been killing each other in Arizona. That says a lot about the gaps in mental health care, as well as the toll that internalized oppression takes on people here. 

I sure hope some of the 2010 political candidates have a better vision for the future than more prisons to bolster our economic base (and psychiatric "facilities" to keep the people who make us uncomfortable with their suffering off the streets). Look at the prospects they put on the horizon for us now:  no wonder we're all doing ourselves in. 

There's also a link to a very moving memorial following the article. Check it out.
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Magellan Health Services alters approach to suicide prevention

by Casey Newton - Dec. 10, 2009 12:00 AM
The Arizona Republic

 

Over the summer, feeling overwhelmed by her physical and mental-health problems, Katie Ayotte went into her bathroom and swallowed a large number of pills she took to treat her bipolar disorder

.

It was a suicide attempt, Ayotte said, one of several the 47-year-old Phoenix resident has made over the years. Ayotte survived, and as she recovered, she noticed a new approach her clinical team was taking.
Before, she would awake in an intensive-care unit to find a doctor

or nurse barking questions.

Did you think this would solve anything? Didn't you think about your family? What were you thinking?
This time, no one blamed Ayotte. Instead, she saw a doctor who got up from behind his desk and sat down next to her. "I'm concerned for you," he said. And together they began to create a "safe zone" for Ayotte, moving her medications

from the bathroom to the kitchen, where she would have trouble accessing them without her husband or another loved one noticing.

Ayotte's doctor had embraced the principles of an approach to treating suicide that is new to Maricopa County. This fall, Magellan Health Services, which was hired by the state in 2007 to improve mental-health care in the county, launched a new plan to reduce suicides.

Arizona perennially finishes in the top 10 nationally for suicides per capita, according to the National Center for Health Statistics, part of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

. In 2007, 986 Arizonans died by suicide, twice the number of those who were murdered, according to Magellan. The rate of suicide was 15.9 per 100,000 people; in New York, the rate was 6.9 per 100,000.(read more)

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Loved ones Lost to Suicide


The above link is to a slide show at AZ Central.com, which someone made to memorialize those whose lives have been lost to suicide. It's quite intimate and worth the journey if you give yourself a little time. 

- Peg