Mental Health Issues Put “In
the Hopper”
By Mark Anderson
As Executive Director of the Barbara Schneider Foundation, I have
worked for years with law enforcement and mental health leaders
trying to improve our mental health crisis response system and
to put measures in place to prevent people from needlessly going
through a mental health crisis.
Community members from all ethnic groups and neighborhoods have
agreed with us that we must do a better job of responding to mental
illness in our community. Repeated crisis responses by police,
who are not mental health professionals, is an inadequate way to
respond to the large number of community members who are struggling
with mental illness.
Twenty-five percent of the population in our jails and prisons
has a serious mental illness. There are hundreds of individuals
struggling with chronic homelessness in Minneapolis alone. They
suffer through inhumane conditions in shelters and on the street.
Many are repeatedly arrested, sometimes dozens of times a year
for loitering and other so- called crimes, even as they are not
given an appropriate response to the illness they struggle with,
year in and year out. It is gross discrimination against people
based on a diagnosis. We can do better.
Earlier this year,
I found myself frustrated after repeated attempts to try to meet
with the downtown business community to explore what might be
done to better deal with the growing number of mentally ill people
experiencing homeless-ness. The County/City-created taskforce
to Decriminalize Homelessness has documented the enormous overlap
between those with no permanent address who are repeatedly arrested
downtown and those who struggle with a mental illness. Police
spend an enormous amount of their time dealing with these folks
when they are neither social workers nor psychiatrists. The police
should be dealing with the rising violence in our city, and human
service and mental health professionals should deal with those
who struggle with mental illness and homelessness. Our taskforce
met with the police, the City Attorney and City Council members,
but we were unable to get a meeting set up with downtown business
leaders, even when we sought the assistance of the Mayor’s
office.
It was at this point
that I happened to run into Peter McLaughlin, our Hennepin County
Commissioner representing the eastern half of Minneapolis, including
most of Downtown. I told Peter what I hoped to do, and rather
than a brush-off, Peter said, “I
think I can help you.” In a few days, I was invited to attend
a meeting Peter arranged with the Downtown Council, Hennepin County
staff, and our Taskforce to Decriminalize Homeless-ness.
The meeting focused on those who struggle with chronic homelessness
in downtown Minneapolis and what could be done to respond to their
needs as well as the needs of the business community. Having all
the parties at the table turned disagreements into productive discussion.
It became clear that a stronger social service and mental health
response to this population would free up police and court resources
so they could more effectively respond to violent crime. These
efforts could reduce the number of those who were perceived to
be hanging around on the street and getting into trouble with business
owners.
This meeting was the
seed that McLaughlin nurtured into a major new initiative. At
this very productive first meeting, we concluded that an on-going
task force was needed to make the needed changes. On March 1,
2005, McLaughlin brought a resolution before the Hennepin County
Board establishing a work-group “comprised of mental
and chemical health professionals including representatives from
mental health court, the Behavioral Health and Emergency Shelter
Service Areas of the Hennepin County Human Services Department,
the Minneapolis Public Health Department as well as community stakeholders
including the Minneapolis Downtown Council, the Minneapolis Chamber
of Commerce, the Community Advisory Board on Homelessness and the
Central Cities Neighborhood Partnership Restorative Justice Program.” The
resolution passed on a 5-2 vote. The charge from the county board
was to evaluate and recommend ways to better coordinate a response
to the people in Downtown Minneapolis with unmet mental health
needs.
Since then, the new
Work-group has met three times, with Hennepin County Judge Richard
Hopper presiding. We are known as the “Hopper
Group.”
“As far as I’m concerned, when you’re looking
at crime in Downtown, there are gaps in the social service fabric
we need to plug so that we better control behavior and reduce crime,” said
Judge Hopper, Presiding Judge of the Hennepin County Criminal Mental
Health Court.
Judge Hopper is intent on finding concrete things we can change
in both the criminal justice system and the mental health system
in Hennepin County to improve our response to this population.
He is getting all the suggestions out on the table before we focus
on an agenda we can all support. Then we will all work together
to start making the needed changes.
“This is another example of Peter McLaughlin delivering
for persons with mental health disabilities,” said Margaret
Hastings, a member of the Hopper Group and Director of the film,
Illegal to be Homeless. “With no fanfare, Peter managed to
create, via this work group, a chance for humane solutions to be
put into place versus criminalization.”
“The Hopper Group is an excellent example of what can happen
when leadership and collaboration come together at one table,” said
Minneapolis Police Deputy Chief Sharon Lubinsky. “Through
combined efforts, we are working to bring help to those affected,
and make better use of our criminal justice resources.”
Many of us who have
been working on these difficult issues feel we are finally getting
traction. We’re making important changes
so our response to those who struggle with mental illness and homeless-ness
is more humane. Peter brought us all to the table, criminal justice,
mental health, housing and advocacy. We have found a great ally
in Peter McLaughlin, who has delivered concrete solutions to real
problems over many years. The Hopper Group is breaking new ground
and many of us advocates feel it’s just the beginning.
