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Group to seek out best mental health models

Pantagraph (Bloomington, IL) - 3/5/2014

March 05--BLOOMINGTON -- An advisory panel reviewing the best models for delivering mental health services developed an ambitious agenda at its first meeting Tuesday, including plans for speakers and research over the next three months.

McLean County Board member Sonny O'Connor, chairwoman of the 15-member Best Practices Advisory Committee, said the work of the panel and a second advisory group that is conducting an assessment of community mental health needs are in response to concerns from residents about mental health services.

A mission statement adopted by the committee Tuesday lays out its action plan: "To identify the components of a holistic, integrated continuum of mental health care model for all populations in McLean County."

In a series of nine meetings before the end of May, the committee will hear from mental health experts from neighboring counties with a larger and more coordinated network of services. County Board member Erik Rankin said he would like to see McLean County become a model for other communities.

"I would like McLean County to be a trailblazer in mental health," said Rankin. He urged members to seeks out "the rock stars" in the field and share their success stories.

Along with research on state and national models of behavorial health care, the committee will learn about the various public entities that are available for funding mental health.

McLean County is one of a handful of counties in the state with two appointed boards that determine how tax funds for mental health and developmental disabilities will be spent. The two boards are supervised by the county health department.

McLean County Board of Health member Cory Tello, who serves on the advisory panel, asked that the committee gather information on the community mental health board model used in many other counties. The boards, known as 708 boards, are not part of the health department and tend to be more involved in local services beyond funding decisions.

While the health board gives careful consideration to the disbursement of funds, more monitoring is needed, said Tello.

"There is really no structure to do the ongoing support, monitoring and coordination. There's no one in the position of oversight. It's the day to day coordination that's missing," said Tello.

The committee includes mental health providers, community members, and criminal justice and municipal leaders.

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