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West Sonoma County agencies tackle mental health issues

Press Democrat, The (Santa Rosa, CA) - 5/21/2015

May 21--Before he retired 2 1/2 years ago, Ted Fox spent the last six years of his long career in mental health doing outreach to homeless people in Santa Rosa.

Fox, who's lived in Guerneville for more than two decades, often considered the disparity between services for the homeless in the lower Russian River area and those along the Highway 101 corridor. That gap in services became glaring after he started doing volunteer outreach to the homeless for the Russian River Health Center.

Today, Fox and others hope to shed light on the needs of west county residents who are homeless or struggle with mental health issues. The first ever West County Mental Health Summit will be held in Guerneville, bringing together about two dozen countywide service agencies and nonprofits.

The summit will allow frontline service providers to become more familiar with what each agency is doing in the area, helping to identify both duplication of services and the absence of services.

"A lot of times, with nonprofits, they duplicate services. A lot of times they don't know what others are doing," said Fox, adding that the landscape of services often changes from one year to the next.

Fox said the west county, which is home to roughly 250 homeless people, has no year-round homeless shelter but only one that's open four months during the winter. That shelter closes in April, he said.

"That creates a huge problem," Fox said. "Come April 1st, everybody is back out along the river. That's a cruel April Fools' joke.

Fox said the west county often draws people who are chronically homeless. In some cases, they venture into the woods of the west county to get away from "police harassment" in Santa Rosa, he said.

The summit will be held from noon to 4 p.m. todayat the Russian River Empowerment Center in the Guerneville Community Church, 14520 Armstrong Woods Road.

The event has been in the works for several months, said Valerie Belote, program coordinator for the center, a program of the Community Family Service Agency. Belote said the first hour of the event will be a conference-style tabling session.

She said the second part of the summit will be a forum where each agency and nonprofit will get the opportunity to discuss what services and programs they're providing in the west county or are available to area residents.

"Mostly our goal is to bring the community together to help increase knowledge of resources," Belote said.

She said she hopes countywide agencies gain greater insight into the diversity of communities in the west county.

"A lot of times, when agencies attempt to deliver services to the west county, they send them to Sebastopol rather than Guerneville," she said.

Though both are considered part of the west county, the needs of the lower Russian River area are different than those of the Sebastopol region, she said.

Some of the agencies that are expected to participate in today's summit include: NAMI, Buckelew Programs, the Latino Service Providers, West County Health Centers, Catholic Charities, Social Advocates for Youth, the Community and Family Service Agency and the Sonoma County Behavioral Health Division.

Mental health services for youth will be discussed through the participation of River to Coast Childrens Services and El Molino High School, which has a program for high school students facing alcohol, drug or mental health issues. The Veterans Affairs Clinic in Santa Rosa will discuss mental health services for homeless vets, Fox said.

Erika Klohe, family service coordinator for Buckelew Programs, said she hopes the event will lead to greater cooperation between agencies. Klohe, who will moderate the summit, said such cooperation will lead to a more effective "safety network."

"My hope is that everybody learns a few new resources and that they make a few connections that will positively impact the lives of the people they work with," Klohe said.

You can reach Staff Writer Martin Espinoza at 521-5213 or martin.espinoza@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @renofish.

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