ADVOCATES SEEKING SERVICES FOR MENTALLY ILL

A group of judges, sheriffs and advocates of the mentally ill asked
lawmakers Tuesday for $55 million to pay for expanded outpatient services.

"We need to provide community treatment for people with mental illness so
they don't wind up in our jails, or even worse, in our cemeteries," said
Seminole County sheriff's deputy Don Rufo. "We need help."

Rufo's boss, Seminole County Sheriff Donald Eslinger, said the shift from
treating mentally ill people in hospitals to putting them in jails has
created an expensive and dangerous situation.

Eslinger said one in four Florida inmates has a serious mental illness and
is six times more expensive to care for in the prison system. Half of all
juvenile offenders are diagnosed with a mental illness, he said.

He said the state could pay for treating 10 mentally ill people for what it
costs them to put one in prison.

"It clogs our courthouses and jails, increases homelessness and contributes
to suicides," said Eslinger, the state director of Florida Partners in
Crisis, an advocacy group for the mentally ill.

Eslinger's group supported a bill (SB 598) sponsored by state Sen. Durell
Peaden Jr., R-Crestview, that would create a spending plan and schedule for
new community mental health programs. That measure is now in the Senate's
Appropriations Subcommittee on Health and Human Services.

The state's law enforcement community now handles 36,500 mental illness
commitment cases each year compared with 25,915 burglary cases.

"Our current system makes mental illness a crime," said Miami-Dade Judge
Steve Leifman.

Recommendations

Florida Partners in Crisis is recommending the redesign of services
available for the mentally ill, including:

Increasing funding for services such as psychiatric care and clinical
treatment, housing, supported employment and improved medications.

Creating programs for people with co-occurring mental illnesses and
addiction disorders.

Enabling the Department of Children and Families to divert appropriate
individuals into community services.

Recommendations to improve care for metally ill With BC-FL-XGR--Mentally
Ill, Bjt

By The Associated Press

Florida Partners in Crisis, advocates for the mentally ill, are
recommending funds to redesign services available for the mentally ill
across the state. Among the changes they are recommending:

- - Increase funding for services such as psychiatric care and clinical
treatment, housing, supported employment and improved medications.

- - Create programs for people with co-occurring mental illnesses and
addiction disorders.

- - Enable the Department of Children and Families to divert appropriate
individuals into community services.

- - Increase availability of atypical medications and provide related
medication management services, including in-reach programs to county jails.