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County updates on mobile crisis, drug task force and inpatient treatment reopening
Summary
Sullivan County staff reported progress on mobile crisis weekend coverage, community trauma response and drug task force outreach, and said an inpatient substance-use treatment site at Garnet/Harris campuses may open early this summer; staffing and a Monticello location remain outstanding.
County Health and Human Services staff told the committee in April that multiple behavioral-health initiatives are advancing, including an RFP for expanded mobile crisis weekend coverage, recruitment for a peer court navigator, development of a community trauma response team and planning for a crisis intervention (CIT/SIT) team.
Deputy county staff said the mobile crisis weekend-expansion RFP is being drafted and will be released to solicit providers. The county is also seeking to fill a peer court navigator position intended to help divert appropriate cases out of formal criminal processing and into peer-support pathways.
Staff reported work on a community trauma response team (CTRT), which met on April 7 and is now moving into recruiting and operational planning. The county said a crisis intervention team will meet April 16 to define roles and next steps.
The county's drug task force is coordinating outreach and treatment referrals; staff distributed palm cards listing 988 and local treatment providers and said every provider on the card committed to a warm handoff for callers who reach the wrong agency. "If a person is in need of service and they call any one of those numbers, there's been a guarantee by every single provider listed there that if they are not the right provider, that they will do a warm hold on and make sure that that individual gets to the services they need," deputy staff said.
Staff also described materials being prepared for the county: a one-page summary of the Healing Community Study and a forthcoming one-pager on the drug task force's current activities and how opioid abatement funds are being used. The drug task force reported a brief spike in overdose responses in February and said March numbers returned down from that peak.
On inpatient treatment, staff said issues with lease terms at two properties had constrained an earlier timeline but that those obstacles appear to be resolving. The county described the planned reopening of inpatient substance-use treatment at facilities associated with Garnet Health (referred to in discussion as Garnet and Harris campuses) and said the last update indicated a potential early-summer opening. Staff said the county still needs an inpatient site in Monticello and that property-ownership and lien issues on several Monticello buildings (including one owned by Catholic Charities with a lien held by OASAS) are topics of ongoing negotiation with state agencies.
The county also noted it sent a survey to local mental hygiene providers and requested responses by April 17 about how proposed state or federal cuts might affect services; staff said responses will inform local planning and advocacy through the council of local mental hygiene directors.
No motions or votes were taken on the initiatives at the committee meeting; staff said several items will be pursued administratively and reported back as they progress.
