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New county behavioral services department introduced; director outlines outreach and baseline study
Summary
Michelle Smith, director of the newly formed behavioral services department, outlined plans to build a baseline of community needs through meetings with partners and people with lived experience, and to use that information to identify service gaps and opportunities for collaboration.
Michelle Smith, the county’s newly introduced director of the behavioral services department, told the council the department’s mission is to act as a conduit for change and countywide collaboration to improve behavioral-health service access.
Smith said the department has doubled in size since she was introduced two months earlier and described immediate priorities: meeting with service providers, internal departments, and people with lived experience to create a qualitative baseline of current capacity and gaps. That baseline, she said, will inform strategic priorities and allow the department to identify opportunities for cross-agency collaboration and service redesign.
Council members thanked Smith and asked her to circulate a mission statement to the council by email; Smith said the department will keep its approach flexible and adapt as needs evolve.
