Collier's mental health, addiction plan details need for new facility, better housing

Collier County, for the first time, has a detailed road map for how to better care for residents struggling with mental health and substance abuse, a plan some officials hope could become a model for other communities.

A new treatment facility and ways to fund its operation long term, better housing options and improved data collection and data sharing are among the top priorities outlined in a newly released mental health and addiction services five-year strategic plan.

Commissioner Andy Solis, an advocate for better mental health and addiction services, said he is happy with the way the plan came together and grateful that the community saw the issue as such a priority.

Solis has warned that the county is "really unprepared," both in terms of infrastructure and tools to deal with what some see as an emerging crisis.

"We needed to take a step and start the process," said Solis, who said he hopes the plan will become a model for the rest of the state.

The plan, which was put together by an ad hoc advisory committee over several months and will be reviewed by county commissioners at a workshop Tuesday, ranks six priorities for Collier in order of importance:

1. Build and operate a treatment facility to serve individuals experiencing an acute mental health or substance use crisis;
2. Increase housing and support services for residents with serious mental illness and/or substance dependence;
3. Establish a "data collaborative" for data sharing, collection and outcomes reporting;
4. Increase the capacity and effectiveness of the local drug, mental health and veterans treatment courts;
5. Implement a plan to move away from using law enforcement to take people from a medical facility to a treatment facility in a non-emergency under the Baker Act or Marchman Act;
6. Improve prevention, advocacy and education related to mental health and substance use disorders.

The advisory committee, which includes mental health professionals, advocates and key stakeholders, wrote that some priorities will require "substantial financial support" while others will need little funding "but will require the involvement of County staff working in collaboration with community partners."

A sales tax increase passed by Collier voters last year has $25 million earmarked to build a new mental health treatment facility. But the committee estimates it will cost between $2 million and $3 million annually to run it. 

The committee wrote that a request for money from the state Legislature, supported with matching dollars from the county, "appears to be a logical approach for obtaining the needed operational funds."

More: Read the strategic plan 

Solis said Collier will have to be creative and find a mix of funding sources to help with the plan's priorities. That could take the form of a public-private partnership and include funds from local, state and federal governments as well as the private sector and philanthropic sources.

"It really takes a village," he said.

The county will study "multiple options" for where to put the new facility, including the current site of the David Lawrence Center on Golden Gate Parkway, according to the plan. Another potential option would be to co-locate the facility with other existing government services, such as the county government center.

The strategic plan calls for the treatment center to be designed, built, staffed and up and running by 2022.

The new facility is intended to help the county keep up with a growing demand for services and relieve an overburdened jail.

Last year alone, 600 residents connected to Baker Act cases had to be treated outside of the county because Collier didn't have the capacity, said Scott Burgess, the chairman of the committee and president and chief executive officer of the David Lawrence Center.

"We need to meet those needs and we need to build for the future," he said.

Under the Baker Act, law enforcement, judges and doctors in Florida can involuntarily commit an individual to a mental health facility for up to 72 hours if there is evidence of a mental illness and if the person exhibits signs that without care or treatment, he or she will cause serious bodily harm to himself or herself or to others.

The Marchman Act is akin to the Baker Act but deals with individuals who may be a threat to themselves or others based on a substance-related issue. The jail is neither designed nor appropriate for giving people with addictions the care they need, according to the committee report.

"It's really bringing people to a treatment environment," Burgess said.

While a new treatment facility was ranked as the top priority in the plan, improved housing options followed closely behind. 

For those struggling with mental health and substance use disorders, housing is considered a "golden thread" that provides the foundation through which recovery is possible, the report notes. 

"When this basic need isn't met, people cycle tragically in and out of homelessness, jails, shelters, and hospitals at a high cost to individuals and society," the committee wrote.

Read:Collier revives affordable housing trust fund; questions persist about funding

Pamela Baker, CEO of the National Alliance on Mental Illness for Collier County and vice chairwoman of the committee, said housing is the "biggest" issue related to successfully improving the state of mental health and addiction treatment in the county.

"Without housing, we can't do anything about mental health that's going to last," she said. "Without housing people can't be well.

Collier's affordable housing shortage exacerbates the problem for people struggling with mental health or addiction.

Due to discrimination, difficulties in daily functioning and low incomes — typically less than $800 per month — those individuals "generally cannot compete for market rental housing," the committee wrote.

To help solve the problem, the plan calls for all county-approved affordable housing to include a required set-aside for residents with a mental health and/or substance use disorder.

Read:Delayed county utilities project on Vanderbilt Drive to be completed by January

Among other things, it also aims to increase the number of private landlords accepting rental assistance vouchers. 

The strategic plan also calls for the creation of a "data collaborative" that will collect and analyze data from all stakeholders that provide services to individuals with mental health and/or substance use disorder.

That information would be used to "continuously improve program quality and patient outcomes," the committee wrote. 

"If we can share data, we can get a much greater sense of the outcome," Burgess said.

The plan also pays special attention to Collier's veteran population, which deals with issues that are often different from the general public, and emphasizes the importance of prevention, advocacy and education related to mental health and substance use disorders.

The idea is to raise community awareness and fight a still-existing stigma, Burgess said.

"We want to pull those issues out of the shadows," he said.

Connect with the reporter at patrick.riley@naplesnews.com or on Twitter @PatJRiley.

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