Mental Health Action Team (MHAT)

Meeting Minutes

7-23-09

Present:  Leslie Davis, Walker’s Point Community Clinic; Luke Waldo, Sojourner Family Peace Center; Stephanie Calloway, Proyecto Salud; Katherine Valentyn, Guadalupe Head Start; Carmen Pine, United Community Center—A New Dawn; Martina Gollin-Graves, Mental Health America of Wisconsin; Gabriela Dieguez, Sixteenth Street Community Health Center; Brenda Wesley, Outreach and Education Coordinator for NAMI of Greater Milwaukee; Peter Hoeffel, Executive Director of NAMI—Greater Milwaukee

Announcements

• Carmen:  A New Dawn—in its final days to reach goal in order to stay working for a second year.  They need 33 clients—Carmen handed out flyers so that we can refer seniors to her.
• Stephanie:  CORE/El Centro will have their golf fundraiser on Aug. 3.
• Brenda:  WarmLine will have a fundraiser in September.

Update on the Mental Health Task Force meeting

Leslie gave an update on our participation at the July 7th meeting with the Milwaukee Mental Health Task Force.  Martina also attended.  Leslie talked about the MHAT and patient stories of trying to use services at the Mental Health Complex.  Our Action Team will continue to attend the meetings of the Milwaukee Mental Health Task Force (2nd Tuesday of the month, 3-5 p.m.).  Katherine and Leslie will attend the next meeting on Aug. 11.

Discussion of goals/next steps

We discussed possibility of starting a Spanish line of support, staffed by peers.  (WarmLine in Spanish)

Leslie is interested in sharing curriculum used for crisis intervention training in order to train Proyecto Salud’s health promoters.

Peter talked about the possibility of meeting with Jim Kobicek (257-7482) and Walter Laux (257-7955) at the Milwaukee Mental Health Complex in order to talk directly with them about the problems Latino consumers are facing.  Martina has communicated with them in the past and will coordinate the meeting.

Brenda shared that their group ASK had met with the MHC six months ago and had not heard back from them.

We talked about what should happen during this meeting—we want to state the problems and suggest possible solutions to the problems.  Some ideas are the use of bilingual peer support and CIT (crisis intervention training).  Peter offered to look into what are the laws pertaining to Spanish-speaking mental health services.

Group talked about the possibility of letting county board know about issues and maybe contacting Latino Chamber of Commerce and Doyle’s office.

Group talked about the need for NAMI to contact providers directly in order to do outreach to Spanish-speaking population for the family support groups.  Group discussed the need to address the stigma towards mental health that Latinos have and the lack of bilingual providers.

NAMI is doing collaboration with InHealth in order to do cultural adjustments to material presented.

Revision of the goals for our Action Team:

1. Advocate for quality and accessibility of mental health services for Latinos.
2. Support and hold accountable the agencies that provide mental health services for Latinos.

Summary of next steps / homework

ü  Katherine and Leslie will attend the next Milwaukee Mental Health Task Force meeting on Aug. 11.

ü  Martina is the point person for the meeting with Jim from Milwaukee County.

ü  Peter offered to look into what are the laws pertaining to Spanish-speaking mental health services.  He will also find out if any of the current peer support specialists at the County are Spanish-speaking.  He will also send a write-up about the Mental Health Delivery System Redesign (a possible opportunity for our Action Team to advocate for mental health services for Latinos).

Next Meeting:  August 27th 9:00-10:30 a.m.  Weather permitting, we will meet at Alterra at the Lake, 1701 N. Lincoln Memorial Dr.  If it’s questionable, we will meet at the Center for Urban Population Health, Suit 4180.

Submitted,

Gabriela Diéguez, MSW, LCSW

Bilingual Therapist