Florida Partners in Crisis

Message from the Chair 2007

The coming months hold considerable opportunity as well as continued challenges for Florida's mental health and substance abuse system. Partners in Crisis will be working to assist state policymakers to meet those challenges and take advantage of the opportunity to make needed improvements in our system of care.

Since its inception, Partners' focus has been on improving services for all Floridians, both young and old, whose lives have been affected by mental illnesses and/or addiction disorders.

Prevention, early intervention, and community-based treatment have been the cornerstones of our public awareness and advocacy efforts. We know an effective system of care and diversion based on these principles can literally save lives, and save our communities money now being expended in emergency rooms, state hospitals, jails and prisons.

In the months ahead, we will be encouraging local communities to engage a range of stakeholders in collaborating on cost-effective mechanisms to address and reduce the number of people with mental illnesses and addiction disorders entering the criminal justice system.

The challenge will be to expand, diversify and improve services designed to keep people with mental illnesses from being arrested and jailed, as well as to assure appropriate treatment for those who are already in jails or prisons both while they are incarcerated and upon their re-entry into our local communities.

These individuals, who have long been ignored by the system, receive either second class treatment or no treatment at all. They suffer not only from their mental illnesses or addictions but also from a lack of available medication, therapy and housing.

Some are convicted felons who have cycled in and out of the criminal justice system. Unfortunately, many are individuals who would never have been arrested were it not for their untreated mental illnesses or addictions.

Partners in Crisis is dignifying this population, humanizing their plight and garnering support for earlier and more effective treatment options to jails and prisons.

At the same time, we will not overlook our ongoing mission of informing policymakers and the public of the need for better funded community-based treatment services for children and adults who cannot afford the cost of mental health or substance abuse treatment.

To accomplish our goals, we hope to expand and diversify our membership so that more of Florida's communities are represented in our ranks. Our grassroots advocacy efforts, which bring together people with a variety of views and talents from throughout Florida, have made Partners a role model for other states.

I am excited to be leading Partners at this critical time and accept this challenge. My goal is for our organization to continue to be a catalyst for change and to speak with one voice on behalf of people with mental illnesses and addiction disorders.

Sincerely
Judge Mark A. Speiser
Chair, Florida Partner in Crisis