Mental Health Board

708 GENEVA COMMUNITY MENTAL HEALTH BOARD June 11, 2013 The Geneva Community Mental Health Board met at 7:00 p.m. on Tuesday, June 11, 2013, in the Geneva City Hall Chambers, 109 James Street, Geneva, Illinois 60134. Present: Chairman John Ford; Members Johnson, Goldstein, Davidson-Bell. Also present: Mary Jane Johnson with the Geneva High School Guidance Office; and Recording Secretary Celeste Weilandt. 1. CALL TO ORDER/ROLL CALL Chairman Ford called the Mental Health Board meeting to order at 7:00 p.m. and noted whom was present. A quorum was present with four (4) voting members. 2. INTRODUCTION OF GUESTS Ms. Mary Jane Johnson, from the Geneva High School Guidance Office, was introduced . 3. AMENDMENTS TO THE AGENDA Chairman Ford asked that the election of officers be discussed under Agenda Item 8.B. Also announced, the board will not hold a July meeting due to member Goldstein not being able to attend next month. 4. OMNIBUS AGENDA ( OMNIBUS VOTE ) All items listed with an asterisk ( * ) are considered to be routine by the Mental Health Board and will be enacted by one motion. There will be no separate discussion on these items unless a board member or citizen so requests, in which event the item will be removed from the Omnibus (Consent) Agenda and considered in its normal sequence on the Regular Agenda. Johnson moved to approve the Omnibus Agenda, seconded by Davidson- Bell. Motion carried by voice vote of 4-0. 5. APPROVAL OF MINUTES *A. Regular Meeting Minutes of May 14, 2013 - Approved by Omnibus Agenda. 6. PRESENTATION A. Mary Jane Johnson, Geneva High School, Guidance Office - Ms. Johnson explained she is the department chairperson in the Counseling and Advising Office at Geneva High School. She shared the number of staff that work in the office, the fact that the department is basically under-staffed, and that over recent years the students’ social and emotional problems have increased -- more so at the high school level. Discussed were the multiple hospitalizations (over 60) that occurred at the high school for this year alone; the approximate 100 suicide assessments that were taken; and the top two illnesses identified as being anxiety and depression. While Ms. Johnson believes that social media has played a large part in the student population -- some of it positive, some of it negative -- she also believes students are not as resilient as they were from years ago. Trying to address some of these issues is challenging especially when her office is constrained by the school’s budget. Ms. Johnson explained that counselors today not only assist students academically but have taken on a social/emotional role and meet weekly to discuss students’ needs (both academic and social). She hopes to do more with programming and include the parents. Per questions on how the school board addresses these issues, Ms. Johnson stated the school board is aware of the issues and will be hiring a part-time student prevention coordinator. However, Ms. Johnson feels a full- time person is required along with additional services. As to the agencies the high schools work with, Ms. Johnson reported that her department refers students to Tri-Cities, Centennial, and Goodman & Associates. Hospitalizations are referred to Linden Oaks, Central DuPage, or Alexian Brothers. Asked if there were particular programs Ms. Johnson would like to bring into the high school, Ms. Johnson stated that she and another social worker did look into inviting a motivational speaker, similar to those brought into the Glenbard School District. She estimated the cost for a speaker was $5,000 to $7,000 and usually covered all students and parents. Goldstein suggested partnering with St. Charles or Batavia to save money wherein, Ms. Johnson indicated she did speak to Batavia and hopes to partner with them. Per a question, Ms. Johnson confirmed that she does see some students self-medicate, but it has lessened over the years. She feels the economy, a few years ago, affected the students because they saw it affect their parents. Continuing, Ms. Johnson spoke about the Geneva Coalition for Youth and their various programs, including Red Ribbon Week and Chic-Chat, which was geared toward building self esteem and building friendships among middle school female students. This year she, along with two social workers, started a peer leadership program which appeared to be working well. 708 Geneva Community Mental Health Board - 2- June 11, 2013 From his own observation, Chairman Ford commented that it appeared much effort was taking place in managing students’ problems that were the result of social changes that were difficult to understand, i.e., social media, pressure to exceed from the community and from parents. Asked if there was sufficient effort being made to educate the parents or the child, Ms. Johnson said there was equal effort among the two and agreed that parent education was important. From what was being discussed, Chairman Ford said he would support funding a program for educating the parents. However, Ms. Johnson discussed the difficulty she had seen in the past where certain programs are offered but low parental attendance occurs. She preferred to provide more programming within the school day but voiced the challenges that existed and the fact that the school staff could not be the parent, even though it was sometimes expected. Member Johnson touched upon the success of the Red Flag program started in the Plano School District, where the program educates students, parents, and the educators on the signs of depression, anxiety and other mental illnesses. She offered to provide contact information on that program to Ms. Johnson. The board members were of a consensus to add Ms. Mary Jane Johnson to the board’s mailing list of grant requests. Chairman Ford asked that she consider bringing a new program to the board for consideration. Ms. Johnson also asked members to email her with further questions, at mjjohson@geneva304.org. 7. OLD BUSINESS A. Update on Hosting Roundtable of Agencies - Member Johnson distributed copies of a draft letter inviting agencies to attend a roundtable forum. She asked members for their comments. Members agreed to have the round table meeting in September on the regular meeting night at 6:30 p.m. The recording secretary would follow up with meeting date availability. For the August meeting, Johnson would confirm what agencies she planned to invite, the topics to be covered, and possibly invite the high school psychologist, as suggested by Goldstein. B. Application for Annual Funding - Because Ms. Schoedel had resigned, Chairman Ford asked if someone wanted to take over her responsibility with the funding application. Davidson-Bell offered to follow up. 8. OTHER BUSINESS *A. Approve Payment to Recording Secretary for Services - Approved by Omnibus Agenda. B. Election of Officers - Davidson-Bell moved to re-establish John Ford as Chairman, Candice Goldstein as Vice Chair, and nominate member Cheryl Johnson as Secretary. Seconded by Chairman Ford. Motion carried by voice vote of 4-0. As mentioned at a previous meeting, Chairman Ford confirmed that the City of Geneva did have a contract with AID to assist the police department in certain circumstances. As a result, Ford was thinking of inviting either the chief of police or Sgt. Tim Baker to speak at the August meeting; members concurred. As a last thought, Chairman Ford asked members to think of a different way to present the grant checks to the agencies and rotate the process. He also suggested inviting a speaker (discuss in October) to the December meeting. Members concurred. 9. PUBLIC COMMENTS AND MAIL - None 10. ADJOURNMENT The board adjourned at 8:10 p.m. on motion by Davidson-Bell, seconded by Johnson. Motion carried unanimously by voice vote of 4-0. Recording Secretary, Celeste K. Weilandt