There are so many good things to celebrate!
Please join us this Friday at 1 p.m. to celebrate the most recent class of parent-peer supporters. This group is working hard in training this week and appears eager to share what they've learned and who they are with other parents on the same journey. Let's let them know they have a village of supporters behind them.
I am thrilled that our Community Partnership is back in person for the first time since 2019. Please join us at Bravo on November 7th from 5:00 to 7:30 p.m. Sponsorships are also available. There is much to celebrate: being back together, our partnerships and friendships and working together to create the services and supports our children need. Perhaps we will also be celebrating safe and clean drinking water by then.
As I read through the lawsuit updates in this week's Ally, I wondered if there was anything to celebrate in them. Perhaps there is. Dr. Michael Hogan's most recent monitoring report describes some progress. It also points to challenges within the public mental health system and across systems. People with mental illness still sit in jail while they wait for help, and families still say their loved ones cannot find the care they need.
But there are rays of hope and signs of progress, especially with peer support and some aspects of coordinated care. I hope those rays continue to shine brighter and reflect an ongoing commitment to a system that is responsive to and partners with all people it claims to serve.
It will be interesting to see if these changes continue if the state wins its appeal in a few weeks. It will be sad if the changes stop because the rays of hope were simply a response to a lawsuit rather than a commitment to real people. Let's hope that the state acts in a way that gives us genuine cause for celebration instead.
