Live reporting by
Jhaylin Benson
988 mental health emergency hotline, Crisis facilities, CESSA
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COMRADE_JAY
@jhaylin_benson
Good morning, I will be live-tweeting coverage of the 10 am meeting for the Alternative Health Interviention and Response Task Force.
The meeting begins at 10:04 A.M.
Dr. Kiran Joshi leads the meeting and begins with roll call.
The meeting begins at 10:04 A.M.
Dr. Kiran Joshi leads the meeting and begins with roll call.
10:14 AM Jun 1, 2022 CDT
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This is the fourth meeting of this task force and they are meeting to discuss the effectiveness of this task force and brainstorm ideas to present to the city to improve the wellness of people in this city, physically and mentally.
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Dr. Kiran Joshi starts off the meeting by explaining how this task force is approaching phone calls from residents in crisis. There will be a new number introduced (988). This new number will connect the resident with behavioral and mental health specialists.
![](http://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/1511141887058530312/nO2B_sHs_normal.jpg)
The planned debut of this new crisis line is July 2022.
Dr. Kiran Joshi makes sure to explain that the city of Chicago needs a safe space for people to go when having a crisis that is not prison.
Dr. Kiran Joshi makes sure to explain that the city of Chicago needs a safe space for people to go when having a crisis that is not prison.
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Obviously, the task force wishes to implement all of their plans, but there is nowhere for residents to go when having a crisis unless they wish to go to jail or hospitial.
For right now residents have to go through the system of law enforcement.
For right now residents have to go through the system of law enforcement.
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Discussion will be limited to board memebers, unless questions and comments are submitted to Mary Alice Carroll.
The discussion will be based around how to implement a state-wide crisis response system.
The discussion will be based around how to implement a state-wide crisis response system.
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Martin Bennett rasises some good questions about how this task froce will be able to put together this crisis respsonse team. The goals are concrete and viable, but it will take a long time to build a system that can cater to residents in crisis.
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Jason Hernandez raises the obvious question of how do we stop this from becoming an over bloated sytem bogged down by bureaucracy.
He does mention that the goals of this task force are very useful.
He does mention that the goals of this task force are very useful.
![](http://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/1511141887058530312/nO2B_sHs_normal.jpg)
Commissoner Mora Illana echoes the thoughts that the proposed crisis response system would be a great addition to Chicago, but she does make note that this propsed system would have to utlitlize outreach. Not all people in need come get help.
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Jason Hernandez makes the obvious observation that this is an unique time in Chicago history. There is more than enough dollars being floated around. It is important to fully take advantage of the money that is avaible to different branches of local governement.
![](http://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/1511141887058530312/nO2B_sHs_normal.jpg)
Bridget Degnen identifies that due to lack of data, there is no roadmap to how to build this system. There is no way to know exactly how many beds they would need, or how many crisis rooms. Unfortunately, they are going in somewhat blind.
![](http://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/1511141887058530312/nO2B_sHs_normal.jpg)