Llano Estacado Alliance for Families

Board Members in attendance:

Ron Trusler, President, CPC
Jere Newton, Vice President, Lamb Co. JPO/Leaf RCI
Cherrie Shackelford, Secretary, Family Partner
Jeffrey Tunnell, Treasurer, CFO Central Plains Center
Carrie Barden, Chief, Lamb Co. Juvenile Probation
Olga Ybarra, Uniting Parents
Sheryl Russell, CPS

Stakeholders

Ruby Walters, Consumer
Suzanne Wilhelm, Family Partner
Jackie Ball, Family Partner
Kim Peralez, Administrative Assistant RCI
Ronda Jackson, Whiteaker Youth Center
Jose Serrano, Cultural Coordinator, RCI
Michael Cox, Youth Specialist, RCI
Polonia Gomez, Youth Partner
Janis Henderson, TTU, Family Partner
Dorothy McDowell, Family Coordnator, RCI
Kay Brotherton, Project Director, RCI
Eugene Wang, Lead Evaluator, RCI
Kyle Litchfield, TTU student
Leah Johnson, TTU student
Sarah Stevenson, TTU student
Matthew Lambert, TTU student
DeAnn Lechtenberg, TA Coordinator, RCI
Stephanie Sokocosky, TTU
Wilborn Lackey, WBU
Lauren Peel, Office of Dispute Res.

President, Ron Trusler called the meeting to order at 9:30 a.m.
Members and visitors introduced themselves.  Ron asked for any corrections or changes to the minutes.  Minutes were approved with a correction to Kay’s name.    
DeAnn passed out a current list of board members and nameplates.

Financial report
Jeff Tunnell presented the LEAF Budget Summary as of July 20, 2009.  He explained that the executive board decided to move some money around to be able to give $18,000 for telemed equipment.   As it turns out the main unit will be $13,000 instead of $9,000.  So we may just buy the main one and help Regence purchase theirs.  Our earlier hopes were to purchase two new units.  We would like one of them to update the main unit at the Haven and move the Haven’s system to the county jail.  Then the other new one would be placed at Regence Health Network.   This will allow for evaluations to be done at the jail instead of inmates having to be transported to the Haven for appointments.  The unit at Regence will allow primary care patients to get better MH services and vise versa.  This will leave a balance of $14,750 to use before September 30th.   Ron asked that we have a motion to approve the amended budget.  Jere made the motion and Sheryl second it.  The motion carried.

Fine Line Exhibit Update
To review, the Michael Nye exhibit is a black and white photography featuring mental health clients and their stories in their own voices on audio.  The Michael Nye exhibit opening night will be August 14, 2009 instead of the 13th in the Abrams Art Gallery at Wayland.  A series of lectures will be given during the exhibit time in the atrium.  These will be very informal, come and go type lectures.  The free lecture series is as follows:
August 20,  6:30 – 7:30 p.m.  Post Traumatic Stress Disorder by Gabriela Saldana
August 29,  10:00 – 11:30 a.m.  Infant and Toddler MH by Dr. Perry Collins
September 3,  6:00 – 7:30 p.m.   Suicide by Dr. Cassie Collins
September 10,  6:00 – 7:30 p.m.   ADHD  Adolescence/Substance Abuse by Larry Keltz
September 22,  6:00 – 7:30 p.m.   Depression by Dr. Victor Gutierrez

RCI Update
Michael and Kay went to Austin recently and heard about the current legislation to pass concerning mental health.  One bill is the Yes Waiver, which would allow Medicaid to pay for more of the non-traditional mental health services.  Bexar and Travis counties will be the pilot sites to see what works and what needs to be changed.  Then Harris and Tarrent counties will be next.  Kay hopes the pilot sites go well, and then in the future we might be able to pick a less populated site.  This is one effort at the state level to start looking at families.

The RCI steward group has met two times.  This is a sub group of LEAF that is to be more active to help guide the RCI administrative team.   The group membership includes child-serving agencies with Ron Trusler, Rhonda Jackson, Jeff Tunnell and Cherrie Shackelford.  Also on board is juvenile probation with Carrie Barden, Reba Moore, and Jere Newton.  Thirdly we have CPS with Sheryl Russell and an appointed family partner.  Last is Education with Rick Garcia, Janis Henderson and others to be asked.  We discussed that we need to have balanced representation to minimize unequal representation and vote.  Liz Myrick from Communities in Schools has also agreed to join us.   Gene Sheets, Muleshoe ISD and Deanna Logan, Ralls ISD have invitations to join.  We would also like Special Ed. Coop Directors to serve.  Each representative will invite a Family Partner to join.  Youth Partners will also be invited to serve.  The steward group’s mission is in the process of being determined.
The TA partners suggested we identify a target group to serve with our grant money.  We chose youth at highest risk of out of home placement as our tier one.  Tier two, being elementary youth exhibiting behavior that indicate they are in need of intensive services.  Our eleven counties will be divided into 3 regions and a Family Care Facilitator will be hired and placed in each of the 3 regions.  Our new clinical director, David Allison, will provide oversight of these Family Care Facilitators.   
Also 3 areas of training have been identified as priorities.  One priority is the Parent Academy Trainings to help families learn skills to access services and advocate for their children and reduce stigma.  The second priority is Wraparound Facilitation Training to help staff, providers and family partners to learn wraparound.  Thirdly, is the Spokesperson Training to assist staff, family members, youth and others to gain effective communication skills when speaking of RCI and SOC.  This group will also receive training to be comfortable sharing personal stories and presentations with media and the public.  The Spokesperson training will be postponed till early next fiscal year.

Michael Cox along with the youth is working to identify what trainings they will need.   The youth have an idea to host a talent show to raise money for the purchase a youth building.

Jose our CLC is planning training for MH interpreters that will be free.  They have had a couple of CLC committee meetings.  If you know of a Spanish speaking person that may be interested in this training talk to Jose.

DeAnn will be rescheduling the Parent Academy in Floydada in the fall.  She will be looking at future trainings that the parents voiced they would like to have.

Logic Model Development
One thing we have need of is a Logic Model, which will be presented by Eugene our evaluator.  The Logic Model is a road map of where we are and where we want to go.  The LEAF board members will plan the big picture model and the RCI Steward group will do the more detailed work definition.  Eugene explained that MH illnesses cost more than any other illness and that SAMSHA is the largest center for MH services for children.  He handed out and went over local data sheets showing county juvenile probation numbers and students with emotional disturbances.  These show who is not receiving services, which is approximately 3,229 children.  These are the children we need to be serving.  DeAnn explained parents of special education wanting an easier identification as one of the reasons children are under identified.  50% of kids still don’t come to the staff’s attention because if your child isn’t a big problem they don’t get recognized.   
Eugene led the logic model development during the board meeting getting our input as to what our long and short term outcomes should look like.  Some of these were coordinated services, accessibility, diagnosis, flexible with state money/local control, reduction of drug use and gang activity, productive use of leisure time and success at school.  The logic model tactics will change as we go.  We need to ask ourselves what does driven and guided look like?  Our steward group is to come up with activities and strategies to meet these goals.

The meeting was adjourned at 11:30 a.m.  with the RCI Steward group meeting to follow.   The next board meeting will be August 18, 2009 at 9:30 a.m.  at the Tommy Lewis Building.