SAN DIEGO (KGTV) — San Diego County is among the first seven in California to launch its new courts made possible by the Care Act, designed to empower counties to provide more services to those with severe, chronic mental illness. That would include illnesses such as schizophrenia, and others which could make the person a danger to themselves and others.
Under the program, a family can refer a willing loved one to the Care Court. Once a judge deems them as a qualified candidate, County staff would create a personalized care plan for that individual, which could include housing for those living on the streets. The judge would have to sign off on the care plan.
“It’s about engaging with people to get them into care and ensuring that that care is longitudinal. That it remains in place over a long period of time," said Dr. Luke Bergmann of the County's office of Behavioral Health Services.
ABC 10News spoke with a longtime mental health advocate, Laurie Black, whose brother, Brian, suffered from schizophrenia. "...within a few weeks of college in 1980, he crashed. Crashed and burned and ended up in his first of what would be more than 20 facilities in a 30-year period.”
Brian attempted suicide on several occasions, including jumping off the Coronado Bridge. After an incident in which he attempted to be killed by police by threatening people with a knife (he was shot five times, but survived), Laurie says a judge ordered Brian to be locked up in a mental health facility and forcefully medicated.
She says that finally allowed her brother to get the help he needed. A medication was found that helped and Brian was eventually released, got a job as a counselor, and got married. “It wasn’t a perfect medicine," Laurie said. "There were health issues. He gained a lot of weight. That just didn’t matter. What mattered was who he became.”
Brian eventually died in an accidental car crash 15 years after he was shot. While Laurie supports the Care Act and believes it will help people, she believes there must be a way for family members to force loved ones with chronic and severe mental health illnesses into treatment. “Court-ordered medicine in a locked facility. Housing with services. Housing with services. That’s what we have to do for the people, for our family."
A bill which would allow for family to forcibly put a loved one into treatment, SB 43, passed the state legislature in September, but has yet to be signed or vetoed by Governor Gavin Newsom.
