The Joint Committee om Health and Human Relations Public Safety is part of the Chicago City Council. The Chicago City Council is the legislative branch of Chicago's government and is made up of the Mayor and Aldermen elected from each of the City’s fifty wards.

There is one item on the agenda which is: "Call for public hearing(s) on mental health challenges
facing Chicago police officers" The entire agenda will be in the next tweet.

Here is the agenda: https://t.co/CGQPGUHY0v

The meeting was called to order by Chairman Chris Tailferro at 1:05pm. Roll call established that 19 members were present so there was a quorum for voting purposes. Chairman Tailferro then opened the floor to public comment.

They are discussing the high rates of suicide in police officers. Comments about how often no one knows this is coming. National The Consortium on Preventing Law Enforcement Suicide was mentioned as a resource. Website here: theiacp.org/projects/the-n…

The Chairman called for witnesses on the Agenda Item. The first witness was Elena Gottreich Dep. Director of CPD. One thing she highlighted was the Mayor's CARE program

The second witness was Tina Skahill CPD mentioned that the CPD are recruiting licensed clinical therapists to help with the mental health problems in police officers.

The third witness was Alexa James former Executive Director of NAMI. She spoke about the need for creating a culture of wellness. The current culture is one of "toughening up" which decreases the likelihood that officers will seek mental health care and increases suicide rates

Alderwoman Tobares asked how officers can access resources if days off are constantly cancelled. Elena Gottreich replied the cancellations have been scaled back significantly.

Tina Skahill said officers can access resources 24/7 even when on duty. She also pointed out that services are available to retired officers, family members & civilians.

The Alderwoman asked about quiet rooms. Dr. Robert Sobel said there are quiet rooms where officers can get some peace and quiet and decompress when feeling stressed out. Now they don't exist in all districts but they will once space is found.

The Chairman asked if family members recognize problems in their loved ones, is there a mechanism they can speak with someone. Dr, Sobel replied that there is a mass mailing sent at the beginning of the year with information about mental health and CPD contact numbers.

Alderman Esterman asked if the NAMI representative could give a candid assessment of where Chicago is now in caring for the mental health of officers. Alexa James replied that one problem that needs improvement is that many feel that resources are too complicated to access.

Other issues discussed:
Officers won't lose jobs for seeking confidential help at EAP
Workloads of officers & multiple roles they take on beyond their job description can contribute to mental health problems
The importance of peer support
Putting a clinician in every district

They are discussing budget issues and how much they would need to hire a clinician in every department. Dr. Sobel replied that a new clinical psychology he hired outside the PD for about $95,000 while the CPD is offering about $77,000.

Matt Richards, LCSW, pointed out that a big problem is that mental health professionals don't want to work in the public sector but in the era of telehealth a large number are going into private practice because it is so lucrative.

They're discussing mental health parity & how to get the number of sessions made available per year raised before the provider needs to justify it. Ald. Vasquez suggested the need for justification is an issue. Also, raised the problem that mental health services can be denied.

The meeting was adjourned with no votes taken at 3:04pm

Here are additional resources and readings related to today's meeting. https://t.co/Flxl22Wr9f

Here is the history of the resolution:
chicago.legistar.com/LegislationDet…

This concludes coverage of the Joint Committee: Health and Human Relations; Public Safety meeting. For more information, please see documenters.org