Alameda County DA kinds psychological well being advisory group

By Olivia Wynkoop
Bay Metropolis Information Basis

The Alameda County District Legal professional’s workplace is making a countywide coalition of psychological well being activists and oldsters to advise on psychological well being points within the legal justice system.

The 26-member District Legal professional’s Psychological Well being Fee will advise the workplace on tips on how to higher reply to legal justice instances involving individuals with critical psychological diseases. The hope is to offer care and new pathways, slightly than punishment, to the households and family members of these with psychological well being challenges, based on the district legal professional’s workplace.

The collective intently follows the current demise of an Oakland U.S. Postal Service employee, Dilma Franks-Spruill. A 28-year-old man with bipolarity and schizophrenia has been arrested and accused of stabbing her to demise on Jan. 11.

In response, the suspect’s mom known as for a higher push for psychological well being assets. She beforehand stated it was difficult to encourage her grownup son to take his treatment and pursue assist.

“We wish to deal with individuals struggling with psychological well being points with the care and accountable justice they deserve,” stated District Legal professional Pamela Value. “The creation of this fee is only the start in effecting change. It gained’t occur in a single day, however relaxation assured, this can be a step in the best path in offering alternate options to mass incarceration.”

“We have to discover a strategy to get our family members care — not cages,” stated Kimberly Graves, a member of Alameda County’s Households Advocating for the Critically Mentally In poor health.

“Far too typically the one time our relations get therapy is with a legal sentence and all the extra baggage that comes with it doesn’t assist their restoration. There have to be a greater path to restoration and care in our county,” she stated.

Representatives from the district legal professional’s workplace on the fee embrace Senior Assistant District Attorneys Annie Esposito and Cynthia Chandler; Deputy District Attorneys Jason Sjoberg and Ryan Khojasteh; and psychological well being clinicians Raymond Laundry and Kelsey O’Neil.

Others on the fee embrace Pleasanton Metropolis Councilmember Julie Testa,
psychologist Tony Jackson, East Bay entrepreneur Ray Bobbitt, and Elaine Peng, government director/founding father of the Psychological Well being Affiliation for Chinese language Communities.