Letter To Marti Crane, Candidate for Calaveras Supervisor District 5?

    Dear Ms. Crane,

       After witnessing your public comments concerning The Living Room ("TLR") Wellness and Recovery Center at the last Calaveras County Board of Supervisors meeting on May 27, 2014,
I felt compelled to correct some of the fallacious assumptions manifested in your statements.

   I'm not sure what changed for you after the recent Calaveras Mental Health Advisory Board meeting we both attended on May 6, 2014, when you appeared to support our cause, but I strongly suspect you have spoken to one or more of our detractors since that time.

  Although I was extremely disheartened by the ignorance of mental health recovery and peer support principles evidenced in your public comments, you seem a reasonable person.

   The purpose of this correspondence is to provide you with some of the facts you are missing to assist you in making a more informed decision before you solidify your position on this matter.

   Preliminarily, I wish to address your misconceptions that Mental  Health America of Northern California ("MHANCA") has incited unwarranted panic amongst TLR's clients about the center's impending closure and/or somehow improperly coerced our clients into making public comments at prior Board of Supervisors meetings.

   In fact, nothing could be further from the truth.  Inherent in your assumptions is the notion that mental health consumers are somehow intellectually incompetent and therefore in need of paternalistic protection.

    However, consumers are not children; they are not broken, defective or cognitively inferior.

   This faulty view assumes YOU (and/or the "powers that be") know what is best for consumers because they are fundamentally incapable of making rational decisions regarding their own interests.

   This is the old way of thinking.  It is condescending and patronizing.  It is this mindset that convinces well-meaning people to support involuntary commitment, long-term institutionalization and barbaric "treatments" and "therapies," dehumanizing individuals who struggle with mental health  challenges.

   Although it is probably not your intent, your attitude is actually harmful to consumers in Calaveras. Mental health issues are, at their core, civil rights issues.

   Summarized perfectly by Patricia E. Deegan, Ph.D., a pioneer in the mental health consumer/survivor movement (and herself diagnosed with schizophrenia):

    "We (consumers) are human beings and we can speak for ourselves.  We have a voice and can learn to use it.  We have the right to be heard and listened to.  We can become self determining. We can take a stand toward what is distressing to us and need not be passive victims of an illness.  We can become experts in our own journey or recovery."

   Far from manipulating TLR's clients into opposing the foolhardy decision of Calaveras Health and Human Services Agency ("HHSA") to defund our contract to operate TLR, we are empowering our clients to stand up for what they believe in.

   We have never put words into their mouths. We have not frightened, threatened, or intimidated our clients into supporting us.

   While we have certainly encouraged them to find their own voices during this entire unfortunate fiasco, their sentiments are 100% sincere.

   We will not coddle or demean consumers by sugarcoating the truth.  Our clients deserve to know the fate of the center they have come to know and the staff they trust and care about.

  They have the right to understand why this is happening, who caused this to occur and what - if anything - they can do about it.

   I am sorry you do not believe our clients really are capable of comprehending this situation and speaking on their own behalves.

   Though you, like so any before, many mean well, you are still on the wrong side of history, Ms. Crane.

   Your irrational optimistic statement that the "new Living Room" will be better than the program MHANCA currently operates further demonstrates your unfamiliarity with fundamental peer support and recovery concepts, which are the very foundation upon which the voter-approved Mental Health Service Act ("MHSA") is based.

    The fact that you "love the idea of The Living Room" bears no significance, as you are not a member of the Calaveras Mental Health Advisory Board, and you do not claim to be a current or former consumer of public mental health services or a close family member of a consumer.

   Nor do you demonstrate even a cursory understanding of consumers' actual needs and desires.

   Have you surveyed (or even reviewed the existing survey data from ) Calaveras consumers and/or their family members to determine which services they prefer, what they believe is working and with which they are most satisfied?
  
   I'm willing to bet the answer is no.  As you lack the knowledge and experience to credibly speak about consumer interests, your efforts to do so (in a public forum, no less) make you appear extremely arrogant, especially to those who have invested so much hard work, effort and dedication into making our TLR program successful.

   I also challenge your unfounded assertion that the new San Andreas Mental Health Recovery Center ("SAMHRC") will be superior to our current TLR program.

   The deliverables listed in the RFP for the new SAMHRC are nearly identical to the scope of services written by MHANCA in the existing TLR contract.

   That's right, MHANCA created the very service standards HHSA wrote into the new SAMHRC contract.

   Since we are the agency that set the bar, who do you think is best qualified to meet these requirements? (Hints:  the answer is MHANCA) 

   Furthermore, MHANCA has exceeded every single expectation in our existing contract.  Are you aware TLR is only required to operate six hours per day, but we actually remain open for seven?

   Do you know that our current contract does not require us to pay stipends to volunteers, serve free meals daily, closely collaborate with other provider agencies, offer regular transportation for consumers, assist consumers with benefits, housing, and employment acquisition, incorporate consumers into the center's daily  operations (e.g. leading support groups, facilitating activities, etc.), or donate the time of our employees from other programs to run Latino and LGBTO support groups in Calaveras?

   Although none of this is mandated under our current contract, we happily do all of this extra work simply because it benefits consumer wellness and recovery.

   All of our employees at TLR are true peers:  each of them self-identifies as a current or forer mental health consumer, so they can truly relate to the clients we serve.

   Our staff has the necessary knowledge, experience and training in evidence-based recovery practices such as WRAP and trauma-informed WRAP, and is highly educated on dual diagnoses/co-occurring issues, the five dimensions of wellness, the peer support code of ethics, and other recovery-based concepts.

   Can you really say with any plausible degree of certainty that the staff at the new SAMHRC will have these qualifications?

   Moreover, are you aware TLR has served over 200 different individuals in the past 13 months, serves  approximately 20 people every day and up to 50 uniqure consuers and family members each week?

   Do you know that the results of TLR's most recent client satisfaction survey (March/April 2014) show that over 90% of our existing clients are happy with TLR?

   Without prior knowledge of any of these facts, how can you possibly believe the new SAMHRC will be better than the program we are currently running at TLR?

   It is also incredibly irresponsible for you to publicly proclaim TLR is not actually closing.  Like you other comments, this statement merely reflects your own uniformed opinion.

   As fare as our existing clients are concerned, TLR is absolutely closing on July 1, 2014, when our County funding runs out.

   The RFP issued by HHSA doesn't ever refer to the new center as "The Living Room" and instead calls it a "San Andreas Mental Health Recovery Center."

    The SAMHRC will not be housed in the same location TLR now occupies, it will not employ the same staff with the sae training and experience, it will not have the same support groups, services, and activities, and so - just as TLR is now vastly different from the center formerly run by the County at the annex - the SAHRC will look nothing like the program we currently operate.

  Thus, TLR as it is currently known to Calaveras consumers will cease to exist as of July 1, 2014.

   As I mentioned to you after the last Board of Supervisors meeting on May 27, 2014, our peer support workers and the services we provide at TLR are not fungible commodities.

   You cannot just substitute us with another agency as though we are mutually interchangeable parts.

   Due to HHSA's ongoing lack of transparency, we have no idea who will be operating the SAMHRC, and there is simply no guarantee the new provider is capable of delivering high quality peer support services.

  Further, it is highly unlikely the new SAMHRC will even open on July 1, leaving consumers with nowhere to go until HHSA finally resolves the morass it has crated.

  So yes, Ms. Crane, unless HHSA suddenly changes its mind and awards us a new contract, all reliable signs indicate TLR will indeed close on July 1, 2014.

   Finally, I find your suggestions that MHANCA just "move on" and "let it go" offensive.  MHANCA is first and foremost a consumer advocacy agency.

   In fact, we are the oldest peer-run advocacy agency in Northern California, and have been around since 1946.

   This isn't our first rodeo.  It is not in our nature to "move on" or "let it go" when government officials abuse their power to the detriment of mental health consumers.

   You seem to think we should inherently trust the RFP process created by Ms. Sawicki at HSSA, as though her rejection of our bid was based purely on merit and was not at all otivated by ill intent or conflicts of interest.

   Once again, you don't have all the facts. Allow me to break them down for you (and please keep in mind, we have actual evidence to support all of this):

   1.  Since the day we opened TLR on April 22, 2014, approximately five vocal individuals who serve on the Calaveras MHSA Steering Committee and Mental Health Advisory Board have conspired to take us down.

  At least two of these opponents (including your friend, George Fry) applied to work for us and did not receive job offers.

  They have disliked our agency ever since.  The others (including Ellin Boblitt) apparently preferred the way the County previously ran the old Living Room at the annex.

   As we heard during public comment at the last Board of Supervisors meeting, the old center was only open one day a week, it had no regular activities, no staff to create or oversee programs and no meaningful support groups.

   There was no one around to set goals or meaningful expectations, assist consumers in obtaining benefits, housing or employment, or to guide them through their recovery process.

   Consumers simply sat around and watched TV all day.  Because no one was in charge, people freely sold drugs in the parking lot.

   This glorified day care center harly comports with HANCA's core values of hope, self-determination, personal responsiblility and recovery, so naturally some of the old Living Room regulars resented the new rules and policies MHANCA implemented when we began operating TLR.

    Because these complainers could no longer run the show or dow whatever they wanted, they raised a big fuss over extremely trivial issues (e.g., the interior paint color, the lack of a stove and laundry facilities).

   And people fro the Steering Committee, Mental Health Advisory Board and HHSA blindly adopted these criticisms without investigating the truth or exploring the potential motives behind the complaints.

2.  Because HHSA was either too afraid or too unsophisticated to objectively evaluate our detractors' frivolous gripes, HHSA  employees (Susan Sells and Mark Ksenzulak) actually bagan to encourage the naysayers to complain about TLR at public meetings subject to the Brown Act.

   You're familiar with the Brown Act, right?  HHSA employees discouraged our staff, in writing from attending these public meetings specifically because they knew people would be criticizing us.

   I know it sounds ludicrous, but hear me out.  HHSA actually facilitated dissent against TLR - a program it funded - and then barred MHANCA from defending itself at public meetings just so a small minority of Steering Committee and Mental Health Advisory Board members would feel more comfortable inappropriately bashing us. Paternalism strikes again!

  3.  When we questioned HHSA's requests for us not to attend public meetings and objected to Mark Ksenzulak's embarrassing public disparagement of our TLR employee at the Steering Committee meeting on December 20, 2013, Ms Sells and Mr. Ksenzulak ignored us.

   They apparently had no desire to explore our legitimate concerns or engage in meaningful, constructive dialogue about these topics.

   I'm not sure why they thought it was acceptable to disregard us.  Perhaps they don't think we merit respect because we represent the interests of mental health consumers.

   At any rate, they rudely blew us off and we brought these issues to the attention of HHSA's new director, Mary Sawicki.

   We met with s. Sawicki to discuss our concerns on January 14, 2014.  Although she initially seemed responsive to us, barely one month later and without any prior warning, HHSA placed our contract to operate TLR out to bid on February 28, 2014.  Retaliation? We think so.

4.   In placing our contract out to bid, HHSA failed to consult with the Mental Health Advisory Board, as mandated by both County protocol and the MHSA.

   HHSA engaged no stakeholders in this process and did not even consider the consumers' preferences or needs in soliciting new providers for the SAMHRC contract.

  You were present with us at the last Mental Health Advisory Board meeting where Board members and consumers alike were outraged HHSA had neglected to confer with stakeholders before implementing this careless and hasty plan.

   They MHSA specifically mandates that each California county create a local Mental Health Board comprised of consumers, family members, and interested public constituents.

   The Board is charged with representing the interests of the county's consumers by reviewing and making recommendations on all county mental health services and changes thereto.

   HHSA completely circumvented this obligatory process when it haphazardly put our contract out to bid.

  5,   MHANCA submitted a timely proposal to continue operating TLR in response to HHSA's RFP.  On May 5, 2014, HHSA notified us it had not selected our proposal, despite our outstanding qualifications and demonstrated success in operating TLR over the past year.

   We immediately requested copies of all other proposals submitted. the criteria upon which all proposals were evaluated, the scores of our proposal and all others, the names of the individuals who served on the proposal review panel, and the name of the agency HHSA selected to award the SAMHRC contract.

   All of this information is a matter of public record and subject to the California Public Records Act.

   I'm sure you already knew that though, right?  Well, it has now been 24 days since we requested this information and we have yet to receive any evidence the RFP process was fairly and meritoriously conducted.

   6.  HHSA has not even publicly released the name of the provider agency it has allegedly selected to award the SAMHRC contract.

   But her is what we do know:  the contract wasn't offered to NAMI-Gold Country, the only other mental health provider agency in Calaveras County.

   We work closely with NAMI-Gold country at TLR  and several of their representatives have already confirmed they neither applied for, nor want, the SAMHRC contract.

   Other than HANCA and NAMI-Gold County, there is no other provider agency in Calaveras even remotely qualified to deliver the mental health services described in the RFP.

   So either HHSA intends to recommend some unknown outside agency to receive the SAMHRC contract (though it is highly unlikely any applied for it), or HHSA is suggesting the contract be awarded to an underqualified local agency.

7.  Because HHSA clearly did not thik this process all the way through and has not created a transition plan for TLR's existing clients, HHSA is violating numerous laws and the civil rights of Calaveras County mental health consumers provided under the ADA, the Rehabilitation Act, the Medicaid Act, California Government Code 11135, as well as their fundamental due process protections guaranteed by the 14th Amendment of the US Constitution.

   Sacramento County was sued over this very issue just a few years ago.  The parties were in litigation for nearly two years before the case settled, and the class action plaintiffs were awarded attorney's fees.

   With an $8 million general fund deficit (and an anticipated - $10 million obligation resulting from the Public Works Departments' mismanagement of several Caltrans grants), Calaveras County can hardly afford another costly yet entirely avoidable, liability.

   8.  HHSA cannot enter into a contract with another agency to operate the SAMHRC until it resolves the protest we filed on May 11, 2014, disputing HHSA's improper rejection of our proposal.

   As long as HHSA refuses to turn over all of the public records related to the RFP process, our protest cannot be resolved.

   We are only one month away from the expiration of our contract on June 30, 2014.  Therefore, HHSA must turn over all the public records we requested, resolve our grievance, find another agency willing to run the SAMHRC, officially recommend this other agency to the Board of Supervisors, present the proposed SAMHRC contract to the Board of Supervisors for approval and overcome any public protest and/or Board of Supervisors investigation into HHSA's questionable conduct before it can even hope to execute a contract with a new provider.

   It would take a miracle for all of this to happen by July 1, 2014.  Even if HHSA were able to execute the SAHRC contract by then, it is nearly impossible for the new agency to secure a lease in an ADA accessible facility, hire qualified staff, acquire all necessary equipment, and open a new center providing all the same services we currently offer by that date.

   Any way you look at it, TLR's existing clients will be forced to go without competent  services for an indefinite period of time once our contract expires.

   How do you think this delay will impact consumers' recovery progress? How much liability do you think the County will be exposed to because of this negligent interruption in services?  Time's a-wastin.

   9.  Finally let's assume the stars align and HHSA is able to execute a contract with a new agency before July 1, 2014, and this agency is staffed and ready to open the SAMHRC right on time.

   What makes you think the new staff will be qualified to provide adequate peer support services  from an evidence based recovery model?

  And even if, by some spectacular magic, the new staff does possess adequate qualifications to perform this work, do you really think TLR's satisfied clients will just materialize at an unfamiliar location and open themselves up to people they have never et before as if the former center and staff they have come to know and trust never existed?

   If you believe this Pollyanna fairy tale, I have a bridge to sell you.  Consistency and predictability in services and the establishment of positive, trusting relationships with peer support staff are all essential to ongoing wellness and recovery.

  HHSA's slapdash, last minute plan offers none of this and certainly was not created with consumers' interests in mind.

So please tell me, s. Crane, whether you would easily "move on" and "let it go" if after the current election, you received convincing evidence your political opponent improperly influenced the outcome by providing your detractors with a public platform to spread misinformation about you, paying constituents to vote for him, oving the election date, time and polling locations at the last minute, blocking your supporters from voting and hiring his cronies to tally the results.

   Would you demand an investigation to determine whether the election was conducted fairly and the results were legitimate or would you just rollover and accept your loss like you expect us to?

   On your website, you profess to favor transparency, open access to government, fair and equitable public policies, true collaboration, meaningful dialogue, effective and responsive leadership, and programs that best serve the interests of constituents.  Do you really believe all this or are you just hoping it will get you votes?

   If you honestly espouse the ideals expressed on your website - and I think you do - then you cannot in good conscience support HHSA's unjust treatment of our agency and our clients.

   You are clearly a recognized and influential citizen of Calaveras County. I urge you to investigate for yourself what HHSA has done to us, and how its employees have consistently acted far below the minimum standards of conduct expected from responsible public servants.

   Assuming you are truly the ally of Calaveras mental health consumers you claim to be, I have no doubt you will back our demands for openness and fairness and will vocally oppose HHSA's egregious disregard for consumers' wellbeing.

   If you have any questions regarding the foregoing or wish to engage in a mutually respectful conversation about these issues, I strongly encourage you to call or email e so we can schedule a meeting soon.
 
   Kind Regards,

   Dawnielle A Zavala, Esq.  Associate Director, Mental Health America of Northern California