LONG BEACH — Mental Health America of Los Angeles honored retired Palmdale Sheriff’s Station commander Capt. Don Ford at the seventh annual Under the Toque Gala held Oct. 6 at the Courtyard by Marriott Long Beach Downtown.
He was recognized for his longstanding commitment to mental health advocacy and community service.
Mental Health America serves low-income adults and transition-age youth facing mental health needs, including veterans and people experiencing homelessness. The annual gala is the nonprofit organization’s signature event and primary fundraiser. Guests received an exclusive culinary experience with a five-course meal prepared by leading Southern California chefs, paired with fine wines.
This year’s event was focused on the new veterans resource center that will open in Long Beach.
“Our veterans program serves veterans that are all over the county, that’s a big part of our budget,” said Christina Miller, president and CEO of Mental Health America of Los Angeles.
Ford most recently served as past board chairman.
“He’s just a source of support to the agency in every way,” she said. “He cares a lot about mental health. He does a lot to get the word out up in the AV with people he knows. He’s just a great guy.”
Ford served 35 years with the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department before his retirement in January 2016. He started with Mental Health America just before he retired.
“About three months before I retired, they asked me to be on the board there, and I’ve been doing it ever since,” he said in a telephone interview.
When Ford worked in law enforcement, everything they got was in a crisis. They dealt with mental illness on the streets and with everyday families.
“People having problems with their kids, grandkids that had mental issues,” he said. “It was always crisis intervention. It’s nice to get ahead of it a little bit and try and do some prevention for a change. That’s one of the things that’s been really rewarding. There’s all these people that need just a little bit of extra help, just a little bit of expertise from someone, one of our staff that knows what they’re doing.”
Ford concentrated on suicide prevention. His brother-in-law died by suicide several years ago. A few years after he retired, one of the deputies who used to work for him died by suicide.
“That’s one of the things people don’t realize, the mental stress that so many deputies go under,” he said. “Although we have professional help available on the sheriff’s department when I was there, it’s nice to have something that you can offer to everybody and the family and everything. When you have people that are in such dire straits that they feel like they have no way out, sometimes it helps to have somebody that has been in their shoes, either profession like the military people or the police folks. Or just people on the streets.”
Mental Health America offers a lot of peer support from people who have lived with or through a mental crisis.
“That really is one of the things that I really like working with these groups, is that they’re willing to meet people wherever they’re at,” he said. “Most government agencies are restricted with what they’re allowed to do and how they can do it. With a private nonprofit like this, you can go and meet them where they’re at and you don’t have to worry about so many rules and regulations.”
Ford also enjoys working with transition-age youth.
“What you get is a lot of kids that are in the foster care or they’re getting some kind of help with government agencies when they’re juveniles,” he said. “But when they turn 18, they age out of those programs because of the way the funding in the program is structured.”
Having a place where transition-age youth can live after they age out of the system and where they can continue their care as they transition into being adults is important.
“That’s kind of the two main areas that got me involved in a lot of this stuff,” he said. “And of course just all the stuff you see on the streets. So many calls to the police department, and deputies were there that really should have been handled by somebody else.”
The goal is to do something before it becomes a crisis where sheriff’s deputies have to be called.
As a board member, Ford helps with administration, including fundraising, governance and education for families with loved ones who have mental illness. The other part is to advocate on behalf of the organization for legislation.
He urged family members not to ignore “halfhearted” suicide attempts, such as youngsters who take pills and immediately tell someone, or who have hesitation marks where they tried to cut themselves.
Such attempts are a cry for attention.
“Sometimes they can accidentally kill themselves, and once they do it a couple of times, it becomes easier and easier,” he said. “It’s really important that you confront them directly.”
He urged family members not to be afraid to call law enforcement or mental health professionals, someone who can force the issue if they need to.
“Don’t be afraid to talk about it,” he said.
The end of December will mark Ford’s 10th year on the nonprofit organization’s board of directors. He will term out and need to wait at least one year before he can rejoin the board. He served four years beyond the usual six years because he was board chairman.
“Just stepping off the board doesn’t mean you have to stop doing things,” he said. “Anything we can do to bring awareness, to bring eduction to families and the public. It’s one of those things where everybody’s got to pitch in with this. The mental health professionals and the police and fire can’t be everywhere.”
He urged anyone who sees someone struggling to talk to them and let them know they care and that they are paying attention.
Also honored at the event was Lancaster resident Rennie Euwing. Euwing is a former Mental Health America Los Angeles member who became a long-time staff member and recently retired.