A Palm Beach County social justice organization is part of a growing network dedicated to improving access to mental health services.<\/p>\n
PEACE<\/a> members are focused on community issues including the county\u2019s teams of medical professionals and social workers who step in when severely mentally ill people are in crisis.<\/p>\n The faith-based organization contends that the teams are severely understaffed.<\/p>\n Last week, about 300 members of PEACE heard from state and county leaders who said they share their goal.<\/p>\n \u201cI think our biggest takeaway is that we have people in Palm Beach County on all levels wanting to address this,\u201d PEACE associate organizer Megan Sease told Stet News after the organization\u2019s Oct. 27 Community Problems Assembly<\/a>.<\/p>\n READ MORE: Palm Beach County police agencies join crisis mental health care program<\/a><\/p>\n PEACE has appealed to the state Department of Children and Families to expand the teams, and now members are moving on to the state Legislature.<\/p>\n State Sens. Mack Bernard and Lori Berman, both Democrats from Palm Beach County, committed to the group that they will pursue legislation to increase the staffing of Palm Beach County\u2019s mental health crisis teams.<\/p>\n Coming up: Air traffic control<\/p>\n PEACE leaders recently connected with the Health Care District, which is proposing a reconfiguration of mental health care in Palm Beach County.<\/p>\n Dr. Courtney Phillips<\/a>, the district\u2019s vice president of behavioral health, shared with PEACE members the district\u2019s plans for a mental health crisis stabilization center<\/a> to open by 2029. She described it as kind of an air traffic control to help people manage their illness. The budget for the project is $145 million.<\/p>\n Phillips emphasized there are places to turn now, including the Health Care District\u2019s outpatient mental health clinic in Mangonia Park, which is open from 7 am to 7 pm seven days a week.<\/p>\n \u201cYou do not need to go to the hospital,\u201d Phillips said. \u201cYou do not need to know if the loved one you\u2019re taking care of, or yourself, needs anything. You just have to show up. And we\u2019ll figure that out. That\u2019s going to be the ethos of our new facility.\u201d<\/p>\n PEACE\u2019s reach<\/p>\n