FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Child Mental Health Initiative - Community Forum

Fort Myers, FL (August 21, 2003) Lee County Department of Human Services in conjunction with the Department of Children and Families (DCF), Southwest Florida Addiction Services (SWFAS), Ruth Cooper Center, National Alliance for the Mentally Ill (NAMI) and Camelot Community Care, Inc. is hosting a community forum on September 3, 2003 between 9am and 1pm at the Career and Service Center, 4150 Ford Street Extension in Fort Myers, to discuss the mental health needs of children, birth through age 21 in Lee County.

The forum is the first step in developing an application to the Federal government requesting over $8,000,000 in funding to help develop an integrated system of care for children with serious emotional disturbances and their families.

Participants will be asked to look at eight (8) components of service delivery to identify program needs: Education, Mental Health Services, Social Services, Recreation, Health Services, Substance Abuse Services, Vocational Services and Operational Services.

Parents of children are encouraged to come and provide input to community organizations and county staff on the gaps in services and/or the barriers to accessing services for their children.

The "Core Values" [Stroul, B. A., & Friedman, R.M.] that are guiding the grant application and the forum are:

--The system of care should be child-centered and family-focused, with the needs of the child and family dictating the types and mix of services provided.

--The system of care should be community-based, with the focus of services, as well as management and decision-making responsibility, resting at the community level.

--The system of care should be culturally competent, with agencies, programs, and that services are responsive to the cultural, racial, and ethnic differences of the population they serve.

If you have any questions, please contact Karen Hawes at 652-7930, Kevin Lewis at 332-6937 or Pam Baker at 338-1262.