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Governor Ron DeSantis and First Lady Casey DeSantis Hold Mental Health Listening Session

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Governor Ron DeSantis and First Lady Casey DeSantis today held a Mental Health Listening Session at the Governor’s Mansion with state agency leadership and elected officials to discuss how they can collaborate and communicate with local stakeholders to ensure Floridians are aware and have access to mental health and suicide prevention services currently available in Florida.

“Given the current climate and recent events affecting our state, we must act now and be solution-oriented in addressing mental illness,” said Governor DeSantis. “From students to veterans, this is an issue that has impacted and touched families throughout our state. We are making mental health a priority in my administration and committing to a multi-year focus on identifying and developing statewide strategies to improve mental health services for Floridians.”

During the listening session, the Governor and state agency leadership highlighted that $1.8 billion is currently being recommended for the upcoming fiscal year for mental health and suicide prevention, which is more than a $349 million increase over the previous fiscal year.

“Today was a big step forward to start an important conversation, which we need to have all across the state. I look forward to working with our communities, agency heads and the private sector to help find solutions we are all looking for,” said First Lady DeSantis. “Many Floridians are struggling with mental illnesses that are not visible to an outside observer. We must work to reduce the stigma so often associated with mental illness and focus efforts on getting those the help they need, before it is too late.”

Photo Credit: Governor’s Press Office

Governor Ron DeSantis’ Bold Vision for a Brighter Future Budget provides an additional $349 million in mental health funding over the previous fiscal year in a number of areas. The Governor has proposed an additional:

  • $3.1 million to for mental health facilities provided by the Department of Children and Families (DCF).
  • $65.1 million to support community mental health and substance abuse provided through the DCF.
  • $270.3 million to support Medicaid that provides Community Mental Health Services through the Agency for Health Care Administration (AHCA).
  • $10 million to support mental health through the Department of Education (DOE).
  • $2.9 million to add 28 intensive mental health beds to be provided through the Department of Juvenile Justice (DJJ).

Several elected officials and state agency heads joined the Governor and First Lady at the listening session, including:

  • Lieutenant Governor Jeanette Nuñez
  • Secretary Chad Poppell, Florida Department of Children and Families (DCF)
  • Secretary Simone Marstiller, Florida Department of Juvenile Justice
  • Commissioner Rick Swearingen, Florida Department of Law Enforcement
  • Commissioner Richard Corcoran, Florida Department of Education
  • Executive Director Danny Burgess, Florida Department of Veterans Affairs
  • Secretary Mary Mayhew, Agency for Healthcare Administration
  • Director Jared Moskowitz, Florida Division of Emergency Management
  • Senator Lauren Book, Chair of the Children, Families, and Elder Affairs Committee
  • Representative Ray Rodrigues, Chair of the Health & Human Services Committee
  • Senator Darryl Rouson, Vice Chair of the Banking and Insurance Committee and member of the Committee on Health Policy
  • Dr. Patricia Babcock, Deputy Secretary, Florida Department of Children and Families
  • Jennifer Johnson, Florida Department of Health

DISABILITY RIGHTS FLORIDA NEGOTIATES SETTLEMENT PROVIDING COMPREHENSIVE REFORM TO FLORIDA’S PRISON INPATIENT MENTAL HEALTH CARE SYSTEM

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Disability Rights Florida, Florida’s Protection and Advocacy organization for individuals with disabilities, is announcing a settlement agreement signed with the Florida Department of Corrections (FDC) which will have widespread impact on the care and treatment for persons with severe and persistent psychiatric disabilities incarcerated throughout Florida’s prisons. The suit was brought with the assistance of attorneys from Florida Legal Services and the Holland & Knight law firm. The complaint, filed alongside the settlement agreement, alleged that the FDC deliberately and consistently denied mental health care to individuals with mental illness confined in inpatient mental health care units.  Disability Rights Florida alleged that lack of care contributed to several deaths, including suicides, due to the failure to provide appropriate mental health care and adequate supervision.  Disability Rights Florida further alleged that persons with mental illness were denied access to programs, services, and activities due to segregation and isolation.

“This settlement agreement represents significant changes to the way that inmates with serious mental illness receive care and treatment while serving sentences in Florida’s prisons” said Maryellen McDonald, Executive Director of Disability Rights Florida. “With the dramatic rise of individuals with serious mental illness entering our criminal justice system, it is no surprise that our state prisons have sadly become the last stop for those most at risk of severe psychiatric crisis.  We are very pleased that Secretary Jones and the Office of General Counsel chose to resolve this matter through mediation and negotiation rather than protracted litigation.”

The settlement agreement was the result of a multiyear investigation by Disability Rights Florida into the care and treatment of inmates with mental illness in the Florida prison system.  The results of that investigation, combined with the efforts of a multidisciplinary team of experts, led to a year-long set of mediation sessions between the parties. The settlement agreement was collaboratively crafted with the assistance of Judge Harvey Schlesinger, a federal court judge in the Middle District of Florida.

The agreement includes provision for monitoring by the Correctional Medical Authority that will span over two years.  During that time, FDC has agreed to make widespread changes in its psychiatric treatment system by providing individually-tailored, results-driven treatments with a multidisciplinary treatment team focus.  Many of Disability Rights Florida’s complaints concerned the isolation of inmates with mental illness, and FDC will enact policies that increase the amount of time inmates spend outside their cells in therapeutic activities along with purposeful encouragement for these patients to leave their cells to engage in treatment services.   Finally, perhaps most important, FDC has agreed to provide extensive training to its medical providers and security staff working with this population of inmates due to their specialized set of needs in the institutional setting.

The attorneys who participated on the case were Peter Sleasman, Kristen Lentz, and David Boyer from Disability Rights Florida; Christopher Jones and Andrea Costello from Florida Legal Services; and Buddy Schulz, Laura Renstrom, Sheila Shen, and Mindy Higby from Holland & Knight.  The case is Disability Rights Florida v. Jones, 3:18-cv-179-J-25JRK in the Middle District of Florida. For more information or copies of the Settlement Agreement, please contact Peter Sleasman at Disability Rights Florida, [email protected] or 850.488.9071.