Behavioral Health Advisory Board - Mar 25, 2026

Please call the roll and announce the presence of a quorum. Good morning. Miriam Stewart, Dr. Tiffany Amrich, Heather Winters. Present. Karen Annuziano. Present. Victoria Mallette. You do a public prayer. Carlos J Martinez, Christopher Wing, Edith Wright, Ludus Dorado. Present. William Delaney, Alfredo Hernandez. Present. Michelle Fernandez, Susan Holtzman. Present. Carolyn Acosta. Present. Tim Coffey. Present. Dr. Joseph Poitier, Gustavo Cruz, Luis Espinosa, Vice Chairman Claudio Perez, Chairman Garcia. Present. We have a quorum. Thank you. Members, if we can please rise so Carolyn can start us off with a prayer and then our public defender can do the Pledge of Allegiance. Is that fair? That's fair. Okay. Acosta. In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Lord Jesus, thank you for another day that we're here on this earth, that we're able to bring our, you know, advice and stuff like that, make change in this world. I thank God for all our blessings. I pray for those who are in need and thank you all for being here today and being able to help this great cause to bring more services for our community. Amen. In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen. Thank you. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation, unto God, indivisible, with liberty and justice. Thank you. Thank you both for that. We're now in a reasonable opportunity to be heard. And again, as we go through the agenda, I want everyone to know that you're always going to have the ability to question whatever we have up here or have your input noted for the record. So with that, I think we have, we're on track, I think we have Ms. Paulette Daro. Did I pronounce that correctly? Absolutely. Good morning, everyone. I thank you guys for being here. Ms. Paulette, normally they give you two minutes, but since we're just here, I'll give you a little more flexibility for that. I have a mental health condition right now as we speak. I've been, because of my residency where I live, I've been hit so bad. From 5-27-09 until present, I have all the information here. And because I've been hit by the tenants continuously, this is why I have a mental health condition. Even recently, I was abandoned in the hospital for three and a half days. The mental health condition, act up. When I act up, only God can take me out of it. What my residents are doing to me, the hate. I'm blocked from coming into my apartments. They're always throwing things down to disrupt my condition. Fragrance, I wear my medical alert bracelet. I can never take it off. So when anyone find me unconscious in the street, they can look at this bracelet to see what's going on with me. Only prescribed medication can help me. But they do this out of spite, because they'll practice the hate. God see and know what goes on with me. I'm delighted to come to this board to let you guys know help is needed. My question, how long do I have to take this abuse from these citizens? I filed a complaint about three weeks ago, again to the manager's site. I've written letters, many, many, to the mayor and also to my commissioners. I've did so many, so much police reports. I even also did. I did an injunction against these residents. But they feel it's a game. Even human waste was on my steps. I had cleaned that up. When it's not human waste, it's cords. Bunchy cords. So many feet. I'll continue to pray and ask God for help. Help, Jesus. And I always walk with that cart for help. Not only do I walk with that, I have portraits of that as well. I have many portraits in my telephone. And when they see me come now, what they have camera ups on by my mailbox. So when they see me leave, they'll toss something in the walkway. So when I come, when I'm coming, I have to be very careful. They even toss water with some fragrance just for me to just pass out. Board members, I tell you, you just don't know what I go through, but God does. I pray if I didn't have God in my heart, that's just how I'm making it. Take medication as well so I can make it through. But I have all the evidence that you need. It is rough. It is rough. That's why I was in the hospital. Again, for this ongoing condition that I have to face in the apartment. Well, Ms. Paulette, I'll tell you, this is what we're trying to do here. We're trying to make sure that we have a system that's not only for a select few, but a system that really does provide services for everyone in the community. And people like yourself, this is where the whole goal of this committee is to make sure that we put forward policies and procedures in place that can have individuals access the system that we have currently in place. So Ms. Burgos, would you mind helping us take her information and see, she says she has filed some police reports just to see if they've filed what jurisdiction the police reports were filed, and to see if there's any help that we can provide to her through our services here at the county. We'll truly appreciate that. Is that fair? Yes. But my site manager said, quote, they should not have no camera at my mailbox because I live on a government site. This is a federal government violation because they was even taking my mail out the box. And this is why, look, we have Kathy right behind you. Kathy Burgos is here. She will be happy to take the information, and then I will follow up. My office will follow up if we can with Kathy and with yourself, and we'll see what we can try to help you with. Okay? Thank you so much for your help. Thank you. And I thank you guys for being here. You're doing your best to help citizens like us with the mental. God bless you. I appreciate this. Keep God in your heart. Yes. And this is why it's so important to have a lot of faith-based initiatives because I think that is a big part of what's missing in our society, regardless of religion, is making sure that we have spirituality and hope, and that's where it comes from, from above, at least for me. That's a personal note. So I appreciate your comments, and I think this is exactly what we're trying to do here. So God bless you. God bless you. Kathy, just follow up with her. Thanks again. Thank you. Ms. Shannon Fraser. Good morning. Thank you, honorable senator and board members. My name is Sharon Fraser. I'm going to say this because I've came here several times at the commission meeting and the housing meeting talking about Liberty Square. Liberty Square is a new development. It used to be the old what they call pork and beans. You can take the girl out of the country, but you can't take the country out of the girl. What happened with Liberty Square, the people has never mended. Mental health is very rampant. Anybody who do drugs early in the morning in a can of beer, that's a mental health issue. Instead of eating some grits, bacon and eggs and some biscuits or eating some strong, healthy food, such as fruits or whatever. I've been living in Liberty Square since September 20th. But before that, I used to be a living aid with my mom. She passed away in 2023. Every morning, like this morning I woke up, I had to wake up to cigarette smell. I have COPD and asthma. And you can imagine walking up 15 steps trying to get to my units. Your lungs are overworking, so you're inhaling. On March the 9th, I had to euthanize my little Yorkie. That was my emotional support. I have two Yorkies. The girl's name is Tazzy. She's 10 and Molly was 11. My best friend gave Molly to me. And when my son was walking the dog at night, the hallways were so filled of marijuana laced with Molly's. A regular marijuana don't smell like that. Your eyes burn. Your throat gets sore in your chest. I felt like something had done laid a brick because I'm trying to gasp for air. Senator, we had had PACD. We had a meeting. But now we got to really start enforcing because one of the residents who had been at the old Liberty Square, now she's at the new Liberty Square in phase two and three. Like we say, the gangs, the drugs is back. The shooting is back. The man that hit the man, one man who hit the man in Atta Pata. When I came home from the doctor's office, I seen Channel 10 on the corner of 67 12th Avenue. I say, oh, was it a shooting inside Liberty Square? He said, no. He said, a man did a hit and run and came all the way to Liberty Square and they found him in phase one. He lived in phase one. We, the city of Miami is okay. And I hope, what they call it, Chief Manny Morales, I hope he's listening. Because your police officers got to do a little bit more. The, the, the management group that the county gave the developer related group, urban related, whatever their name is. They gave them money so we can live. And the places are nice, you guys. The places are, they look like condominiums. They do. They look like condominiums. It's way better. That marijuana, Molly smoking, the cigarette smoking, the drinking early in the morning. It's spring break time. But thank God we got some CBOs that's helping some of the little kids. And it got so worse, the kids set the tot lot on fire about two weeks ago. In my phase. So I'm asking, I'm begging. We need someone to come to that center, Liberty Square Community Center. Because it ain't all about bingo and getting turkeys. We had a farm shot there. I didn't even know. But we need, those people are broken. Yes, I have anxiety and I have depression because of my mom. And now I went into deep depression. And I was sitting in my house. And I did go to the NAMI. NAMI had the conference. I went there. And if I wouldn't have went to that conference, Senator, I was sitting there in my living room. I had nothing but to try to take that depression medicine. Because I had all kinds of crazy thoughts in my head about what I'm going to do to my neighbor. What I'm going to do to my son. And I fell on my knees and I called out to God. And I said, God help me. Because Molly was my baby. I had him since he was two years old. He was my emotional support animal. That's my fur baby. And for someone to just take him away from me like that. He was healthy. He had all his vaccines. Both of my dogs, I make sure. Sometimes I go without eating just to get them their medication. But these people are breaking other people that live in there. The senior citizens, the disabled people. We are suffering in Liberty Square. I didn't know it was that bad until I moved over there. It's a great place to live. But we need to do some cleaning up. And the sheriff, Rosie, and the state attorney needs to come over there. So these people can know when you violate the law, you have to get punished. Thank you, board members, for doing what you guys are doing. Especially NAMI. I love y'all. And you, Senator. And I know by me coming here, it's going to be a difference. I know that in my heart. God bless you all. And happy spring. Happy spring break. And happy Lent season. Thank you, Ms. Fraser. What we'll do is, you have our number. Feel free to call us. And we'll follow up with the commissioner of the area, one. And two, with the sheriff. I think that is in the city of Miami, if I'm not mistaken. I'm not sure. But I think Liberty Square is in the city of Miami. We'll follow up with the police department there as well. Maybe just get a little background. Maybe we could do an extra little security detail they can do out there. I'm not sure what the process is. But we'll just follow up with our office. You know how to get a hold of us. All right? God bless you. All right, members. With that, is there any other members that would like to speak? Seeing that, we'll close the public opportunity, reasonable opportunity to speak. Also, remember that if another item comes up, you're free to speak to the board. Amanda, can you please walk us through the rest of the agenda? Yes. Good morning, everyone. In regards to new member vacancies, we do have a current vacancy from Miami-Dade County's Fire Rescue. We are waiting for a designation. Other than that, we are fully staffed on this board. Next up, we have some presentations. The first presentation we have is the Key Clubhouse presented by Amy McLean. The presentations are about 10 minutes each. I want to introduce our CEO, Deborah Webb. She's doing the presentation with me. Hello, everybody, and thank you for letting us do a presentation. I see familiar faces, especially our Senator Garcia. If anybody doesn't know what a clubhouse is, does anybody know what a clubhouse is? Okay. Well, I'll explain again. So we are a membership organization that works with people with severe mental illnesses for employment, going back to school, socialization, gaining access to community resources. Here in Miami, we've got one on 27th Avenue, Northwest, which is Northside. The other one we just opened a year and a half ago, which is in West Kendall, as a result of families coming to us saying, we need a clubhouse in Kendall. And I'll let Amy do the next one. I actually don't have that in front of me. But if you can read our mission and vision, we started the clubhouse with the intention of helping people reintegrate into the world of work and recovery. So the clubhouse organization started in 2008 with a group of family members like myself. I was one of them, a mom, with a daughter who has bipolar disorder. And we actually got together through a support group and decided to start a clubhouse. We visited a clubhouse and realized that it was exactly what the type of place where our children could recover all the different aspects of their lives that they'd lost through schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, major depression. And so we got together. We learned how to start a clubhouse from Clubhouse International. We opened the first clubhouse in 2010, downtown Miami. We moved to a larger place in 2013 in a car for supportive housing project. And then in 2021, we were able to move into our current large clubhouse at Northside, Northside Commons. And then in 2024, we were able to open a second clubhouse in West Kendall, thanks to funding from the state and through Thriving Mind. So we now have the two clubhouses. And Amy has heard me say this, but I believe we need a more another clubhouse. There's folks in in Miami Beach that are asking. There's people out in the Hialeah area. So clubhouses are a place where people actually thrive and get better. Why? Because we get them work. We give them support on a daily basis. So if you're in the hospital and then you get out three days later, as the woman that was speaking before, you have a place to come. You have a place to belong. You have a community. You have a family that is constantly with you. Right now at Northside, we have 160 members. And at West Kendall, we've already served 54. So we've got a lot of members and people that need help and support. So I think Miami-Dade is lucky to have two. Actually, three. There's one run by Fellowship House called Club Fellowship. And they're down in the Palmetto Bay area. We have 370 clubhouses around the world. So I'm not sure everybody understands that there's a movement in this. It's been happening since my staff makes fun of me. But 1948 it started. But in 1968 is when it all got incorporated. I'm a big believer in clubhouses. I've seen people get better, not just because of their medication, which is important, but because of the support and the work and going back to school. In Florida, I'm part of the coalition, former president of it. And we have 20 clubhouses right now that are in Florida. And we're getting ready to bring on probably about two more. So the state of Florida has been supportive of clubhouses and getting people better. So we serve adults ages 18 and above who live with serious mental illnesses, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, major depression, schizoaffective disorder. And as you all know, these are chronic incurable conditions. So they start when a person is very young, 14, 18, you know, usually before the age of 25. So right in that really crucial stage of development. And it can really have a traumatic effect on a person's life and their family as well. It's a major cause of homelessness, school dropout. Both of my daughters actually dropped out of school. Social isolation, unemployment, hospitalization, as you all know. And also incarceration as our jails are the major provider of mental health services. How does a clubhouse work? Basically, we have a work order day just like any other business. We look like a business. You come in. You have a 9 o'clock. Well, there's coffee and a snack bar and a kitchen and all that wonderful stuff. We do have the cafecito. And we have a 9 o'clock morning meeting where everybody sits around and we figure out what's going to happen in the day. It's called a work order day. You've been with us. And members choose what they're going to do. I call it the things to do list. That's just in my head. But what we call it in the clubhouse, it's the work order day. So everybody has a task. Everybody is busy. The members are running the clubhouse. They're feeling purposeful. They're making a contribution like anybody that wants to be alive and work in the community. We have pre-employment training. What is that? We work side by side along with the staff to learn different skills, but also to get back in the routine of working. Many of our members are professional people that have, because of their episode and their mental health disorder, their life went off track. So we help them get back on track, getting to work on time, working as a team, having to do conflict resolution. All of that is part of healing. We also, because we want to end isolation for our members, we do weekend activities. I believe that the weekend activities should reflect your community. So we have been to the Perez Museum. We go to the zoo. We do all the wonderful artsy things that Miami offers, which is very rich. So we take the members to the various activities in Miami. And we do some things during the week and the evening so they're not alone. All of this so people will not be alone. Because on Fridays when we're all happy, it's time to go home and have a weekend. Our members are not. So we have to be very sensitive to that. The employment program, I'm going to make it short because I don't want to run out of time here. But we have a three-tier employment program. We're the only organization in Miami and actually in the country that does this. It's called Transitional Employment. I'm also here today to ask any of you if you have like 15 hours a week you'd like to give us a part-time job for our members. I would be glad to speak to you about that. Last year we put 48 people back to work who have not worked in a very long time because of their mental health disorder. This is a very, very good outcome and these folks are thriving. In terms of education, a lot of our members have their first episode when they're in college so they drop out. Or in high school, of course ours is 18 and up, as Amy said her daughters. We have helped 22 people get back to school this last year. So we're that gap that gets you back on track. What happens in the clubhouse? There's wonderful photos here. I don't know that you can see them. I can see it right there. But we also do all the training for the CIT officers. I got together with HOPSE a couple years ago and I said I've got to do something about our members are so afraid of the police department that when an episode does happen, it just amplifies the fear. So we started doing CIT training so people with mental illnesses can get to know the officers and the officers could get to know them. And it's been a wonderful thing for us because when they are called, a lot of our CIT officers know our members. So that's wonderful. We also will help with their food stamps. If they don't have a primary care doctor, a lot of people with mental illnesses have higher disorders of conditions. So we get them linked up with a primary care or behavioral health and now we're starting dentistry. We're almost out of time. Can we keep going because we... We just have a couple more slides. I also wanted to talk about housing. Let's do the housing. Let's do the housing. Okay. Okay. Just to say that we do a survey every year and find out that there is a huge effect of the clubhouse. So in 2021, we moved into a new Carrefour Supportive Housing building in Northside. This was a wonderful partnership between the key clubhouse, Carrefour, and Thriving Mind. And this is the first supportive housing project for people living with serious mental illness that was combined with the clubhouse in the same building. And so... And this is a big deal, as you all know, how important it is for people to have stable housing when they have a mental illness, but also support services, a support network. And so that's what this creates. And... Okay. Also, this has become a replicable model in Broward based on our clubhouse. A new facility was built, Southwest Hammocks in Broward, with the clubhouse up there. Also with Carrefour Supportive Housing. And in fact, this model has now been adapted by the Corporation for Supportive Housing that's partnering with Fountain House in New York City. They're trying to replicate this throughout the country. So we're very proud of that. That's it. That's it. Oh, we're inviting you to come and tour of the clubhouse if you haven't seen it. I know our senator has. But please do come and visit. We'd love to talk to you about jobs for our members, too. It's really important. We thank you for your presentation. Thank you. One question that I have as it relates to the housing. I'm sure there's a wait list to get in. How long are residents staying with you? Well, we have... The partnership we have with Carrefour Supportive Housing is we have about 50 of the units there right now. So, unfortunately, they stay with us indefinitely. We have had some people that have passed away more than I would like. So, it's indefinite. Permanent Supportive Housing. Yeah. Yeah. Except one... I will say one of them went off to go independent. We got her a full-time job and she was able to afford more so than that. But, yeah, it's permanent. That's fair. Questions? I have some comments, if I could. I learned about the clubhouses when I was working in the mayor's office as her mental health advocate. And I was amazed at this model and how people were being employed. People who had actually been on the street for quite a while were being employed and were able to find housing and live as independently as they possibly could, you know, permanently, which is an amazing thing. I have a very close family member who lives in the new building in Broward County, was a member of that clubhouse, and now is an employee of that clubhouse helping other members to find jobs and become active community members. It has been life-changing for him and for our family. And I just, I cannot be more supportive of this. Also, many of the members of the clubhouse are members of the NAMI support groups, and their families are members of our family support groups. So there is a connection. This is part of this overall net that we have. But we do have to remember that people with mental illness have lifetime chronic illnesses. So transitioning them completely out of this kind of a setting or out of supportive housing may never really be a realistic goal, and I think we need to be realistic about that. Thank you. Agreed. Thank you. Any other questions, members? Mr. Chairman, I'd just add that I have seen the clubhouse. I've been to Northside Commons. We have some federal dollars on the housing side and some set-asides for people experiencing homelessness. We took a contingent from Salt Lake City there. We took the National Lifestand Homelessness Leadership Council there. And I would echo everything you say that long-term subsidized housing is necessary for a particular population who has serious mental illness, substance use, and has a history of homelessness. We are feeling a shift now in the federal administration away from that and potentially moving to, you know, 24 months. I worry about how we're going to situate some of these individuals for the rest of their life if their subsidy ends and the services and support aren't ongoing. Lastly, I'll just anecdotally tell you, Mr. Chairman, how desperately this housing is needed. I had a mother with an adult son who was severely mentally ill. All she wanted to do was be near enough to the clubhouse so her son could engage with this program. And this building was full. And we didn't have great options in the area. So I just cannot tell you what a lifesaver this is to parents with adult children with serious mental illness. So thank you. And I appreciate it. And thank you so much for the work that you do. Thank you all for being here and doing what you can to help the community. We're trying. Amanda. Thank you, everyone. Our next presentation is from the Miami-Dade County Communications, Information, and Technology. It's the social media campaign presented by Ms. Delgado and her team. Is this what came out of the committee conversations? Perfect. Yes. So the committee did meet about a few weeks ago. And they came together with a strategy for how to really conceptualize this campaign. All of this information was then provided to our communications department. And they have been able to provide here today a presentation on their recommendations for a campaign for May as it was motioned in our last meeting in January. Okay. So, members, pay attention. Not that we're not paying attention, but this is what we need to pay the big bucks for. Let's do this. Good morning. My name is Eileen Delgado. I'm Acting Assistant Director for the Community Information and Technology Department over the Strategic Communications Pillar. And so what we've got here today is the Mental Health Awareness Campaign presentation based on the information provided to us by community services. So, mental health, as you all know, continues to be heavily stigmatized, which prevents many residents from seeking help. Even when individuals are ready to seek support, they often have faced difficulty locating or navigating available resources because they're decentralized across many different organizations. So, for this reason, the county does have an opportunity to take a more proactive role in increasing awareness and simplifying access to services. And these are critical factors that are part of the campaign. With this in mind, our proposed recommendation is designed to reduce stigma and connect Miami-Dade residents with accessible, trustworthy mental health information and support. Our recommendation was developed with three primary goals in mind, and they are to strengthen brand credibility in the mental health space and improve public trust, drive awareness and engagement with available mental health services by increasing service inquiries, digital accessibility, and newsletter sign-ups, and by building sustainable audiences through long-term engagement across digital channels. Our strategic approach, in collaboration with the community services department, we recommend launching dedicated social media channels to establish direct communication pathways and foster ongoing engagement. We suggest starting with Facebook and Instagram because they ranked highest in the media consumption research for the target audiences provided to us. We also recommend developing a centralized campaign landing page to serve as a one-stop shop where we can aggregate resources in one place. We recommend implementing a digital first strategy aligned with audience and media consumption trends for greater efficiency and reach, and developing a campaign that includes videos, audio, and digital assets to support awareness and engagement across multiple channels. While the objective of the campaign is to target general audiences in Miami-Dade County, we recommend initially hyper-targeting these specific audiences that you see before you, as they may face unique mental health challenges or barriers to accessing support. So, these include first responders and, sorry, healthcare industry workers, teens and young adults, adults and parents, professionals and HR leaders, caregivers and families. In addition, we have included older adults as a key community segment, as this population is significantly impacted by health-related challenges and increased risks of social isolation. These are our key takeaways from the media consumption research we conducted for each target audience. Video streaming consistently delivers high reach across all audience groups. Based on audience media consumption trends, 100% of first responders and 91% of teens and young adults have used a video streaming service in the past 30 days. Examples of those include Netflix, YouTube, and Amazon Prime Video. Our recommendation is going to focus on YouTube and Amazon Prime because they're more cost-effective and more viewers on these platforms watch content with ads. Google platforms is also ranked high across all audience groups with 80% of adults and parents and 77% of teens and young adults using Google as their primary search engine site in the past 30 days. Social media and audio streaming provide strong supplementary engagement. Facebook consistently ranked high across most audience groups while Instagram ranked higher than Facebook among teens and young adults. And with that, this is our recommended media allocation. We recommend implementing a digital first paid media strategy with a total advertising investment of $70,000 running from May through August. 44% of that budget will be allocated to social media advertising including Facebook and Instagram boosted posts and influencer partnerships. We also recommend partnering with local multicultural media agencies to expand reach and foster authentic community engagement. An additional 30% of the budget will be directed toward digital advertising on the Google platforms including web display banners, Google search, and Google discovery. The remaining funds will be allocated to video and audio streaming platforms such as YouTube and Spotify. Additionally, we do recommend amplifying the campaign in non-paid methods by leveraging in-kind resources through county departments including digital displays, newsletters, websites, and social media. Engaging community partners such as nonprofits, youth programs, and healthcare organizations to expand local reach. Pursuing earned media by coordinating story placements, interviews, and public service coverage across local and multicultural media outlets. And with that, we look forward to continuing to collaborate on the mental health awareness campaign and the strategies that we've presented. Thank you for that presentation, Board Member Holtzman. You're the chair of social media, right? I am, indeed. Do you want to add anything else? Because I think the important thing where I want to see what the messaging is. What's the messaging that we're working on? I love all this. So if you can please. Sure. So first of all, I just wanted to thank Amanda and Matthias and Eddie for all the hard work that they have put into this. That's the county team that comes to the meetings and works with us because that's how this got from our minutes to that presentation. So, and thank you also, but we're very grateful for all the work that they're doing and to the committee members who have been great about showing up for meetings. And we have a very active committee. Amanda, I'm going to ask you, where are the proposed topics? I don't, are they here in the packet? I don't have them in front of me. The agenda was mentioned. Any agenda? Yes. So some of the, what the committee was mentioning when we last met was talking about a discussion on roadmaps, right? And I believe Mr. Gatto did mention in one of her component strategies for that campaign is to have a separate, a separate webpage from what we currently have that I will be reviewing in the next presentation. But a separate webpage for where it's accessible to our county residents and it's a roadmap of our county, potentially maybe looking at different districts and the services within those districts. So we'll be using our collaboration with NAMI and 211 to be able to identify providers within those roadmaps. So we have discussed that. You say district, are you talking commission district or other healthcare districts or just? Just, just, just all across our Miami-Dade County, the committee did want a roadmap. So if you live in Hialeah, where are your closest behavioral healthcare providers that may be specialized without patient treatment? So we wanted to be able to have something that's accessible to everyone. So not the advertisement is, is yes, they'll come to the webpage, but when they get there, it would be like a roadmap of array of services. And that, that is something that CITD has mentioned. They want to discuss more about and provide as a part of this campaign, which is separate from the webpage that represents our board. And I, and I, and I appreciate that. I think what we're, where I'm trying to get to here is what's the message. I get having a roadmap. Uh, and I think the service, find out what the services are. Maybe that is the campaign. This is what is available. You know, I, I think we need to have a message that we come out with that we all providers that are up here can share. So that's where I'm trying to. So, and we do through the chair. All right. So through the chair, um, there, there was some messaging that they, um, that the committee did put together. Um, I do want to just rely this message. So they, they came up with the let's talk about it. Mental health matters. Um, the campaign is a culturally inclusive public awareness initiative focused on helping individuals of all ages, recognize mental health symptoms, understand when to seek support and break longstanding stigmas, especially in communities where discussing emotions has traditionally been discouraged. The campaign aims to grow a combined total of 700 followers across Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn by July 1st, 2026. Serving as the primary measure of increased awareness and engagement. This campaign acknowledges that cultural barriers and stigma often silence conversations around mental health. Common beliefs such as in my culture, we don't talk about it. And silence was tradition will be directly addressed through relatable storytelling and community centered messaging. The campaign will highlight affirming these themes such as there's no shame and struggle and reinforce that individuals are not defined by their mental health challenges reflected in messages. Like my identity is not my mental illness through bilingual content, multicultural community partnerships, stigma, reducing narratives and accessible resources. The campaign will emphasize that no one is alone in their mental health journey. Consistent posting community collaboration and inclusive messaging will work together to reduce the stigma, build trust, increase awareness and guide individual towards available mental health services throughout Miami Dade County. Okay. So I can give you the tagline options that we had come up with as a committee and that we wanted to present. I apologize for the delay on this. So we had, let's talk about it, mental health matters. So visualize this on a social media post or in a bus or in a metro rail, you know. So it has to be short, has to have a visual. That was number one. Number two, you're not alone. Let's talk about it. And then again, with guidance to where to send them. Traditionally, we have sent people to 988 because that is the, um, the most conglomerated place for, uh, for guidance on where to get mental health support. Um, there's no shame in the struggle was number three. Number four was silence was tradition conversation is healing. So again, getting people to talk about it. Um, number five in my culture, we didn't talk about it today. We do, but we have to add in there. I think we have, we didn't talk about mental health today. We do. We have to be very specific. We, you can't say it cause people don't know what that is. Um, there's lots of things that people don't talk about. Um, my identity is not my mental illness. And some of our thoughts for that was to have people dressed as professionals, people dressed as first responders, people dressed as construction workers, whatever, whatever it is. My identity is not my mental illness. Um, and then strong enough to speak brave enough to listen. So those were the seven options that we came up with and wanted to present. Okay. So I think that's a good start for us. That's, um, yes. If I may, I also wanted to, and I always emphasize or at least want to highlight for us to be able to also add substance use disorder language is important. So being able to, you know, emphasize that. And I do agree. And also, you know, showing the diversity within the board and, you know, some of us are providers providing services through throughout the community. So being able to, to highlight that as well, but, you know, just for us to really emphasize substance use disorder in addition to. I think we can, um, I think, uh, when we come up with whatever tagline we come up with, I think we can still incorporate a lot of, you know. Yeah. I may not identify with one. This is not, this is not a mental health board. It's a behavior health board, right? So we can absolutely do that. I don't see why not. So I think, I think the important thing, let's, let's take one step right now and let's come up with our tagline because you guys presented us with seven. So I appreciate the work that was done. Um, can we go through them again? And if we could do, if I could do a little amendment to one, the first one, it says, let's talk about it. Mental health matters. I think it's, let's talk about it. Our mental health matters or your mental health matters. I think that's, uh, personalizes a little bit more. It's just my idea. Um, but, um, uh, this Steven could come up with a tagline. If you have any questions about any ideas or because we should, we have to vote on something. Hi, if I could add, I think, uh, we wanted to be very intentional about not just describing the water, but having an action step. So, uh, we were really leading with, in my culture, we don't talk about mental health or substance misuse, dot, dot, dot. Let's talk. So, um, really inviting that conversation, uh, amongst peers, families, and really focusing on we're such a multicultural community that we thought that this would be something that people could really relate to. So that was kind of the summary I got out of our, um, subcommittee. Yeah. Let's talk about it now. This is, we, let me get, let me go, let me go to you and then go away. Give me a minute. Go ahead. Yes. We wanted to provide options. We're leaning more towards in our, in our culture. We don't talk about it since we are indeed Miami is such a multicultural, but it doesn't only talks about, uh, ethnicity, but it could be race. It could be so many other areas that in our, in that subculture, maybe we don't talk about it and we can don't talk about mental health addictions. We wanted to make it an action, uh, uh, a call to, uh, for people to really seek help. But, uh, we thought that it will be very representative of Miami that, uh, that campaign. Uh, we, we wanted to, again, provide you with other options, uh, but that's, that's what we were discussing. I appreciate that. Will, uh, Louis, Louis, turn your mic. I was just wondering when it comes to the social media, all of it is visual and a lot of the, what success is testimonials. Do you have any community leaders, elected officials, first responders that are willing to come out and say, I'm a chief on the fire department. I've been suffering from PTSD for the last 20 years and yet I've still achieved what I've achieved or whether it's an elected official. Are we pursuing, seeking any particular face or person to be able to visualize this and admit that they, they have it themselves, nothing to be embarrassed of. I've been able to achieve my goals anyway. So we would be working with community services in collaboration with their team to develop a content strategy for social media accounts. So, so can we do test them? Absolutely. We can do testimonials. We can take it whichever direction to really personalize and humanize it as much as possible. Um, but we would be working with community services department and their team in order to make that happen from a campaign standpoint. Um, the creative can be developed with, with these calls to action in mind. Um, but we do need to have the communications infrastructure, meaning your social media pages, the landing page that serves as the one stop shop in order to drive our audiences to these locations to get more resources and information through the board. I, through the board, I just wanted to provide some context in some of the conversations that the committee had. Um, one of the, one of the strategies was, uh, partnering with our community, um, with our community, uh, providers. Uh, we discussed maybe partnering with first alarm as well as improving lives to kind of come together and create 30 to 50 second, um, conversations, kind of like a conversation or a small interview just to kind of raise awareness, right? Um, we had those community, um, that the board did motion to bring in, to bring them in and be able to provide those small little, um, segments. We do believe, or the board through, you know, through this, um, through the committee, they do believe that, uh, that person centered approach will have more of an ability to reach our viewers and create that awareness that is, uh, required. So I think what's important is that we, you're absolutely right. Testimonials are the best way. So I think it's incumbent upon all of us to figure out who we would like to have testimonials. I mean, we are the providers of people, you all are the providers. You have all the relationships and people that we can reach out to and people that we think we could be part of this campaign. So if I, that was me, if I could. So when we talk about, um, and we did land on, we liked this idea of in my culture, um, also because every there's culture and everything, right? So first responders have their own culture. So if you have a visual of a first responder who says in my culture, right, and then really to do what you're doing, all they would have to do is agree to put their own name on it, you know? You know, but when we're talking about stigma, that's a big ask. So I, I would love to be able to do that. I don't know how, you know, maybe we have to run this campaign several times before we have someone willing to step up and do that. But, um, it would be great. Great. And there's any, any comments on this side? I think it's doable. Okay. If I may, uh, there's, so there's a few layers here. First, I guess we need to approve that. We want to create, uh, the, the landing page that we need to create the Instagram. We need to do the Facebook. We need to all agree first, which are going to be the venues then for the message to get through the message. We need to agree then on, is it going to be the proposed ones that we have or the other six options? And one of the things we also discussed in the subcommittee was that we need to all get involved as board members to promote through our social media. And then we talked about some podcasts and a radio show that we have as board members available to promote this. And, and also one of the things that we discussed as well was, I think, getting maybe, uh, uh, someone with a high profile that can join our message. And that is something that we need to identify, propose for the board to approve, and then get that person a high profile. She should be a community member, obviously with a mental health connection that can help us then deliver this message to the community. So there's this few layers that we need to look at. All right. So before we go through the different layers, let's go to the first layer, which is settling on one of the taglines. Um, are we okay with the one we talked about the, in my culture? Let's talk about it. Yeah. Okay. Culture for a struggle with let's talk about it. Then you hit Michelle's point, not focusing on health, that you could have a campaign on visuals that focuses on substance use and or mental health. Yeah. I got to get stuck stuck on the culture part too. Yeah. Cause I, and I like it. I know where we're going. Yeah. I like it. Cause I do like, when we talked about it, uh, you folks talked about, um, the let's talk about it. I love that part about it. Um, mental health matters, or maybe we, there's no shame in the struggle. Uh, cause the struggle, we all struggle. Me personally, I struggle while struggling with something and that could be something unifying. So I don't know. Um, that's why I want to have the dialogue here and I want everyone to say something about it. And since we all have a, we're all very volsterous, you know, we have our strong opinions. So let's go ahead. Through the chair. Um, I, I think that in my culture, um, to your point, I think the visual can explain that by having a diverse visual. So it doesn't need to be explicit in my culture because it could be divisive. So if you have many folks that are there either giving a testimonial or you get the visual representation that there's a diverse culture, then it eliminates the need to use the word. Uh, so I agree. And I think with the, in my culture, I had a problem, uh, with that as well. Uh, but I think, you know, it needs to be, uh, kind of punchy. Uh, like for example, you know, combining what some of the folks have said, mental health, addiction, there's no shame in it. Let's talk about it. You know, I just punch, punch, punch. Uh, because when you say substance use, I talk about substance use and in the community and they're like, what is that? What is that? They don't, they don't really know that that's related to addiction. And I know addiction is only one part of it. Uh, but we've got to remember these are folks that are being exposed to different things and addiction is the one that they hear the most often and they know about. So, uh, that's what I'm suggesting. If I'm sorry, if I'm, if I may, you know, and it's also being mindful cause there's a lot of hard work and advocacy behind, you know, changing the language and how addiction has a negative connotation that could also be incorporated with the campaign as well. You know, cause I, I, I hear what you're saying, but we want to continue to strive and make those efforts cause language really does matter and, and, you know, breaking those walls of stigma. So, yeah. Yeah, I don't, in my culture, but in all honesty, I don't know of any culture where there isn't a stigma. So I don't know if you change the word my to our in all of our cultures, there's a stigma. I don't care if you're, if you're white, Hispanic, black, Asian in all of our cultures, there's not one culture you can tell me that says we're perfectly accepting of what it is. It's always been buried. So maybe if we change my to in all our cultures, um, it's a stigma. It doesn't matter what race or what religion or whatever. It's, it's not something we, we, we readily talk about in any culture. It's always been buried. All right. Carolyn, I think this sounds a little bit better. There's no shame in the struggle. Let's talk. Let's talk. And I think it kind of covers it all. I think that's great. And, um, I think we've used words like that before. And some of the pushback was, um, struggle is pretty vague. I do love it. So I don't want to sound contradictory. Um, but at the same time, someone might interpret that as it could be a financial struggle. It could be something else. So I think we wanted to be very intentional that we were talking about behavioral health. So I do love that. And also, I think we wanted to be more out there that we're talking about behavioral health. So that's just something to consider. That's kind of come up in some of our discussions. I don't mean to push back, but there's, there's no, there's no pushing back. You guys did all the work and we're, this is why we're talking about it now. And I love having this conversation dialogue. Do you guys, uh, you came up, I, I, I, this is where I'm, the struggle here now comes up, right? Cause you're talking about, he's saying, and I liked the idea of the pop, pop, pop. Let's talk about it. Um, yeah. And then, cause he, what did you say here? Mental health, addiction. There's no shame in, there's no shame in the struggle. Let's talk about it. Maybe we can, are you guys okay with that? No. It sounded good to me. Yes. We're getting there. We're getting there. We're getting there. We're getting there. Nikki. Like both suggestions. I didn't know that with you, um, I think it's practical than substance use disorder. So I agree with you there. I was wondering if the, the, the tagline itself, no, no shame in the struggle. Let's talk. If you could somehow embed a visual within the graphic tagline itself, it connotes mental health and substance abuse without saying mental health and substance abuse. I get the point that this is a targeted campaign towards, you know, mental health and substance use disorder. Um, so I'm sort of, you know, wondering if we can be targeted in the way that has been suggested here, but maybe through a visual representation that's embedded into the graphic or tagline that speaks to the issues that you don't want to fall into the background. Um, with that said, financial problems can lead to mental health. Everything can lead to mental health. Um, okay. So I think the idea, I think we all can agree that we want community partners, community leaders, uh, whether whatever, uh, sector they are, whether it's political, uh, not for profit, financial people that can speak to this, uh, to try to help eliminate, uh, reduce, cause we're not going to eliminate, reduce the stigma associated with, um, behavioral health. Um, will you want to say something? I think the other point was, I mean, we're talking about no shame and struggles kind of like, okay. That was the struggle thing. Oh, struggle maybe is the part that, uh, you're struggling with. Yes. I think that if we're talking about struggling with struggle, I got it. No shame. Let's talk. It's, it's instead of repeating, you know, the struggle part is with a little bit of a pushback with love and care. I agree with you. It's good to push back. I agree with the issue with the struggle. I'm sitting here trying to see what other word you could use. Right. Or breaking the stigma. Let's talk about it. No shame. Okay. Okay. No. Could be another, and, and with the substance use. I'm a great secretary right here next to me writing all these things down. He's going to kill me for saying his secretary, but. Substance misuse could be a shorter term, but still staying, you know, in, in that positive footing when it comes to language. Substance misuse. All right. What about using the term behavioral health? I'm not sure how people are aware of what that actually means, right? Yeah. I don't think, I think behavioral health is something, a term that we all use. Right. Exactly. Like you talk to my parents, my nephew, behavioral, what? Yeah. What is that, physical? That's what I figured. You know. I'm just trying to find a way that there's one term that we could use. I wish we could. For people who don't behave. That's what I'm thinking about, thinking about it. Folks. Bill. Substance. I'd like the idea of behavioral health and mental health. Can we settle on substance abuse? Well. No? Misuse. Misuse. Misuse would be more appropriate. Misuse. Mm-hmm. And what about the non-chemical addictions? One of the biggest things that we're seeing right now with adolescents and young adults is the gambling addiction. And that's definitely a mental health problem. Gaming. Gaming, right. And so. All right. Let's figure out one term. So we can figure out substance misuse. Okay. I mean, the term, are you okay with substance misuse? Okay. Anybody would like to go to substance abuse? I get we're trying to change the terminology, but I think the rest of the public understands substance abuse. Maybe it could be another campaign that we do to try to correct it. I think I'm seeing that I will lose that battle on this board if I go to substance abuse. So that's okay. If I may, it would be a great platform to promote it, to be quite honest with you, you know, and it's really on how you present and who's presenting that piece, you know. Win. Win. Thank you. Oh, let's take a vote on that. We should take a vote on that. The word substance misuse. We're going to use that. Correct? I don't think we have to take a formal vote on that. We all feel comfortable with that. So you win. I lose. You see? Chairman loses. Everybody wins. All right. So substance misuse. Okay. So like we got, we're going to use that. All right. So we're getting there. So let's go. Where are we? Carlos? We got it. Mental health substance misuse. There's no shame. No shame. No shame. No shame. No shame. Or let's talk. Actually. I kind of like that. I mean, the thing, I think. I think. Let's talk. We want people. I guess that's the call to action. That's the call to action. Right. But no shame. I'd want advice here from our social media experts. Yes. So actually we really do like the let's talk concept. It gives us a lot that we can do creatively. And then because we're launching social media channels, right? Like that's a form of engagement in a way that, you know, we can talk to them and back and forth. Right. And provide those resources. That's fair. I like that. That's no shame. Okay. Louie, you laughing over there. You better not be laughing at me. I know it sounds silly, but I like the rhyming slogans like be kind to your mind. You know, something that's catchy like that, or it's okay not to be okay. Or I know it sounds silly, but nowadays, unfortunately, with the prevalence of media and everything else, something catchy and like that is, is a little, but on this board, there's a lot of experience here. And I know that you want to get the right words out there. But nowadays, I think the most simplistic, most direct, and those rhyming things stay in your head. You know, I, I can still sing the, the, with the song from, you know, McDonald's 30, you know, my bologna. All right, sing it. Yeah. Sing it. My bologna has a first name. No, no, I'm kidding. I'm kidding. Don't sing it. Don't sing it. It's O-S-E-A-R. All right. So, no, I, I, I think you're right. Um, and I think this is why, uh, we've been able to narrow it down to, to what we're dialoguing up here because I think the culture one was a lot. And to your point, while this doesn't rhyme, I think it's a little more catchy. Um, so, okay, let's see where we are. What do we have now? Where are we? Carlos. What I have now. You're gonna kill me. Amanda, do you know what we have? Mental health. Okay. No shame. Let's talk. That's the last one. Or maybe just let's talk. I think we're good. Is that the no shame? Yeah. I like the no shame. I like the no shame too. Mm-hmm. What were you thinking? Without the no shame, but I'm, I'm okay with it. I'm just thinking out loud and I'm trying not to do too much of that now. So. No, please do. You guys did all the work, so. Eight words. We. Now, on the other side, are we talking about mental health? Are we talking about mental illness? So this is an ongoing debate in the world of mental illness, because if you, if you're meant, if you have mental health, that means you're healthy. Healthy. If you have mental illness, that means you have an illness. So, I mean, I think, I just want to bring it up. I think most people would read that is because people don't, the stigma is against the word illness. Right. People don't want to talk about illness. So we'll talk about mental health, but not mental illness. And I know NAMI National has even considered changing the name to take out illness and make it health. They decided against it. I don't want to test it, but just putting that out there because I feel like it's my duty. Me personally, and I appreciate that, but me personally, I think it stays with substance misuse, mental health. I think that keeps it kind of coordinated. I mean, in the same vein. I'm okay either way. I don't know what you all think. Or adding challenges, mental health challenges, you know, maybe just even adding that. I know, but if you're, I'm not going to say anything. I have a comment with just having, cause I'm imagining a comma, mental health, substance misuse. What if it's mental health or substance misuse? What was it? The iteration? No shame. Unless we're getting rid of it. Let's talk. Because I don't know if you're going to remember it to Lewis's point. I mean, it doesn't rhyme, but mental health, substance misuse, like let's talk, you know, I don't know if the or matters to anybody else, but that's my takeaway. May I offer a suggestion? I'm sorry. Yeah. It has to fit graphically. So we can tailor different variations of creative for a specific message. So they could all fall under the let's talk umbrella, and we could have one variation that focuses on one topic and another that focuses on a different topic. So that is an option. So the campaign could be that let's talk about it. Right. And then we focus that we, that's not a bad idea either. And then depending on the targeted group. Correct. Substance abuse, substance misuse, substance misuse, substance misuse. Let's talk about it. Correct. Mental health. Let's talk about our mental illness. Let's talk about it. We have no shame in there, right? Yeah. Yeah. No shame. Yeah. Okay. All right. So let's do that. I think we feel, what is the final tagline then? That's the no shame. Let's talk about it. All right. Let's, let's talk. Okay. Let's talk. Wow. This is a very detailed group. Okay. All right. That part. I think, I think when you do need a vote on that, so let's do the vote on the ending of the tag, right? Which is no shame. Let's talk about it. Let's talk. Let's talk. Please make the motion. Go ahead. What's the motion? Because I clearly made the wrong motion. No shame. Let's talk. Substance misuse and mental health. I second. I think that works. Okay. All in favor? Aye. Yes. They voted unanimously. All right. Perfect. Good job. That was, it's in committee. I want to thank you, Susan, and I want to, in committee, thank you so much for the work you put into it. This is a big part of the reason that we're here. And I think coming up with this campaign, at least with this tagline, it starts the conversation for all of us. So it could be on all of us to go back. Amanda, where do we go from here then? I know we have this budgeted item here for the $70,000. I commit to doing something for my office as well. We could put a budget together. Where do we go from here? Yeah. I do. I do require a vote, a motion today, as well as... A plan on the actual plan. Correct. With the expenditure. Correct. Or is the expenditure a little bit different? The expenditure we would require approval. I could contact... Right. Because it has to go to the county commission. Correct. Correct. With the time constraints, I do want to notify every board member that given that the campaign is for May, right? May is approximately a month away. We would have... This is something we... I would recommend that the board consider voting on today and expedite it. Okay. Is there a motion? So moved. So moved. Is there a second? There's a motion and a second on the table to adopt the recommended media plan with... I want to put it with the 70,000, but I also want to be able to have flexibility in this media plan just in case there has to be some movement based on different platforms and so forth. I don't want it to be that rigid because we have a short timeframe to get this together. And I know how the county attorneys work that, oh, no, if you go outside of it, outside of the actual motion itself, they will... It'll be a little harder. Is there a way that... How do we build in a little flexibility into this? I would defer to our county attorney, Shanika Graves, to best see what are the suitable recommendations to being able to expedite this motion. All right. So let's do this. We have a motion with embedded flexibility that will give the campaign a reasonable opportunity to grow, I guess, right, or within the county attorney's office to give us that flexibility. Do we feel comfortable with that? Yeah. Okay. And whatever monies are not expended, then it could come back to us, to the committee itself. Yes. Okay. So then we will... Okay. So there's a motion in a second. I think we got it pretty clear. All in favor of the approval of the recommended media plan and allocation with a reasonable flexibility for the plan. Say aye. Aye. All opposed? Like sign? All right. See the motion adopted. All right. Congratulations to the board. I'm excited about what can come with this. So I look to you now to come up with, we have a short timeframe. Yes. We'll get working on it right away. Get working on it. Let's get the graphics and then let's see what we can do across the sector because of what we can do, what I will do at the next board of county commission meeting. When is the next meeting? April. Okay. The next meeting is April 21st. So you have a short window to try to come up with these ideas so we can get it out to the county commission and let them do it within the 13 districts as well. And then what we can get accomplished up here through our respective providers. And, you know, we have DCF here as well, which is a big part of this puzzle that we're trying to put together. So let's see if we can get that as soon as possible because this might be something they could do statewide as well. Um, but right now let's focus it down here. All right. Good job. Um, I know you have a task, a huge task ahead of you and I hate to put pressure on you, but we are. That's okay. All right. All right. Good job. All right. Next. We are now on the, the C, which is the behavioral health board web. Amanda. Through the board. Um, that's the next presentation is the behavioral health advisory board web page presentation. And who's doing that? I will be discussing. Oh, okay. All right. I did submit. Um, I know that some individuals like to be more hands on and visual. So I just submitted to all of, um, on the newsletter for the behavioral health advisory board, the link to the actual page. So if you go into your email accounts right now and you click on the link, you'll be able to be redirected to the actual page. Um, I, I do have the, so I do have, um, a lot of this on this presentation, but if you prefer being hands on and scrolling through everything and clicking on, on the items. So we did develop, we spoke to, uh, the individuals that run all the different advocacy boards, like the Hispanic affairs, we worked with the individual that was in our last presentation as well. We received approval to be able to put the behavioral health board online as one of, one of the many advocacy boards. So it will be listed, um, as well as, you know, where the Hispanic affairs board and the domestic violence oversight board is, we would be also listed on that webpage. So this is on the county page. So if you click on the link and you want to just scroll, but it's easier, uh, that way, but this is kind of what it would look like. So it starts off with the actual history, right? Um, and it talks about the ordinance that establishes this board. Uh, there are hyperlinks throughout the page. So you are able to click on the, on the ordinance and it will take you to the actual file document. Um, as you can see on the right side of this page, you have immediate assistance, right? So you have the first tab says crisis slash suicide 988 lifeline. Um, if you click on lifeline, it's going to take you to their webpage because the digitalization subcommittee recommended that we have all of these resources right there available. So if someone needs it immediately, it's available as well as the numbers are available. So all of these are hyperlinked. So if the individual is not sure if they want to call, right? Cause they need help. Um, they can also click on the number and it will take them to that page. If they need more information on the services that they could be, that could be provided. So we have immediate assistance. So we have the suicide slash, um, crisis line, the 988 lifeline. We have a 24 seven mental health mobile response team with the number there for West care as well. And we have the mental health counseling support through NAMI. And if you see underneath where it says resources, we have the behavioral health directory that was created through this board in partnership with Jewish community services, the 211. So if you click on that, on that 211 under the resource, you'll have an array of behavioral health, uh, services all throughout the county. And there's over 400 listed. Uh, this is a great resource. So as you scroll down on that webpage, the mission of the board is there, uh, as well as all of the board members, um, as well as the meeting calendar and our meeting location. And typically the days that we meet. That's it. That's why I like to put the link in case you guys just want to like open everything. It's a lot easier when you're, um, interacting with the page. So we do have a section where it talks about the bylaws and all the different ordinances through this board. So our bylaws are there as well, as well as, um, the amendment of the original ordinance to include, uh, certain experts and members. I remember that the original ordinance for this board was amended. So we have, we have everything listed there. Uh, we also have a section that discusses committees, right? So we have the digital outreach and community engagement listed, our community wellness and anti-stigma, our first responders and suicide prevention and our housing stability and support services. So all of those are mentioned there as well. And then our chair's message. Uh, so it's our, a lot of the different behavioral health boards have a message from the chair. So this, this is really a section that discusses the advocacy work that you do, uh, Senator. So this really, uh, does remark that. I didn't know that was in there for the record. All right. Just went through there. I didn't ask for that. It's the first time I've seen that. So, so also through the board, um, if we continue to scroll down, all of our meeting minutes are accessible to the public. Um, ever, you know, since the start of the inception of this board, roughly almost two years ago, um, as well as all of the live YouTube streams, um, are they're listed in hyperlinks as well. This is also the county channel, right? Yes. All right. Good job. Um, thank you so much. I think anyone's any questions of, of this. I think we're good. The, through the board, uh, you know, the committee did, they make their recommendations and they, they approved that to be the webpage. For the, under the, the board's advisory boards, um, to be allocated that the link is not active or live yet. Uh, I do recommend there to be an official vote today so that we can make this an active online link already. Um, this, I do want to mention, this is separate completely from the campaign's roadmap. So this is going to be a little bit different, but I, I do want to make the recommendation to you all today and answer any questions. I hear a motion from Susan. Motion to approve the website draft for, uh, to go live. Yeah. I'm going to the left this time. All right. Second. All right. There's a motion, uh, and a second to approve, uh, the, uh, the web hosting site, uh, seeing, um, no objections. So the emotion approved. Correct. No objection. All right. Perfect. All right. Good job. Thank you. Through the, through the board. Thank you. The, the next section on the agenda is the approval of minutes. Um, the last meeting on January 28th, 2026. The meeting minutes have been provided, uh, through the, uh, calendar invitation as well as you'll have a copy of all these minutes on your agenda packets today. I think everyone had a ample opportunity to review and read. Um, uh, bill, I think made the motion to approve. All in favor of the, uh, adopting the, the minutes. Aye. Aye. All opposed. Like sign. Show them how it's adopted. Now we're on old business, Amanda. Yes. So the, the first one was to discuss, uh, the communications action plan for the May, 2026 campaign, which a lot was discussed earlier on. Um, but, uh, a lot of this information was already mentioned. Right. So we're good with that. We are. The next is just to, uh, notify board members of the legislature item 2, 6, 0, 4, 2, 6. So that was the presentation we had hosted back on December 11th with action for progress. And this legislation, um, as you all had, uh, unanimously voted on approving, um, a strategic plan for behavioral health services to be able to discuss interportability data sharing, as well as, um, uh, uh, payment reform. And if I may, Amanda, I think we, we had a great meeting, uh, last week. Was it last week, right? Yes. Five weeks ago. Um, we had a great meeting last week. And I want to thank the board members that were able to assist. I think you saw what, uh, they're trying to do. Um, really trying to bring all the providers together. Um, you know, it's an outcome based system that we potentially can tap into, uh, a lot of federal dollars. Uh, think what's happening in Washington DC right now, you, we see that Robert Kennedy, um, and Oz, you can have some political differences in right now, but, uh, Robert Kennedy really has been putting a lot of focus and energy on behavioral health services, uh, for, uh, for the country. And they've selected a couple of different areas. And we are at the forefront right now being one of those test areas that could really start accepting some of these, uh, federal dollars coming straight to Miami Dade County. So this is why that was important, what we did last time. And I want to thank all of you that really assisted. And Susan, thank you for being there. And all of you that were there, it was, I think it was very insightful. So I don't want to be the one, but if you have any comments about it, we would be greatly appreciated. Uh, so this all came up fairly last minute. And so I know some of us weren't able to attend, but, uh, what we did was, um, discuss how what's happening in Washington, uh, can impact the services that we're able to provide here, especially it was, especially in bringing providers together to share data, to share information so that when people are dealing with the kinds of issues that we deal with. There is, um, there's access so that they can get better services because there's an understanding of what services has already been provided, even though there may have been different providers. So certainly there was a clear understanding that privacy issues are very important, that HIPAA issues are very important, but also that if we can, if we can continue to work closely together and Jackson health was represented there, Jackson behavioral health, as well as some of the other behavioral health providers, if those providers can continue to work together and not silo, we could really make a difference. And we, there was national expertise brought in. I think we're very lucky to have this right now. And so I appreciate Senator, you bringing that in. Bill. I cut from your lips to God's ears. Um, kind of make sure we do something for our community. Um, anything else members? If, if I may, uh, it's a great task, monumental task. I think it's great that we're, uh, part of it. Uh, there's a lot of questions also that remain that, uh, I think, I wonder how we're going to continue to be involved and, and there are going to be committees involved in it. Um, how does it translate, for example, to the, uh, smaller providers? Because we understand about the, uh, uh, interoperability and sharing data and the concerns that have been expressed, but how does it translate to most people don't go to Jackson and CHI. There's a lot of private providers. And how is that, again, is all going to be executed and how we're going to be following up, uh, on, on this, uh, project. The great deal. The great thing is that you're on this board and we will have a lot of say, uh, how this gets structured. And that's why, um, I'm excited about it. Yeah. So whatever questions you have, uh, let's make sure that we get those questions on writing. So when we, we can get this up to them and figure, and that could help them, uh, come up with a work product that really is beneficial. Cause I do, I too had the issues on the smaller providers and I, I've always had the questions of the smaller providers, both how I defend and criticize them, you know, but call it, we have to take care of those that are taking care of individuals. And we have to make sure that, uh, whatever system goes in and like, I'm big on outcomes and reward those are doing good jobs. And those that are not, not necessarily to get rid of them, but help them move up because a lot of our smaller providers fill a gap in communities that don't have access. Uh, there is a lot of overlap in many communities. There's four or five different providers out there, uh, that necessarily don't think we need them all, but, um, it's fair to say that we need, you know, we will have a seat at the table, not necessarily just me as a chairman, but you as board members, cause it's just, it's just, it's just not going to be me. That's why I was happy to see so many of you participating at that meeting. So appreciate it. Yeah. I wanted to add for me, it was very insightful, uh, just being there and surrounded by, you know, individuals that have been, you know, uh, in the field and it's just, it's, it's definitely an endeavor, but, um, to, to piggyback on what you mentioned as well. Cause you know, I did afterwards, you know, make that connection. And, um, I introduced our CEO too, because we collect data and I was very happy to hear recovery community organizations being mentioned and the peer specialist role being mentioned. Um, and, and how, uh, you know, important those roles are and us as an organization, you know, we collect that data. We work really hard in collecting and maintaining it. So, yeah, it's very exciting. I'm, I'm very excited to see how this continues to evolve. Yeah. I am too. Um, okay. Okay. With that, um, Amanda C and D just try to get to them quickly. Cause I want to talk about the building and the amendments that I have cause it's a, so the, the next item is the mental health first aid certification, which we we've mentioned on different occasions. Um, we do have someone here to discuss with you all the process, um, and different steps. Uh, just for more information, I, the board did vote at last on the last meeting to bring them back in and I have some more details on that. Okay. Go ahead. Good morning, everyone. My name's Leanne Sullivan, and I am one of the directors for South Florida Wellness Network. And like, hi, yes, I'm Nikki Rivas and I'm the youth program supervisor at South Florida Wellness Network. Yes. Um, before we get started, I want to thank the board, uh, as a woman in long-term recovery health, I, my heart sings listening to your intent and your language and being mindful and helping break the stigma that does go along with, uh, a substance use disorder or mental health. So thank you. Uh, which is a perfect segue into mental health first aid. Uh, Nikki and I are both facilitators of this evidence-based practice, uh, or training. And it is the help offered to someone experience a mental health or substance use challenge until professional help arrives. I want you all to think about CPR. You're not the doctor. You're not the physician that's going to, you're that person that is there to provide support until the professionals arrive. Uh, mental health first aid, it equips everyday individuals and how to recognize, understand the signs and respond to the challenges that someone may be experiencing. So actually out of curiosity, who here does have CPR training? Mm hmm. Now, what if I told you as amazing as that CPR training is, that mental health first aid, you're actually more likely to use before you ever use that CPR training. And the reason for that is, is one in five adults experience a mental health illness each year. Nearly half experience a challenge in their lifetime and over 40% don't receive treatment. And then big part of that is because of the stigma that goes along with mental health first aid aims to reduce the stigma, increase awareness and equip communities with skills to support someone who has experienced a mental health crisis or challenge. And it's interesting because throughout the trainings, you will hear us say, we don't diagnose, we don't treat, but we're there to support someone. And Nikki is actually going to talk about the different types of mental health training that we can provide. Yes. So there are multiple different types of trainings. Um, at South Florida Wellness Network, we do focus on three, which we do have the adult, which is for adults supporting adults every day. Um, individuals can support adult individuals, whether that be at work, in the community setting, friends, family, and so that's to train those adults to recognize those signs and symptoms and hopefully get, um, those other adults the help that they need. And then we do have youth, um, which I am a facilitator of the youth first mental health first aid. And it is for teaching adults on to recognize mental health in young adults and realizing the difference between young adolescent behavior and actual mental health challenges that they may be experiencing. As we know, those are constantly evolving with technology and social media. Um, and then we do have 18 mental health first aid, which is for young people to help other young people in their community, at school, in public settings, to recognize those mental health diagnoses and help them. Um, which is something I wish I had when I was younger because I am a young person who has dealt with many different mental health challenges and, um, didn't recognize those until I was an adult. And an adult was able to help me, um, navigate those. So some of the common, uh, mental health challenges, depression, anxiety, PTSD, bipolar, eating disorders. And eating disorders is one that we really don't talk about a lot, but it actually has one of the highest mortality rates. And it's something that we really want to bring to the forefront. Um, also substance use disorders as well. And the interesting thing is, is as we go through the training, you're going to see that a lot of the symptoms are very similar across different diagnosis. So that is why we stress when we are providing the training that we do not diagnose. We allow that for the professionals. It's really holding space and how to support someone. So you may have seen, um, you may have thought it was my little support bear, but this here is algae. And so kind of a little, um, thing here. So if you can't guess where actually mental health first aid originated, it was in Australia. And this here is algae and algae is the acronym for assess risk, whether for yourself as the mental health first aider or the individual that you may be supporting. Safety is always first, whether for yourself or for that individual. And sometimes it's asking that hard question. Are you wanting to hurt yourself? Are you wanting to, uh, die by suicide? And that's not an easy question to ask someone, but it is something that you will learn in this training and then be able to how to process and take the next steps. You want to listen, listen, nonjudgmentally, not with the intent to respond, but you want to listen to that individual because at the end of the day, they are a human being wanting to be heard. You want to give reassurance. We always say you give reassurance, which with facts, I'm never going to look at someone and say, it's going to be okay. Because guess what? I don't know. But what I can say as a mental health first aider, I'm going to be here with you and we're going to go through this together. Encourage. You want to encourage professional help and also encourage self help. However, that may look for that individual because once they reach that point of seeking support, then it's going to be finding that pathway and what that recovery looks like for them. And that role of the mental health first aider, recognizing warning signs, offering support and encouraging, seeking help and to connect to the resources. I love that we're talking about the resources that are available here in Miami Dade. So we want to get those resources out to the communities. And that's the amazing thing with this training is that it's very structured in the training. However, it allows us to bring in the resources that are local to the communities that we do present in. And like I said, this is an evidence based practice. We want to increase mental health knowledge and awareness. It improves the recognition of mental health disorders up to 25 to 30% in some studies, reducing the stigma around. We want to improve confidence in supporting someone in distress, help identify early warning signs and encourage connection to professional help and the resources that are available. We want to promote early intervention. We want to strengthen the communities and we want to improve the workplace wellbeing as well. And mental health strengthens peer support services and recovery communities. As I said, I work for South Florida Wellness Network and we are a recovery community organization here. But it increases the awareness in mental health challenges. It encourages seeking early self-help. It also looks at the behaviors before a crisis actually occurs because there are warning signs. It supports a recovery oriented system of care centered around hope and connecting individuals to certified peer specialists and the other recovery services that are available. And if I can say any of the key takeaways here, mental health first aid empowers communities to respond to mental health challenges with knowledge and compassion. And also seek help through other recovery community organizations such as SFWN. So thank you so much for your time. Any questions, members? Seeing no questions. I will have my chief of staff reach out to you all to see if we can do something in District 13. I think it's important for us to get the community involved and I would appreciate it. I thank you so much for your presentation. You guys did a phenomenal job. Thank you. Thank you so much. Appreciate it. Thank you. With that, we have item D, members. This has to do with the update in the mental health facility. I think we know what the update is. We're waiting in the county commission. I don't think I have to bring Ms. Burgess up here anymore because Burgos, sorry. I think we know where we're standing on that. I'll tell you this. So I do, you know, want the committee to know that I am going to be presenting an amendment to that legislation. And it really talks about developing a sustainable financial plan for the outer years. We know that we have funding for the first two and a half years or maybe three years, but want to make sure that we have a sustainable plan. Explore the public-private partnerships and also requires for the collection of certain data points. This is the one that I look to all of you for a minute here. I think I passed out the amendment. I know you have, I was just telling him right now, thank God you don't have a red pen because he's just scratching everything off there. It would have killed him. But anyway, so I think the important feedback that I would like from you all is the data points that we should be collecting. It will be great for, I know that time, we're running out of time here, but maybe you can look at that amendment. I know we sit on the same board, so it makes it a little interesting communication. So, maybe we can go through Amanda, and that way we can, if you want to see other data points included in the collection of information from this building, I think it's important to do it that way. Even with Kathy, we work well with Ms. Burgos, so I'm perfectly fine with you talking to Kathy or Amanda to try to get some of those. I just want to make sure you all see that it was already public, but I want to share that with the board. I think it's only right that I do that with you all, since you are going to be, we're all responsible for this building eventually when it comes, when it goes online. Through the chair. Yes, please. I thought it was important to mention during this meeting that the building, I think everybody's aware, the opioid settlement dollars for the state of Florida that have been allocated to Miami-Dade County are all being held for the opening of this building. Unfortunately, we've also heard about programs that have been cut. For example, Judge Verdi spoke at the last meeting about the DAP program and the shortage of those types of services to the county, and I know we're out of time today. However, the regional DCF offices are considered the subject matter experts through the department on opioid settlement, and we do have some very limited, but some oversight. There is a statute language that I would like to provide some information to the board, maybe in the next quarterly meeting. And then just to stress how important it is that these dollars get spent. Now, look, and I'll tell you this, full disclosure, one of the problems that I have with this building is that you're using 100% of the opioid. The vast majority of these opioid dollars are being used for this building that those dollars are finite. They're not infinite dollars. And I always thought that those dollars will be better used in our community through our provider system, through our provider network to provide direct services to individuals who are suffering. However, I do understand that there is a political will, a community will to get this building open. And that's why I want to make sure that we have a sustainable plan for the future of this. And I do encourage, I've never shied away from saying that I encourage public private partnerships, because if we are going to have a sustainable building, the only way it could be done, I believe, is to have some of these public private partnerships. So, Kathy, you're absolutely welcome. So thank you for bringing that up, because it's just the truth. And through the chair, I'd also like to bring up this issue again, because as Lourdes mentions, with the diversion of these funds to the building, which is not operational, it had that domino effect of closing down temporarily the drug court, which was unable to enroll new participants. And we right now have the commitment from three providers through Thriving Mind for that funding, but it is limited. So this would affect the future of a lot of the participants that get the benefit of drug court. Through the chair. Absolutely. Kathy Burgos, director of the community services department and also lead along with my staff that's currently here on the mental health project. And you're absolutely right. The opiates funding is a part of the item. We understand that the way the item is being presented by our sponsor, which she introduced a substitute, that the funding will go towards this population, because we know, and you all have been talking about it all morning. The connection of mental illness with substance misuse. So you have that co-occurring population. I just wanted to remind the group that that is a part of the budget. And we understand through your point, chair, Senator Garcia, that the intergovernmental committee did discuss this two year plan. And we're waiting, as you know, it's up to the commission on what we do with this plan. But yes, the money is tied into the mental health facility because it is addressing the needs of those who have co-occurring issues, mental illness, as well as the substance use piece. So it's all connected, a continuum of care. And I know you're all very familiar with this item. Absolutely. Any questions? Thank you. Thank you for the work you're doing this. We can agree to disagree on some parts of it, but I do appreciate what you're trying to get accomplished. Members, any questions? So you have the amendment before you and I appreciate you bringing that up because that's exactly where I am as well. But if you see the amendment that I'm going to offer, if you think we should collect other data points, please feel free to get that to Amanda and we'll get that going at the next committee meeting. Okay, anything else to come before the board? I think we are pretty much done here. We do need to start looking at dates for the next round of meetings. Amanda, so if you can bring us up to speed on that. Yes, through the board. Our current next meeting date is May 27th. I will just mention that, of course, with the campaign, the committees will be meeting a little bit more frequently in order to come together to, you know, create the content for the advertisements. I will provide all the board members a list of tentative dates for the next few meetings. I think we're good with the campaign because your folks will come up with the actual campaign itself. We have a committee that we feel comfortable with giving them the discretion as well to finalize the details because we don't have another meeting and I don't want to hold anything back. And, yeah, I think it's incumbent that when we kick off this campaign, we'll send the message out to all the board members. We can all be together wherever it is to kick off this countywide campaign. So with that, will you work on getting us dates? Yes. So we can, and I'm sure I'll see each other before May 1st. And before I adjourn, I just want to thank you all very much because we can agree, we can disagree. But the fact is that we're having good communications. I think we all come from the same place and our hearts in the right place. I try to make sure we make a difference for people in this community that don't have the right access. And all of you on this board have been contributing. And I thank you so much for that because I've been in a lot of boards. I know when we first started, it was Little Rocky. I was like, what are we doing here? And it's coming together. So I think, I really do thank you all and our team from the bottom of my heart that we are finally seeing some fruits. And we are going to make a difference in Miami-Dade County when we deal, when we talk about behavioral health, mental health, mental illness, and substance misuse. Misuse. Misuse. You're going to get me there. You see, that's part of your campaign. I got you. So, misuse. So, God bless you all. Thank you so very much for that. I really do thank you. Can I just remind everyone that May 16th is the NAMI Walk for Mental Health Awareness at the Marlins Stadium. So, if you go to namimiami.org, you can see more information. Thanks. I think we should. 3,000 people will be there. Join the party. I think we should all be there. I think it's important as a board, we should all be there. And with that, I want to say happy Easter and happy Passover to all of you, to all my friends. And I'll see you and me. God bless you all. So, with that, Carolyn moves, we rise. Good job. Good job.