Community members speak out during tense mental health advisory board meeting
Those impacted by the withdrawal of Kings View services shared concerns during a mental health advisory board meeting last week, saying the closure of a local mental health drop-in center had left gaps in care. Board members also navigated a number of other tense moments during the meeting.
Several Shasta County community members impacted by the summer closure of the Sunrise Mountain Wellness Center in Redding spoke last week during a regularly scheduled mental health advisory board meeting.
Community member Shannon DePriest told the Mental Health Alcohol and Drug Advisory Board, also known as MHADAB, that the drop-in mental health center was one of the best things that happened to her after almost losing her life.
“Sunrise gave me a sense of purpose again,” DePriest said. “I got the privilege of helping out in the kitchen cooking for everyone on more than one occasion, and this was an honor because it was one little thing that made me feel that maybe one day I can be capable of something more again.
“Since Sunrise has closed I have felt a void in my life and don’t know where to go on days that I need a boost of self-esteem or to find a sense of purpose,” DePriest added.
She was among several community members who expressed concern that the county no longer has a contract with Kings View, a nonprofit service provider that used to operate Sunrise in Redding. The center provided free drop-in services without income qualifiers, serving as a gathering place for those experiencing mental health challenges and needing peer support and social opportunities.
The nonprofit, which still works in about two dozen counties statewide, withdrew from its work with Shasta County this summer, citing ongoing concerns with delayed contract execution along with a history of delayed payments. The county issued a statement at the time, saying it had paid the nonprofit “all contracted eligible expenses.”
At MHADAB last week, Shasta County Health and Human Services Agency Director Christy Coleman responded to former clients’ concerns by saying Kings View “chose to end its contract” with the county and claiming that the county already provides the same services that clients used to receive at the Sunrise center.
“We are doing everything we can to make sure clients do not fall through the cracks,” Coleman added. “Our mental health team has contacted every single client. If somebody is in need of services, we are here to help.”
Former clients who spoke with Shasta Scout after the meeting contradicted Coleman’s claims, saying they had not been contacted by county staff. Coleman’s terse response to clients was just one small part of a meeting that was filled with moments of tension between community members, MHADAB members and county staff.
HHSA staffer Erin Dooley, who chairs the meetings, worked to move the group efficiently through its evening agenda. But she was repeatedly interrupted both by board members who sought more in-depth information on important topics on the agenda and by community members with similar questions or concerns.
Some questions came in response to a scheduled report from Behavioral Health and Social Services Director Cindy Lane, who said she didn’t feel the need to present on the pages of data presented in the agenda packet, calling instead for any questions.
When one MHADAB member asked about changes in some of the data over time, Lane responded that she might be able to provide an answer but not until next year. Pressed on how she would locate the data to respond to the MHADAB members’ question, Lane admitted she didn’t know, deflecting to another staffer who offered little more specific information.
Lane’s decision not to provide a high-level overview of the behavioral health data in her director’s report, coupled with her inability to respond to some of the questions posed by the board, prompted one MHADAB member to speak out angrily saying there had been three suicides and a fatal overdose in the Burney area over the last three weeks — data Shasta Scout has not yet confirmed — and noting the need for improved mental health care in the Intermountain region.
Tense moments during last week’s meeting reinforced an ongoing dynamic between HHSA staffers, advisory board members and the public. MHADAB is intended to serve as a bridge between the public and county officials, providing oversight and monitoring of HHSA’s behavioral health programs to ensure they meet resident needs. But some worry that the board more often provides a rubber stamp for HHSA decision making.
Concerns came up again mid-meeting after a presentation by HHSA Deputy Bramch Director Bailey Cogger about changes to the county’s regional drug Medi-Cal delivery system. Cogger provided a short presentation on a new contract HHSA is entering into for management of billing, including how the program will impact costs and clients.
MHADAB member and former Shasta County Supervisor David Kehoe responded by asking if the decision to transition to the new program had been shared with MHADAB in order to gain advice and insight from the board before a final decision or whether the transition was already a “fait accompli.”
“Is this an accomplished fact?” he clarified, adding to another board member in a loud sidebar conversation, “So why are we even here?”
MHADAB Chair Dooley suggested an ad hoc committee to continue to study the transition to the new program and Kehoe and others agreed to form one, allowing the meeting to move forward.
After that, MHADAB members moved quickly through much of the rest of he agenda, hearing a series of committee updates on important topics like suicide prevention and opioid fund use in rapid succession, as few updates were provided.
Shasta County Supervisor Kevin Crye, who sits on MHADAB as a representative of the county board, spoke hardly at all throughout the meeting, spending most of his time on his phone and responding only when called upon directly by the board chair.
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Cindy, the Director of the largest branch in HHSA seems to be unable to explain the data for the massive department she is paid a lot to be responsible for. I wouldn’t be shocked to find out somebody else put that data together for her. Is it accurate? Does she understand it? Does she care?
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Christy says they paid KingsView what was due by contract. They say contracts took forever and payment was late. Who to believe? Maybe they didn’t get paid because a contract wasn’t in place? Who can say they trust she is being honest?
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Erin goes to the Board asking for multi-million dollar loans multiple times. But she can’t exactly explain how HHSA got into this financial position they are lost in. No actual data. Just that they spend more than they bring in. But she is in charge of the HHSA branch responsible for a huge complicated budget. They desperately need an independent CFO with equal authority. Full Stop.
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Did anyone ever explain what went on with all of that housing money?
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This is who is “running the show”. And it is definitely a show. We pay these three women a large amount of money. They show up with no answers, misinformation, and it looks like they play the game very well. The joke is on the taxpayers and people who need the services because we still keep paying them and letting them tank the place with no accountability and who knows what results.
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Oh – there’s that word “accountability” Plummer was talking about. Can we have that instead of Crye who seems like he’s not doing any actual work his last few months but still taking home a full paycheck?
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What is going on? I don’t get it.
Supervisor Matt Plummer is the one who wanted to spend $25,000 of general fund money on a fireworks display for his district. This was during the middle of fire season.
The reason you don’t get it is because nothing makes sense. Lots of smoke and mirrors to cause a distraction because this department obviously is poorly run and doesn’t know what they’re doing
This is what you get when MAGA/MAHA/M4L takes over your county. They chased off all the competent people from HHSA, and now we have staffers who don’t feel the need to provide a presentation regarding data provided to MHADAB, can’t answer direct questions about the data, and defer to others who also can’t (or won’t) answer questions. Looks like Dr. Mu is running a tight—strike that—sinking ship. What a shock.
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It’s going to remain no-talent amateur hour in Shastanistan until long after these incompetent clowns are gone. I say “long after” because the damage won’t be undone overnight.
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The bright spots in the article are that former SC Supervisor Kehoe is still fighting the good fight, and that Lame-Duck Kevin is spending his time playing games on his phone rather than monkey-wrenching everything he can get his hands on that doesn’t offer him an opportunity to act like a grifting Trumpian vampire bat.
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Aside: At $6/gal for gas, it costs at more than $50 to make a trip from Burney to Redding in a 2000 Dodge Ram 1500 to see a medical specialist, visit Mom at the assisted living facility, and make a stop at MalMart on your way out of town. I don’t doubt that suicides are up in much of Shastanistan, especially in the boonies. Gas is expensive, food is expensive, interest rates are high, inflation is high, and public services are in decline. Life under Orange Mussolini is nasty, brutish, and short.
Excellent points. I fully agree
Crye believes everyone with mental health issues is a drug addict. That is why herefused to support a new $200 million dollar mental health facility and why he spent most of his time during this meeting on his phone. He couldn’t care less about anyone’s mental health challenges because he believes they are self-inflicted.
Yea- the guy with the measles ninja complex.
“Sunrise gave me a sense of purpose again,” DePriest said. “I got the privilege of helping out in the kitchen.” There is a private program where you could also do this, it’s called McDonalds.
Volunteering provides a sense of service—of giving your time to a worthy cause. For most people, working at McDonald’s does not.
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But hey, if flipping burgers works for you, knock yourself out!
Gotta love it when people make ill-informed, mean-spirited assumptions about others’ mental health capacities. Flip burgers at McDonald’s? Ok. You first.
The activists should be talking their complaints to the state. This is strictly a funding issue.
I don’t know if you realize it or not, but you’ve just admitted that…
1. …the local GOP brain trust is incapable of taking advantage of California’s status as the fourth-largest economy on the planet by growing our economy, except by…
2. …sponging off of the prosperous blue counties. Coming up short on revenues? Ask the state for more money! There’s no shame in being a revenue parasite. Hold out your left begging hand while flipping off the state with your right hand! Why would they say no?
Everything is always a funding issue. When it’s a zero-sum game of your own making because you’re incapable of expanding your economy and revenues, the funding issues take on the form of setting hard priorities.