News Release: The Oklahoma Academy

When members of the nonpartisan Oklahoma Academy for State Goals decided the focus of their 2021 Town Hall would be behavioral health and wellness, all knew this would be not only a formidable task, but one of great importance to our state.

After spending more than a year of conducting virtual listening sessions with communities across Oklahoma, in November the Academy gathered individuals from all parts of Oklahoma, urban and rural, to take part in the 2021 Town Hall titled “Addressing Mental Health … Improving Mental Wellness.”

During the Town Hall participants focused on our brain health needs and resources to help set a successful vision for the future. At the 3-day Town Hall event, citizens were given the opportunity to discuss the issues, determine the solutions, and collaborate to develop solutions that they believed would achieve the best public policy recommendations for the state honestly and openly.

On Tuesday, February 8, the Academy held a press conference at the Oklahoma Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services to share the recommendations and priorities that came from the Town Hall process, and the forward-thinking results that are critical to improving Oklahoma’s mental wellness.

“The 2021 Town Hall process and final report on Addressing Mental Health … Improving Mental Wellness was a tremendous opportunity to create the most advanced approaches to prevent, treat, and help Oklahomans recover from mental health and addiction challenges,” said Howard G. Barnett, Jr., 2021 Town Hall Chair. “The (Town Hall) report will serve as the roadmap to guide Oklahoma to be a Top Ten state for addressing mental health concerns.”

This thought was evident in the Town Hall’s top priority recommendation that adverse childhood experiences can negatively impact education, job opportunities, and the earning potential of our people. That is why the Town Hall recommended strengthening economic supports for families as the most effective strategy for preventing ACEs. The Town Hall believed poverty and financial insecurity are the primary contributors to the prevalence of ACEs in Oklahoma. It was also recognized that it is imperative for Oklahoma to implement a multi-tiered system of support (MTSS) statewide as a way to prevent and/or reduce mental health issues in the K-12 system. To achieve this goal, school administrators at certain levels must receive training to attain the trauma-informed designation.

Additionally, the Town Hall supports the greater utilization of technology, as well as the support for greater and expanded use of Drug Courts, Mental Health Courts, and other diversionary programs, to end the negative consequences of untreated mental illness that are intertwined in the criminal and civil justice systems of Oklahoma. This should include support for statewide mobile crisis response teams to be a part of the 988 crisis response system that will begin July 1. Including these teams as part of the crisis response system would further separate mental illness response and the civil and criminal justice system to “triage systems with iPads everywhere,” and the concept of therapeutic transport.

Again, addressing mental health and improving mental wellness is now more important than ever to guide our path into the future. The work and time devoted to this Town Hall conference by the participants produced a number of recommendations that will not only guide Oklahoma in the future, but will be used to inform, educate, and begin a discussion of open-minded dialogue and fact-based analysis.

The full Town Hall Report, including the 30-Town Hall Consensus Recommendations, are available at www.okacademy.org under the library tab.

The Oklahoma Academy is a statewide nonprofit, nonpartisan, membership organization founded by Gov. Henry Bellmon in 1967 to bring public attention to policy issues, provide objective, thorough research and act as a catalyst for positive change. His vision, which remains today, was to empower Oklahomans to improve their quality of life through effective public policy development and implementation.