WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (CBS12) — Significant progress is being made to expand access to Behavioral Health Services across Florida and train the next generation of professionals.
Behind barbed wire in maximum-security prison sit dozens of inmates suffering from severe behavioral problems. They are doing time for crimes that might have been prevented with access to the right treatment and medication.
Having mentally ill people in a jail is almost a human rights issue. They don’t belong in jail.
“Having mentally ill people in a jail is almost a human rights issue. They don’t belong in jail,” said Martin County Sheriff William Synder.
Snyder said they don’t belong on the street, either. About a third of the inmates in his 700-bed jail have mental health issues and nurses give them medication multiple times a day, he said.
While his constitutional duty is to keep the county safe, his moral responsibility drives him to search for better ways to serve these men and prevent them from ending up back behind bars, Snyder said.
“We have hired somebody, at taxpayer expense, to monitor them as they leave,” Snyder told CBS12 News. “To make sure that if they are entitled to Medicare or Medicaid, that they are back on it… that if they are on medication, that they have follow up care and then we follow up with them.”
He’s breaking the cycle by making sure they get medication and counseling and that in turn means his deputies aren’t arresting the same people over and over. However, Snyder has proposed a better solution –- a mental health wing. It would be a place where these inmates can serve their sentence in a setting better suited to meet their needs.
“What I have to do is keep my mentally ill inmates away from the rest of the population for several reasons,” he explained. “They can be violent and hurt my other inmates, or the other inmates can perceive them as weak and take advantage of them.”
They can be violent and hurt my other inmates, or the other inmates can perceive them as weak and take advantage of them.
The Martin County jail is a microcosm of Florida’s struggle with treating behavioral health. With limited bed space in both private and public clinics, too many times, people suffering without treatment end up behind bars or dead.
Roman Phelps, a former student, crashed his van through the front gate of Dreyfoos School of the Arts in West Palm Beach and was killed in a confrontation with police. Family and friends had tried to get him checked into a behavioral health unit, but their attempts failed.
See also:Intruder taken to hospital night before ‘erratic’ incident at Dreyfoos
Just a couple of weeks ago, a mentally ill man with multiple arrests tried to get on campus at Suncoast High School in Riviera Beach, and he was attacked a police officer before being shot twice in the school driveway just as kids were arriving for class.
“There are estimates that one in four people have some form of mental illness in their lives,”Dr. Ryan Wagoner, the Chair of the Psychiatry and Behavioral Neurosciences Department at the University of South Florida, told CBS12 News.
There are estimates that one in four people have some form of mental illness in their lives.
Wagoner said not all of those illnesses are severe or even permanent,but those that are can require in-patient, long-term care and there’s not enough to go around.
“Anytime we start a new service, or bring in a new provider, that person can get filled up very quickly because there is so much demand for mental health services,” he explained.
Mental health problems cover a broad spectrum, some are simple stress from work, school, relationships, social media, even watching the news. Other times, it comes from abusing drugs or alcohol, often in an attempt to cope with stress or trauma.
However, over time, without treatment, all of these can become much more serious.
You also have to take into account all those people who are born with mental and behavioral problems.
See also: Riviera Beach officer, suspect identified in shooting near high school
The state is at a tipping point in addressing the mental health needs of our population, now and into the future and lawmakers are taking note.
“By conservative estimates Florida has probably 500 to 700 thousand of our constituents, friends, neighbors who suffer from some form of mental illness,” said Florida Senator Jim Boyd.
Senator Boyd was the driving force behind the Behavioral Health Teaching Hospitals Bill signed into law by Governor Ron DeSantis in March of 2024. As soon as July, $300 million dollars will be invested in training the next generation of behavioral health workers.
It will be a partnership between Tampa General Hospital in affiliation with the University of South Florida, UF Health Shands Hospital in affiliation with the University of Florida, UF Health Jacksonville in affiliation with the University of Florida and Jackson Memorial Hospital in affiliation with the University of Miami.
But there’s another important component of this law.
“Do we have enough social workers? Do we have enough mental health counselors? All of those things, we just don’t know,” Dr. Julie Serovich, the Dean of the College of Behavioral and Community Sciences at the University of South Florida, told CBS12 News.
Serovich says it’s now their job to track the number of Behavioral Healthcare workers and the number of available beds at treatment centers statewide. They will also be tasked with reporting those numbers to Tallahassee.
In order to meet the need, you have to have an accurate read of what the needs are, and to her that’s going to be the easy part.
The most challenging task, Serovich explains, is keeping those currently in the field on the job while they train the next generation. She tells CBS12 News it’s difficult work and burnout is the number one reason people leave.
“We are tasked also with being a little creative about this… yes we need a Masters prepared, licensed therapist. We need PhD level prepared, we need MDs, we need all of that,” she said. “But we can also find ways to utilize those with undergraduate degrees.”
If you feel like you might want to talk to someone or know someone who could use some support, below you will find are several agencies to contact:
988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline:988 is confidential, free crisis service that is available to everyone 24 hours a day, seven days a week.741741 Crisis Text Line:Text “HELLO” to 741741. The Crisis Text hotline is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week throughout the U.S.1-800-273-8266 Veteran Crisis Line:Call 1-800-273-8255 and press 1 or text to 838255. The Veterans Crisis Line is a free, confidential resource that connects veterans 24 hours a day, seven days a week with a trained responder,even if they are not registered with the VA or enrolled in VA healthcare.1-800-985-5990 National Disaster Distress Helpline:The disaster distress helpline provides immediate crisis counseling for people who are experiencing emotional distress related to any natural or human-caused disaster. The helpline is free, multilingual, confidential, and available 24 hours a day, seven days a week1-800-799-7233 National Domestic Violence Hotline: you can alsoText ” LOVEIS” to 22522
1-800-422-4453 National Child Abuse Hotline: you can alsoText 1-800-422-4453
1-800-656-4673 National Sexual Assault Hotline
1-800-677-1116 Elder Care Locator
For more helpful mental health links, click here.
Experts also recommend reaching out to your Human Resources Department at work, since most employers offer free confidential counseling services.