I shared my frustration with the system that failed my friend's relative. That person, who after 15 years in a state mental health facility, was released without a continuum of care plan. It was frustrating to connect them to the right service and medication that he so needed.

I had some good conversations last week when I was in a meeting that is helping people move forward. There was a clear recognition of a systems failure issue, but there was also an explanation on the way the different departments are working together to avoid situations like this. I was so encouraged by it! There are agreements between our local jails and prisons to ensure that there is a good hand-off and also between different agencies, and I now have some more information on helping in future.

Like I said last week, people were really open to try to find solutions and wanted to help, but the big system has many constraints and it took a while to get to it. That showed up in my meeting last week as well, people trying hard to find ways to serve. So, THANK YOU to the service providers for helping and making a difference.

Thomas Edison said " I have never failed, I have just found 10,000 ways that don't work." Let's be sure as we deal with the big system that we keep trying to make it better so that people don't fall through the cracks.

Again, thank you to the people who are working to seek the best for our community.