Friday
Yes. It's Friday.
I spent today's lunch at a Families Advocating Compassionate Treatment (FACT task force meeting. FACT is forming a task force to build a treatment facility in Santa Barbara for dually diagnosed individuals (mental health and co-occurring substance-use disorders). Many have severe psychological issues (e.g., bi-polar disorders and schizophrenia), and their challenges are compounded by drug addiction and being caught in the revolving door of the criminal justice system, with very little hope for any sort of rehabilitation.
There were numerous parallels between their activities, and my law office's first-year project. For example, one of the purposes of today's meeting was to bring community stakeholders to the table, including prosecutors, law enforcement, public defenders, families, and the general public, in order to hash out and discuss the various ways of going about reaching their end goals.
I didn't say much because I was on my lunch break, and I was sort of the new/visiting kid on the block--but they are engaged in the same discussions that my law office had when we were developing strategy for our project (a state-wide Restorative Justice Diversionary Program/Youth Tribunal for at-risk youth in Massachusetts). The people present at today's meeting included concerned family members, members of the local legal community, local law enforcement, and a local university professor.
While my law office's project has gone quite far, and continues to have impact on the development of state legislation, I believe that if this organization continues to forge ahead with the involvement of at least the stakeholders who were present today, they should do well.
Bon weekend!