UNMC and the Creighton University Center for Health Policy and Ethics will hold a one-day workshop, titled “Mental Health and Criminal Justice: A Community Collaboration,” on Sept. 24 at the Creighton University Mike and Josie Harper Center for Student Life and Learning, 602 N. 20 St.
The workshop’s purpose is to bring together behavioral health and criminal justice system personnel to discuss the impact of a lack of mental health services on the Omaha community, its businesses and its residents as well as to identify an agenda for improvement.
The day will begin with a 7:30 a.m. community forum breakfast, hosted by the Center for Health Policy and Ethics, and featuring Pete Earley — a former Washington Post journalist.
Earley’s book, “Crazy: A Father’s Search through America’s Mental Health Madness,” was one of two finalists for a 2007 Pulitzer Prize. Earley is a champion for changes in the treatment of the mentally ill within the criminal justice system.
The fee for the breakfast is $15 or $150 for a table of 10. For those wishing to attend the breakfast and the workshop, the fee is $60 per person.
The workshop will begin at 9:30 a.m. and feature the following speakers:
- Lawrence Gostin, J.D., associate dean for research and academic programs and director of the O’Neill Center for National and Global Health Law at Georgetown University;
- Steven Hoge, M.D., director of the division of forensic psychiatry at Bellevue Hospital Center in New York and a clinical professor at New York University’s School of Medicine;
- Fredrick Frese, Ph.D., a psychologist with 30 years of experience working with people with serious mental illnesses. Frese has been active as a consumer, provider and advocate in the U.S. mental health movement.
Corporate tables for the community forum breakfast can be reserved by contacting the Center for Health Policy and Ethics at 280-2021 or mgoddard@creighton.edu.
Individuals wishing to register for the breakfast and/or workshop, should call 559-5929 or register at www.unmc.edu/coned.