Healing the system and people

Maybe we're coming to our senses.

Today the Metropolitan King County Council is expected to sign off on a plan to significantly change the way we deal with mental illness and substance abuse.

We've known for years that dumping troubled people on the criminal-justice system doesn't help them or the rest of us.

It's obvious every time the news is full of some awful incident in which mental illness or substance abuse play a role.

King County has even taken some steps to address the problem. Drug Court and Mental Health Court have both made a difference. But there are still far too many holes for people to fall through.

This new plan will shore up some of the weak spots in our system.

It will create a crisis-diversion center where police, health-care workers and families can take people who need help but who haven't committed a crime or aren't having a medical emergency. They can be checked out, stabilized and then gain access to further treatment if need be.

Police, who often are on the front lines, will get intervention training, and the county will hire more caseworkers and treatment specialists.

And it will make more housing available.

Complex problems require a multifaceted approach.

Mental illness and substance abuse are factors in homelessness, and being homeless makes it nearly impossible to address any other problem.

Homelessness, serious mental illness and substance abuse can make people vulnerable to crime and also factor into the commission of crimes.

None of those issues can be dealt with in isolation, and half-measures don't work.

This new approach is going to cost — a penny in sales tax out of each $10 we spend (one-tenth of one percent).

County Councilmember Bob Ferguson, who sponsored the legislation, believes it is the largest infusion of cash into human services in the county's history — $50 million a year.

"Taxpayers are making a significant investment," he said. "But I think we've done the careful work necessary to be transformative."

Ferguson said that right out of college he did volunteer work, running an emergency-services office in Portland, and saw that chemical dependency or mental illness was at the root of many people's problems.

It makes sense to address problems at their root. We'll all be better off, but we shouldn't be surprised when there are failures.

We don't expect police to prevent or solve every crime. What we do have a right to expect is a system that works most of the time.

We can stop more people from being victims or victimizing others.

People with serious mental illnesses can get better. Substance abuse can be overcome.

To help that happen, the plan includes an evaluation component, and a time limit. In nine years, the tax will have to be reapproved.

The plan is bound to be an improvement. Fewer people will fall through the cracks because there will be fewer cracks.

That's been a long time coming.

Jerry Large's column appears Monday and Thursday. Reach him at 206-464-3346 or jlarge@seattletimes.com.