How LA County’s new mental health director plans to help heal troubled minds – LA Daily News

For as long as people who lived in the neighborhood could remember, the bottom floor of the Los Angeles County Department of Mental Healths headquarters was surrounded by a chain-link fence, closed off from their view.

Then a few months ago, something changed. The fence was pushed away. The space inside cleaned, painted and furnished. On May 1, the doors at Vermont Avenue and Sixth Street opened to the countys first peer-resource center for people who need help finding peace of mind from those who understand them best.

For Dr. Jonathan Sherin, the new center in Koreatown symbolizes a shift in the way he plans to lead the largest mental health department in the nation.

I see this space as one where well have peers of all kinds to be trained and certified and part of the workforce, Sherin said recently. Its exciting for me. Its a resource we needed in this neighborhood.

Sherin wants to see veterans who have made peace with the horrors of war lift fellow veterans who still suffer. Hed like former homeless people who have survived the trauma of living on the streets to help homeless men and women find comfort and trust. He hopes those once addicted to alcohol, heroin or pills can share their pain and triumphs of sobriety with those who continue to struggle.

Those peer-to-peer relationships, Sherin added, will be key to transforming mental health treatment. Its a practice hed like to see replicated across Los Angeles County.

One of the things that is a very high priority item is the importance of incorporating peers into our work, Sherin said. Whether youve been in the military or the streets, or in jails, those shared experiences create affinity.

Sherin, 51, was appointed by the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors six months ago to replace Dr. Marvin Southard, who retired after 17 years. In addition to expanding peer-resource centers, Sherin would like to see more of what he calls intentional communities, or places created at the Veterans Affairs campus in West Los Angeles, for example, with the intent to help people with anxiety, depression and other mental health concerns.

But his work doesnt come without challenges. He heads a department that serves more than 250,000 people. With 10 million residents, Los Angeles County is one of the nations most ethnically and culturally diverse regions. With that, comes the stigma and cultural barriers that still exist for people seeking mental health services. The county jails have been called the largest de facto mental institution in the nation. And there are demands from a public who want to know why local government cant do more to help the homeless who suffer with mental health issues.

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With a proposed budget of about $2.5 billion for the next fiscal year to hire more staff and peer workers, Sherin said he believes he is prepared to take on all those challenges, especially since mental health has gained more attention.

I think its a great time, he said. I think its a time when we can transform the entire landscape by dismantling cultural barriers and setting up a streamlined system. Obviously, a lot of this work depends on having resources. That said, I believe theres going to be an opportunity for public/private partnership that could blow the roof of the whole formula.

If anyone is up for the challenge, its Sherin, said Dr. Mitch Katz, director of the Los Angeles County Health Agency. Katz oversees the nearly 2-year-old consolidation of the public health, health services and mental health departments.

The big goal for an agency as big as the mental health department is to work collaboratively with those patients whose life situations are the most challenging, Katz said. The homeless, the people who have been released from prisons or jail, foster kids, these are the groups of people who most need mental health services. These are the people we want DMH to focus on. I think under John Sherin thats really happening.

Sherin, a psychiatrist and neurobiologist by trade, served as the chief medical officer and executive vice president of military communities for Volunteers of America and a long career in the Department of Veteran Affairs. He holds a degree in neuroscience from Brown University and finished graduate work at the University of Chicago and Harvard, and postgraduate training at UCLA.

Although he chose to pursue science and the medical field, Sherin said the entertainment industry was never far from home. His father, Ed Sherin, was an Emmy-winning director and producer for the series Law & Order. Ed Sherin also directed episodes of Hill Street Blues, Moonlighting, LA Law and Homicide: Life on the Street, and Medium. Ed Sherin died on May 4 at age 87.

My Dad was a passionate guy, Sherin said. He really stood on principal.

Sherin said he wants to lead the department under a renewed set of principles that places people first.

Its important we hold ourselves accountable to be as efficient and effective as possible, to fairly assess our performance, Sherin said.

He said he has called on his staff to have a heart forward approach to the way they help those who seek services. The new peer-resource center represents that approach, Sherin added.

That corner has to be the heart of this building, Sherin said. The only way to connect with someone is to connect with your heart.

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How LA County's new mental health director plans to help heal troubled minds - LA Daily News