Law enforcement officers hold the responsibility for transporting Oklahomans being held on emergency orders of detention for mental illness to crisis stabilization units. The problem is that there are only eight such units in the state of Oklahoma. Often, the 56 beds at Tulsa Center for Behavioral Health that serve all of northeast Oklahoma are full, forcing Tulsa police officers and the unstable individuals in their custody to travel to one of the state’s other seven facilities.

In 2011, the Tulsa Police Department logged 44,982 miles transporting 235 individuals to crisis centers in Muskogee, McAlester, Oklahoma City, Norman, Lawton, Clinton and Fort Supply. Projections for 2012 are even higher. Imagine if one of your friends or loved ones had a psychotic break after a terrible tragedy – and then had to spend four hours handcuffed, in the back of a police cruiser, for a trip to far western Oklahoma. When individuals are at their most vulnerable, they’re pulled away from friends and loved ones. At the same time, our police officers are pulled out of the communities they’re sworn to protect.

Oklahoma Governor Mary Fallin is taking steps to improve the situation. Her 2012-2013 budget includes in it $2.5 million to fund one of the five new crisis units proposed by ODMHSAS. Where the new center will be located is still to be determined, but it should be noted that fewer than half of the existing facilities are located on Tulsa’s side of the state.  

Mental Health America is using a catchy slogan this May – “Do More for the 1 in 4” – to celebrate Mental Health Month and increase awareness that one in four American adults lives with a treatable mental health disorder. Please consider answering the call to action. “Do More” by contacting your state representative and senator and urging them to fund the new crisis center in eastern Oklahoma.

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Family & Children’s Services Chief Executive Officer Gail Lapidus gave a special welcome to the participants. “When you take to the stage, you serve as examples to others who struggle with mental illness. You demonstrate – here on the catwalk, and in your everyday lives – the power of hope. Every glamorous pose you strike, every glorious note you hit, proves that recovery from mental illness is possible,” said Lapidus.

Hundreds turned out for the event.

Solomon and Ben looking very dapper.

The whole group.

Beautiful works of art presented by Esau.

Country and Katt are all class!

Sometimes, it takes a village.

Family & Children’s Services began last month to build villages, so to speak, for a very specific group of children in crisis. The agency’s new Systems of Care Wraparound program helps kids ages 0-12 who have suffered abuse or other traumas and have a mental health or co-occurring disorder.

Through the Systems of Care, family support providers and care coordinators build highly-coordinated teams that help devise and execute plans to meet the needs of participating children and their often overwhelmed families. Teams include both formal supports (therapists, educators and other service providers) and informal allies (extended family members, neighbors and others not professionally involved with the family).

Children served through the Systems of Care are at risk of being put in foster care or another out-of-home placement. But research reveals that kids kept in their homes are less likely to use drugs, experience homelessness or be incarcerated than children who are separated from their families. 

“Working to make the home environment safe and appropriate for a child is almost always better than removing a child from his family,” said Crystal Houck, program director of the Family & Children’s Services Systems of Care. “We work to calm family chaos, stabilize the child’s mental illness and provide tools and resources to preserve the family unit. Our overarching goal is to keep the child in his home environment.”

Systems of Care teams work with children and families to devise individualized strategies for healthy function in the home, at school and in the community at large. Strategies might include having a member of the team accompany and advocate for parents at meetings with school officials or provide respite to a caregiver. Or they might not. Children and their caregivers drive and guide the decisions on care and support they receive.

Family support providers and care coordinators also help families link to community resources that provide assistance with food, medical care and a range of other needs. Referrals to and coordination of individual, family or group therapy, child psychiatry and pharmacy services are also important components that can help set the children in the Systems of Care on the path to recovery. 

Family & Children’s Services operates the new Systems of Care in collaboration with Wraparound Tulsa and the Oklahoma Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services. The partnership marks the first time wraparound services have been tailored to families of children impacted by trauma. 

A night of trivia, food and fun awaits at the ninth annual Brainiac Ball on June 2, 2012. Known as the “smartest soiree in Tulsa,” Brainiac Ball has a new venue this year – a spacious, air-conditioned tent on the campus of  the Sarah and John Graves Center at Family & Children’s Services, 2325 S. Harvard. The event kicks off at 6 p.m. with cocktails and a tour of the building, followed by dinner  at 7:15, and team trivia and a live auction beginning at 8 p.m.

“The Brainiac Ball is one of Tulsa’s most anticipated and successful events,” said CEO of F&CS Gail Lapidus. “The atmosphere is fun, competitive and relaxed all at the same time. Guests love the team trivia challenge, and knowing the event directly helps those in need makes it that much more enjoyable.”

Event proceeds will help F&CS continue to offer life-changing behavioral health services to children who have been abused or traumatized, families in crisis, and individuals battling mental illness and addiction.

Last year’s event raised a record $408,000 for F&CS. This year, the organization hopes to break the $410,000 threshold with assistance from the Charles & Lynn Schusterman Family Foundation. During “Bids for Kids,” the foundation will match Brainiacs’ donations, dollar for dollar, so individual donations will go twice as far to help children in crisis.

“During the Brainiac Ball ‘Bids for Kids,’ our foundation will be pleased to match the pledges of any donor willing to join us in supporting the important work of Family & Children’s Services in strengthening the well-being and mental health of at risk kids,” said Lynn Schusterman.

Tickets for the event are $125 for individuals and $1250 for a table of 10. (CLICK HERE FOR ONLINE TICKET INFORMATION)Various levels of sponsorships are still available.  For information contact Marydith Morgan 918-560-1113 or mmorgan@fcsok.org.

The live auction features prizes for every type of bidder, from pet lovers to adventurers, foodies to fashionistas:

Travel and Adventure Packages

• Luxury trip to Montreal, Quebec
• VIP California Wine Experience
• Flight in a restored 1941World War II fighter plane courtesy of Espo Fire & Water Restoration
• First-row tickets to an Oklahoma City Thunder game courtesy of Marjo and Bob Burke

To Please Your Palate:

• A case each of Far Niente Chardonnay and Cabernet
• Gourmet dinner prepared by Fleming’s Steakhouse hosted in the home of Laura and Max Mantooth
• Beer dinner for 12 hosted by Elliott Nelson at The Tavern

Fur, Fun and Fashion

• Golden Retriever puppy from Heart of Gold Retrievers
• Bracelet by designer David Yurman courtesy of Bruce G. Weber
• Sheared mink stroller from Miss Jackson’s Fur Salon

In addition to the live auction, the Brainiac Ball will also hold its first-ever online auction. The auction opens at 9 a.m. May 21 and closes June 3 at 10 p.m. with an exciting assortment of dining and sports experiences as well as home décor and antiques. A few items available online include an antique lead crystal chandelier, an evening’s rental of the historic Harwelden Mansion and a round of golf for four at the Patriot Golf Club. 

The presenting sponsor for this year’s Brainiac Ball is Cyclonic Valve. Genius sponsors are George Kaiser Family Foundation, Charles & Lynn Schusterman Family Foundation and Williams. Merit sponsors are Bette and Michael Graves and Ruth K. Nelson Trust. Tent sponsor is Denise and John Redmond. Valedictorian sponsors are Bank of America, Erin and Don Chappel, Bryan Close, Dollar Thrifty Automotive Group, Frederic Dorwart, Lawyers; Hogan Taylor LLP, Laura and Max Mantooth, Qdoba Mexican Grill, Ralph and Frances McGill Foundation, T.D. Williamson, Inc., the Walton Family Foundation, WPX Energy and Zarrow Families Foundation.

Fleming’s has been a generous supporter of community efforts since it opened its doors in 1985. The local retailer donated hundreds of pairs of shoes this year to the Abersons & Friends Warehouse Sale benefitting Family & Children’s Services. And Fleming’s participates in the agency’s annual Care Card campaign.

Last month, Fleming’s and Naot Shoes donated 100 pairs of sandals, loafers and other shoes to Family & Children’s Services.

The footwear has been distributed to low-income individuals participating in a variety of agency programs. Thank you, Fleming’s Comfort Footwear. We appreciate your big heart. And Angela and our other clients appreciate your comfortable, stylish soles!

Family & Children’s Services is now accepting donations in honor or memory of special mothers and fathers. Honorees will receive a beautifully designed Mother’s or Father’s Day card notifying them of the gifts made in their honor.

Donations will help heal abused children, strengthen families in crisis and promote positive parenting. As one of the community’s oldest and largest non-profit agencies, Family & Children’s Services is the place Tulsa has turned to for help for more than 85 years. Today, the agency provides life-changing behavioral health care, child abuse treatment and family strengthening services to 1 in 6 Tulsans.

To make a gift today in honor or memory of a special mother or father, call (918) 560-1118 or click here.