Lawton-Fort Sill Chamber of Commerce hosts summit on mental health

The Lawton-Fort Sill Chamber of Commerce hosted a Summit on Mental Health Thursday.

The summit was led by Allie Friesen, the Commissioner for the Oklahoma Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse.

The Oklahoma Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services office, according to its website, is a central administrative office in Oklahoma that provides administrative, coordinating and planning functions for the statewide system. The commissioner and chief team oversee operations specific to the Department’s program areas, facilities operation and specialized support services.

Friesen spoke to the Chamber and guests about her agency and their goals. First on the agenda for Friesen and her team, she says, is bolstering communication between mental health resources in the state and more rural areas.

According to Friesen, one of her agency’s goals is to create liaison positions within regions including southwest Oklahoma that will be familiar with the area’s needs, resources, and professionals.

According to the agency website, “Friesen emphasizes the need for transformative solutions and smart growth within the behavioral health field.”

In Lawton specifically, which is challenged with a high homeless population and a high population of people struggling with addiction, some of the most important things are resources.

“This is kind of the magic bullet that no one seems to have,” she said.

“How do we break the cycle. One of the first opportunities we have of course is understanding what resources and providers we have in a certain community, and where are we seeing most of the homeless influx occur. One of the first opportunities we have, after we figure out the lay of the land, is the discharge process. If we have someone who is in an inpatient facility or leaving Jim Taliaferro, how do we ensure that they have everything that we need.”

Some of those needs, she said, include the ability to pay for prescriptions, transportation to appointments, and ensuring that people have all of the medications needed before their next appointment.

Friesen also stated that though the mission statement of her organization is a commitment to excellence, there is a long way to go.

“When I go into our facilities and I see sewage coming through the walls, we have lights that don’t function, we have staff that’s worked four 12 hour shifts in a row with no break, that are grossly underpaid, that are getting physically assaulted on the job, I say we have a long way to go until we get to excellence,” she stated.

“It’s not brick and mortar that we need,” said Friesen,”It’s relationships, it’s connection points, its technology and those kinds of things to really further sophisticate that infrastructure.”