Law Enforcement AwardsDinner and Fundraiser
Organized
by
David’s Hope Board Members
Mary Lou- Founder of David’s Hope and Leader of theArizona Mental Health & Criminal Justice Coalition
Mary Lou Brncik is the Founder and President of David’s Hope and Chair of the ArizonaMental Health & Criminal Justice Coalition. Born in Akron, Ohio, she is the mother of sixchildren, four sons and two daughters. She had her first experience with mental illnesswhen her brother was diagnosed as a teenager with schizophrenia. She has been married toher husband Paul for 38 years and currently resides in Phoenix AZ. Her former vocationworking as a nurse, provided a good foundation into the world of mental disorders.
Mary Lou’s son David was diagnosed with Schizoaffective disorder at the age of 23. Soonafter, David’s life intersected with Arizona’s criminal justice system. These events ledMary Lou to years of battling both the mental health and criminal justice systems to gettreatment for her son. This work eventually grew into a mission to help others. The goalbeing, that no one else would have to fight such insurmountable odds to receive mentalhealth care and to prevent others with a mental disease from being thrown into thecriminal justice system.
Who is David’s Hope ?
“David's Hope seeks to divert those with mental illnesses or co-occurring mentalillness and substance use disorders away from the criminal justice system and intocomprehensive community-based treatment and support services. David's Hopeteaches people how to advocate for themselves and others by empowering themwith information, training, resources, and mentoring. Through education andmentoring we hope to create understanding in the community of the issues facingthose living with mental illness involved in the criminal justice system.”
What Does David’s Hope Do ?
Develop a comprehensive state plan for behavioral health/criminal justicecollaboration.
Advocate to bridge gaps between law enforcement and the community.
Strengthen coordination and information sharing among reentry stakeholders.
Educate and prepare communities for the reintegration of the formerlyincarcerated.
Strengthen faith-based partnerships, mentoring, and other community basedpartnerships, to promote successful family and community reintegration.
Engage families, children, and juveniles through each phase of the reentryspectrum.
Why Does David’s Hope do this?
David's Hope is working to promote more effective use of court monitored mentalhealth treatment. We must hold our public mental health care providersaccountable for outcomes.
On average, people with mental illnesses remain incarcerated eight times longerthan people without mental illnesses arrested for the exact same charge, at acost seven times higher. With little treatment available, many individuals cyclethrough the system for the majority of their adult lives. By demandingtransparency and accountability from our mental health and criminal justicesystems, we know our cities will become safer.
Arizona Mental Health & Criminal JusticeCoalition
The Coalition’s goal is:
Prevention, Treatment and Reintegration.
Community outreach and education has been a tool for accomplishing theCoalition’s goals. Extensive outreach into the community through the creationof public Roundtable Dialogues continues on an ongoing basis. An expansionof Mental Health Courts and improvements in mental health and addictiontreatment for the incarcerated remain agency priorities. Current projectsinclude the creation of a resource guide for the incarcerated and the “Book BagProject” to provide basic necessities to those reentering our communities afterincarceration.
Where does David’s Hope Advocate ?
David's Hope is leading a statewide coalition which will promote the use of bestpractices in Arizona's mental health and criminal justice systems. We inviteboth individuals and organizations to become a part of our formal network. Wewill be addressing such issues as safety and health care in our jails and prisons,ending the practice of placing individuals diagnosed with a mental illness insolitary confinement, reforming mandatory sentencing laws and limiting thepractice of sentencing juveniles in the adult system.
We seek to create positive relationships with criminal justice agencies andpromote the use of these best practices
The Future of David’s Hope !
The Arizona Mental Health and Criminal Justice Coalition :
Seeks to be inclusive of a diverse range of reform issues and to be a catalyst whichwill reduce recidivism, while providing better outcomes through treatment anddiversion opportunities. Incarceration cannot cure or alleviate the effects ofmental health and substance use disorders but treatment can.
David's Hope needs you to help make our cross system collaboration a success.
Thank you and Be Safe.
David’s HopeBoard Members
Mary Lou Brncik—CEO
Rae Hopf—Board President
Debi Rose—Board Secretary
Joy Green
Scott Gormley
Tom Gussie
Steve Harvey
Rebekah Trexler
Sean Brady
Linda Zweig
Victoria Ames