CA Sonya Thomas 268 West Hospitality Lane Suite 400

(909) [HIDDEN] Fax [HIDDEN]

CaSonya Thomas is a director in the director's office at the county of San Bernardino -- Department of Behavioral Health. (County of San Bernardino - Department of Behavioral Health, n.d.)This department is responsible for the "overall planning, implementation, direction, coordination, and evaluation of the Department of Behavioral Health." (County of San Bernardino - Department of Behavioral Health, n.d.) Specifically, the responsibilities of the office Ms. Thomas is apart of is grant writing applications, developing assessment protocols, and regulations interpreting. The Department of Behavioral Health Administration section has meetings with State and local agencies, communication with citizen advisory boards, and communication with other public and private agencies.

Along with the myriad of services provided by the Department of Behavioral Health are Adult programs. These adult programs include: Adult Residential Services Clinic, Conservatorship Investigation Unit, Employment Services Program, Housing Program, Mentally ill Homeless Program, and Agewise program. Below is a brief description of each and what they offer.

The Adult Residential Services Clinic offers assistance in placement to other programs and case management. Their goal is to move people to a level of care that is not restrictive as quickly as possible. This program provides liasons between state hospitals, IMD's, and Augmented Board and Care facilities.

The Conservatorship Investigation Unit as its name states assists people referred for a Lanterman-Petris-Short conservatorship. It also helps prepare their legal documents as well as help those who are unfit to stand trial. The Employment Services Program as the name suggests, assists people who are mentally ill find and acquire full or part time employment. This program provides employment skills such as computer competency, and job coaching.

The Housing Program as well as the Mentally ill Homeless program assists mentally ill people who are homeless or in need of housing acquire housing and become self sufficient. They provide basic needs such as food and clothing as well as social workers and employment opportunities. There some limitations to this program such as lack of avaliable space and restricted time in program.

(County of San Bernardino - Department of Behavioral Health, n.d.) For services we cannot provide Agewise assists in linking clients to available community resources. Trained Senior Peer Counselors act as group leaders for clients and non-clients in their communities." Like the staff in the adminstrative section of the department, staff in this program use an approach that enables communication between other agencies in order to find appropriate assistance. The goal of this program is to prevent premature institutionalization.
What makes this department unique is the crisis services made available to the public as well as the mobile response teams. They help anyone experiencing a mental break down get the help, medication, and referrals needed to improve their lives. In fact this department helps many people suffering from mental health problems to better themselves and save their lives through constant and daily assistance. They also have courts and children's services.

The department houses detox programs for people dependent on alcohol and/or drugs. There are outpatient as well as residential facilities. As well as treatment, they offer placement just like with the housing programs and assistance in self sufficiency.

CaSonya Thomas was very kind to complete the interview with the questions provided for the assignment. These were her responses:

• What is your primary responsibility?

My primary responsibility as director in the director's office is to provide on point evaluations and effective communication to my staff on a daily basis. There are a number of cases daily that need to be supervised and/or investigated. It is my duty to oversee and communicate.

• Who are the department's customers?

The customers are not so much customers as they are people who are typically in need of help. Some have insurance and private funding. Most rely on the state and federal government to provide financial assistance. A lot of the people that come in have a history of mental health problems.

• What was your career path to this point?

My career path was in adminstration. I found and took early on supervisory jobs in order to…