More than 120 people attended the Conference, a collaborative event between the San Bernardino County Superior Court and the Diocese. The title of this year’s conference was “Mental Health, Families and Clergy in the San Bernardino County Court System.”
Several Superior Court Judges attended and provided information through talks and panel discussions. Representatives of the San Bernardino County Probation and Behavioral Health Department also provided information. The faith community, too, was represented in an afternoon panel discussion, “Clergy and Mental Health Community Issues.”
Attendees learned about how the San Bernardino County court system factors in the issue of mental health when adjudicating cases.
“What I was able to take away [from the Conference] is that within this County the court systems are sensitive to the reality that there is a connection between mental health issues and the people the people that are going through the courts,” said Deacon Ed Clark, Director of the Diocesan Office of Diaconate Formation.
The organizers of the Conference continued to help community members familiarize themselves with the realities of mental health challenges. In one afternoon exercise, the realities of schizophrenia were explored. Volunteers had a bag placed over their head and were subjected to negative comments from a person standing next to them – a simulation of the symptom of hearing voices that is sometimes experienced by a person with schizophrenia.
“The person was asked how they felt after hearing all those negative voices,” summarized Sister Mary Frances Coleman, R.S.M., who attended the Conference. “It changed their whole demeanor.”
The Catholic school principals of the Diocese attended the Conference in lieu of their monthly meeting at the Diocesan Pastoral Center. Catholic Schools Superintendent Sam Torres said Catholic school teachers and administrators are increasingly encountering situations where mental health challenges surface.
“We need to better understand what our students and families are dealing with on a daily basis,” Torres said. “It’s not part of educational background but we have to be knowledgeable of what to look for so that we can make referrals.”
The Court-Clergy Conference will be held again in 2021. The Steering Committee for this year’s Conference was Judge Winston Keh, Judge John Pacheco, Rabbi Hillel Cohn, Deacon Michael Jelley, Pastor Tim Kuhl, Pastor Randy Roberts, Dr. Reginald Woods, Mary Davis and Diana Gonzalez.