Latest / The One Oʻahu Podcast with Mayor Rick Blangiardi / Connie Mitchell and Christopher Thomas discuss the call to action by Mayor Blangiardi for Guardians Ad Litem

Transcript

Connie Mitchell and Christopher Thomas discuss the call to action by Mayor Blangiardi for Guardians Ad Litem · The One Oʻahu Podcast with Mayor Rick Blangiardi

0:14
Welcome to the One Oahu podcast.
0:16
I'm your host, Brandi Higa, and today is Thursday, April 24th, 2025.
0:21
And we're joined this week by Christopher Thomas and Connie Mitchell.
0:24
Thank you both for being here.
0:26
Thanks for the invite. Thanks again.
0:28
So, Chris, can we start with you?
0:29
Do you mind telling us your title,
0:31
what you do, and just a little bit about yourself?
0:33
All right.
0:34
So, my name is Christopher Thomas.
0:36
I have a law office downtown Honolulu.
0:38
I've been there for about 12 years, and in that process,
0:42
I got to meet Connie and her folks at the Institute for Human Services.
0:45
And so what I do is I provide legal services
0:48
to their institute, mainly for, help with mental health law.
0:52
Petitioning
0:53
for assisted community treatment orders, guardianship orders and the like.
0:57
So that's my story.
0:58
I got three kids. One's in college.
1:00
Two are still, high school and grade school, and my wife works downtown also.
1:05
So that's my group.
1:06
So you set up, about a decade.
1:08
What were you doing before that?
1:09
I was a military attorney with the Air Force, in their JAG department.
1:13
So that's kind of how I cut my teeth as an attorney.
1:15
Was, through my first job as a JAG attorney.
1:18
And kind of, you know, introducing yourself.
1:20
Okay.
1:21
I'm Connie Mitchell, I'm
1:22
the executive director at IHS Institute for Human Services.
1:26
Been there for almost 19 years.
1:28
And before that, I was the director of nursing at the Hawaii State Hospital.
1:32
So that's how I came to know a lot of, some of the people that I work with now,
1:37
even because there were patients there at the state hospital way back then.
1:41
So, I've, I'm a lifelong resident of Hawaii and,
1:46
you know, have lived and worked down in this area and downtown
1:49
for a long time now.
1:50
But I'm now a resident of Kaneohe.
1:53
At last week's press conference, Mayor Blangiardi issued
1:55
kind of an urgent call to action, for folks to ask community members to serve
2:00
as advocates for homeless individuals in forms of guardians ad litem.
2:03
So first off,
2:04
when people hear that not everyone knows exactly what a guardian ad litem is.
2:07
Chris, why don't you start about what what what is a guardian at large?
2:09
Yeah, it's sometimes hard to define.
2:11
So there's there's a real delineation between an attorney, in fact,
2:15
and a guardian ad litem in the court system.
2:17
And attorney, in fact, is really someone who is supposed to look out
2:20
only for a person's best legal interest.
2:23
A guardian ad litem, in my opinion, is a more holistic role, which,
2:27
entails looking out for the person's legal interests
2:32
medical best interest, social best interests.
2:35
Taking into account their family.
2:38
And so a Guardian line
2:39
was really supposed to be a caretaker for someone going through a legal process,
2:43
but it's not actually representing their, specific legal need.
2:47
That's not their role.
2:47
So a guardian that outlines in our system,
2:49
they're basically trying to take
2:50
as much information as possible and trying to figure out, hey,
2:53
given all these parameters, what's going to be best for this person moving forward?
2:57
I think, dad.
2:58
Yeah, I think, and, Chris, maybe you can help me with this because,
3:01
guardian and litem also exists there in family court.
3:05
A lot of the time.
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And, they represent, youth also under age, youth.
3:10
And so in most cases they're pretty much,
3:13
representing the best interests of the person.
3:17
As you know, Chris was talking about, you know, versus if the person just tells
3:21
his attorney and the attorney is for them, and you got to do this for me,
3:25
then they have to basically do their best to just carry out what they want, right?
3:29
Yeah.
3:30
I mean, I mean, there's a duty of an attorney to,
3:33
take instruction from and do only what the client says.
3:37
The issue with
3:38
guardians ad litem
3:39
or even attorneys, in fact, is that if someone does not have the capacity
3:43
to make those decisions like a child or someone suffering from mental illness,
3:47
they could be giving their attorney instruction
3:50
that is actually contrary to what's best for them.
3:52
Not only legally, but practically.
3:55
And so
3:56
that's where I, I believe the guardian ad litem has a very unique role in that.
4:00
They they are trained and specifically are supposed
4:04
to work with folks who can't really make good decisions for themselves.
4:07
A term that was also thrown around last week in the press conferences, ect.
4:11
What exactly does AC do?
4:12
What's the functionality there?
4:15
I'll give you my opinion and kind of a nod to the okay, so assisted
4:18
committed treatment in my opinion is a under utilized law in Hawaii.
4:22
That's chapter 334 of our mental health statute. And
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and what it basically entails is a law
4:29
that's designed to avoid the cycle of folks
4:33
who need mental health treatment going into a facility, involuntarily
4:37
having to be admitted,
4:38
perhaps being treated for a very short period of time
4:40
and then being released again to the community or to the streets
4:44
where they then repeat this cycle of incompetence,
4:48
perhaps violence,
4:50
danger to themselves or others, and they get it back to the hospital again.
4:54
Assisted community treatment is designed
4:55
to allow treatment of these individuals who,
4:59
don't necessarily have to be confined into a hospital.
5:02
They can treat them wherever they are.
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And in this case, all the folks that we treat are on the streets.
5:06
So, the benefits of assisted treatment, in my opinion,
5:10
are that you can treat folks anywhere, including the streets or in their homes.
5:14
And, it allows them to continue to receive continuous care
5:19
that they otherwise would avoid if they keep cycling through a hospital
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or they get lost in the shuffle.
5:23
So, the goal of assisted community treatment, in my opinion, is, medication
5:28
to get medication on board to help treat mental illness and substance abuse.
5:31
And the law allows our court to make orders that someone be,
5:36
basically given their medication, whether they,
5:40
you know, technically are admitted to a hospital or not.
5:42
Yeah. Anything to that.
5:44
I think it's also to avoid them being jailed, quite frankly,
5:47
you know, because so many of the people that don't know what they're doing,
5:50
their behaviors in the community often,
5:53
garner the attention of police and then they're arrested.
5:56
So the whole idea is to divert them from, you know, the criminal justice system,
6:01
if, in fact, what they're doing is a result of their mental illness
6:05
and it isn't necessarily a threat to other people in a serious way,
6:09
but that they themselves are just choosing wrongly, you know, for
6:12
themselves is not the best interests, you know,
6:14
for them to be behaving the way that they are.
6:16
So court order, treatment in the community,
6:19
in the least restrictive environment.
6:21
So how many guardians ad litem do we currently have working cases here on all.
6:27
We've only come across two so far, I think.
6:30
And so,
6:31
that's why the mayor was so concerned, you know, because we said, well,
6:34
we can't really do this on a larger scale unless there's more people
6:38
that are willing to serve in that capacity.
6:41
So, therefore, that's what we tried to do last week.
6:45
The type of individuals that you both described.
6:47
I mean, we all see them out there.
6:49
But how many could benefit from ECT here on Oahu?
6:53
I ask Connie that all the time.
6:55
And, you know, it's not a hard and fast number.
6:58
As you know, the the government performs a point
7:01
in time count every year, every year or every other year.
7:04
Well, it's we've been doing it every year, but we skipped this past year
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because we didn't have to do it.
7:09
So it's required every two years.
7:11
And so we're probably moving forward. Do it every two. Yeah.
7:14
So that kind of sets the number of folks
7:16
who are living unsheltered on Oahu and on the other island.
7:19
And then from that we try to break down how many folks are suffering
7:23
from serious mental illness. And that's always a moving target.
7:25
And then I always ask Connie, like, how many people if we treated
7:30
and we're able to get orders to treat our sister, give me a treatment.
7:33
What would we need to do to change kind of the environment,
7:36
or get the ball moving in the right direction or gain momentum?
7:39
And, we don't necessarily know the answer that I can only answer that we need more,
7:44
and always more and probably will always answer that we need more.
7:47
So we're trying to treat as many folks as we can
7:49
to kind of turn the tide of homelessness and serious mental illness.
7:53
But we're talking about hundreds of people, you know, really, I think, on
7:56
any given day, if we were to do a count, you know,
8:00
you only see the people maybe on the street,
8:02
but there are many more people that are hidden, sometimes are in more,
8:06
rural areas, not in the city areas, you know, so
8:09
I'd say, you know, at least several hundred people, probably.
8:13
But we only can we only have capacity to deal with those people
8:16
right now that are most in front of our eyes.
8:19
Right.
8:19
You know, but I think if we could help more people,
8:22
we just have, you know, just a more civil community,
8:26
you know, where people are not, you know, just really behaving in ways that,
8:30
are a little bit intimidating sometimes for the folks in Aurora out there.
8:35
So since the press conference last week, what's been the response
8:39
that each of you have been getting? Chris, we can start with you.
8:41
Yeah, I actually got emails that evening from attorneys
8:44
that I know who reached out and said, hey, how do I get involved?
8:47
So I was excited right off the bat because it seemed like it got some
8:50
resonance right off the bat.
8:52
I don't know the numbers that have now reached out to the judiciary
8:55
because I don't have access to that information, but I do know that right
8:59
away, some folks that I know were like, hey, I'd like to get involved.
9:02
I can't believe I didn't know about this.
9:03
And hey,
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now that I know that there's something I can do to help, I'd really like to help.
9:07
So that was a good sign on my end. Yeah.
9:10
Yeah, well, I'm not in the legal area to folks.
9:13
Reach out for more information. Or just what is this or how.
9:15
Yeah, I think I think people are wanting to,
9:18
expand on, you know, what was shared at the press conference last week.
9:21
So I think there is going to be, you know, more coverage about,
9:24
you know, act and the need for Friday night lambs.
9:28
Also by the general media.
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So I'm excited about that.
9:31
But guardians, a lot of it, it feels like almost like passion project work.
9:36
I know that there's some compensation, but,
9:39
call me what we can start with you on this one.
9:41
Why why is this work important? What?
9:43
What makes it worth it?
9:44
Is is it worth it?
9:45
I mean, there's only two right now.
9:47
Yeah.
9:47
I think, actually, Chris is is probably a better person to speak on this
9:51
because he is an attorney and we're talking to attorneys, right.
9:55
But, you know, from my perspective, the whole process,
9:58
you know, of Act is one that is so needed.
10:02
You know, people are, quick to complain about what they see on the street.
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But then, you know, when we are talking about solutions
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and this is a real solution, we need people to step up.
10:12
But Chris.
10:13
Yeah, I mean, I could get on my soapbox and tell you what
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I think about that question, but my what I always tell folks is this is,
10:20
you know, when I drive from my house, Kailua, over the Pali to my downtown
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comfortable office, I drive by 100 people every day.
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And when I see those folks, it
10:30
it really it really gets to me.
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And that's one of the reasons I got involved in the first place.
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And as I'm doing that, I'm thinking to myself, okay,
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how difficult is it for someone who has, you know, the wherewithal
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as an attorney to get involved and help out and a guardian ad litem,
10:47
is a perfect role for someone who knows there's a problem.
10:50
And we all know there's problem that can do something about it
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in even a small way, by taking a case or two,
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and would have a real difference not only in the life of that individual,
11:00
but in the lives of the folks that frequent downtown or wherever,
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you know, is affected by homelessness and serious mental illness.
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So for me, it's like one of those no brainers that an attorney
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can really very easily without a lot of training or extra
11:14
effort, jump into, and then the work itself is rewarded.
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I, like you said, you know, it may not be, you know, the money that
11:21
an attorney would otherwise.
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You know, see from their normal clientele.
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But this is something that's serving their community also.
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And from a holistic standpoint, I think that's really appealing.
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So it's one of those things that any attorney could do.
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So when the question is, you know, how many guardians I let him do we need?
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My answer is always more.
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And who can get involved in my answer?
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Is anybody anybody that has a, you know, attorneys license
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the judiciary will vet you and approve you,
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I know from experience that there's a lot of different places
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that attorneys can devote their time and their volunteer hours.
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So there's all sorts of great organizations in the state where
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even for no money, for no charge pro bono work,
12:00
you can spend hours and hours and hours serving your community.
12:03
I get it. So there's other places that people go to.
12:06
But for the the problem that's right in front of us.
12:08
Homelessness and serious mental illness in Waikiki and downtown in Chinatown.
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I mean, you can you can see a tangible result.
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You know, when I volunteer my pro-bono hours, other organizations,
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I may meet somebody and help them out, but I don't see them through to the end,
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and I don't necessarily get the impression that I'm making, you know, this huge
12:27
watershed difference in their life,
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you know, and I'm helping them out as, a pro bono client with a Guardian
12:31
ad litem serving an individual for an Act petition.
12:36
You're really, in my opinion, changing that person's life.
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So, from that perspective, I think it's very rewarding.
12:43
It's kind of a, a no brainer for an attorney to get involved
12:46
if they're really concerned about the community.
12:48
See where it took you to to know that, that you do get to see it to the end.
12:51
Right?
12:51
Like you said, there's so many different places
12:52
you could devote your time, your energy, and even your volunteer hours.
12:56
So what got you into this field, this kind of work in the first place?
13:00
I guess the the way people ask that is what what is your why?
13:03
Why did you.
13:03
Even think it was just that just, everyday walking the streets?
13:07
Gail going to get lunch and being like, why?
13:09
Why is why is Honolulu moving in this direction
13:13
that could otherwise be avoided with some good laws? Act,
13:17
some good
13:17
legal work and the judiciary and the government gave.
13:20
Well, why can't we do something about it?
13:24
I don't specifically remember how we got hooked up
13:26
to start act work, but I do know that it was kind of like that.
13:29
Hey, I saw a problem. I wanted to get involved.
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I think you reached out to me. Or vice versa.
13:34
We had some early success on a case that kind of otherwise
13:38
was kind of hopeless,
13:39
and we were like, hey, this could work, and let's see how far we could take it.
13:42
So, that was kind of my.
13:44
I think our first case actually was somebody from Kailua.
13:47
All right. Yeah.
13:48
And I think, for Chris, he's had the opportunity to see the before
13:53
and after all the way, which, you know, is
13:55
I think is really encouraging when you can see it.
13:57
And I think for me, particularly because I've seen people who are,
14:02
who have been my patients at the state hospital
14:04
and then out on the street, and then when we can treat them again
14:07
and see what medication and treatment can do and housing,
14:11
you know, really getting them back into housing can do for somebody.
14:14
You know, I that's what keeps me going, you know,
14:16
is that I really feel like we can make a difference here.
14:19
But before I just before state hospital.
14:21
Connie, why did you get into this work? Same question I ask her.
14:24
Why did you.
14:25
What is your. Why?
14:25
Well, I'm a psychiatric clinical nurse specialist, you know, and I went into,
14:30
nursing, first of all, general nursing because of my dad.
14:33
You know, I watched him, you know, suffer, a long time with a medical condition.
14:37
But then, you know, I saw,
14:41
I had the experience of
14:42
having a couple of people that I knew closely actually commit suicide.
14:46
And that's when I decided I would go into, psychiatric nursing.
14:49
So I think for me, you know, sometimes, looking back, it's those pain points
14:54
in my life that have really, and passion me to say this doesn't have to happen.
14:59
You know, let's make a different,
15:00
you know, way for some people and prevent some of these things, you know.
15:04
Yeah.
15:05
There's no question that this is a very tough work.
15:07
But, Connie, for you,
15:08
you know, like you just said, you've been through a lot on the hard days.
15:13
What do you do to make them better?
15:14
Are you a glass of wine kind of gal?
15:16
Are you a go for a ride?
15:17
What do you do to get back to the center?
15:21
I think just, you know, going home and just being able to unwind.
15:24
I'm really fortunate.
15:25
My husband is in psych, in mental health as well.
15:28
And so he really understands and so I like to think that, you know,
15:32
being able to talk about stuff and have somebody really understand
15:36
what it means, you know, to be a part of, helping to heal somebody else.
15:41
You know, the hard days.
15:42
I know there's going to be another day,
15:44
and I'm going to fight for that next day where we can do something good.
15:47
Because I remember in the earlier days when we were just feeling like,
15:51
wow, why is it so hard, you know, to get one of these cases through the courts?
15:54
You know,
15:55
but slowly but surely, you know, we get knocked down, but we get up again
15:59
and we decide, okay,
16:00
we're going to do a little bit different next time and see what we can do.
16:03
So just the, ability to see people reunited with family,
16:08
see people being able to enjoy their life again,
16:11
you know, having the capability to even, you know, know that,
16:15
hey, they can be happy about something, you know,
16:17
and really look forward to something that really, you know, keeps me going.
16:21
Yeah. Chris, what about you?
16:23
Oh, yeah.
16:24
So I like I said, I have three boys and,
16:26
chasing them around and trying to keep from drowning and,
16:30
you know, that's kind of where I burn my energy chasing them around.
16:33
So, yeah, they're a good time.
16:36
You kind of mentioned, you know, reuniting people with family.
16:39
There are those good stories.
16:40
So on the tough days, Connie, is there a story that you fall back on
16:43
that you kind of remember that that helps when times do get a little tougher?
16:47
I think there was one, you know, patient that I had in the hospital before.
16:51
And then I saw again on the street and it was just, so sad for me,
16:55
you know, to see how far, how far that person had fallen
16:59
and being able to do the act on that person
17:02
and seeing that person back in, you know, housing
17:05
and being able to enjoy life again, that really made a huge difference for me.
17:10
But there are so many cases, Brendan.
17:12
You know, it's not just one.
17:13
And so I just really keep telling myself, naw, you know, like we keep doing this
17:17
because there's so many other people and, you know, it's not just that one person
17:20
because they have family too, you know, and when you help that person,
17:25
suddenly there are other people that are affected by that too,
17:28
by that recovery and that healing.
17:30
And so I, you know, tend to think
17:32
about how we're all connected and how when we're helping one person,
17:36
there's so many other people that end up getting touched by that, too.
17:39
I know folks have asked you this before, but what do you love most about your job?
17:45
Actually, I love
17:46
watching my staff just really serve people the way that they do.
17:51
They love on them really heavily, and they just know how to connect with people.
17:56
And, you know, sometimes I feel like it's really
17:59
the folks that we're serving that teach me about stuff, too, because,
18:02
you know, we all kind of wrestle with our own stresses and, you know, like,
18:07
maybe losing things, you know, and,
18:10
feeling like we don't have enough.
18:12
And I look at people,
18:13
you know, who sometimes, you know, are on the street and having experience.
18:17
Houselessness.
18:19
They have so little, but they still know how to, you know, experience joy.
18:24
You know, as long as we connect and there are people
18:27
that are connecting with them.
18:28
And so, it's just, it's just a real good place
18:32
to be, you know, to know that you don't have to have a lot of stuff sometimes.
18:35
And, you know, you can learn from anybody.
18:39
Chris, if
18:39
your boys are sitting in here and I ask them what you do, or they say.
18:42
Oh, answer the phone and send email, that's what.
18:48
My youngest gets a drag in the office all the time, and you make him do his
18:51
homework, and he's like, all you do is answer the phone and do email.
18:54
But, you know, I'm actually thinking about stuff.
18:55
And so they kind of give me a hard time.
18:58
But, yeah, I think they, I think they kind of as they get older, they know,
19:03
part of my role as an attorney is to try to help out the community.
19:06
And I think they appreciate that it they won't tell me that, but they'll
19:10
someday, hopefully be more receptive to that.
19:13
I'll tell you.
19:13
I'll tell you one of my stories that Connie was kind of alluding to is,
19:18
when we first started,
19:19
Connie said we got to serve the the worst of the worst.
19:22
Right?
19:22
So, like, we're kind of triaging, like, you know,
19:25
how bad people were mentally, our mental illness wise.
19:28
And those are going to be our priorities.
19:30
And I'm not saying this because the person is a bad person.
19:32
They were just behaving badly.
19:33
But we targeted an individual who, barely ever wore clothes.
19:38
He would run in front of busses, he would terrorize tourists,
19:42
he would expose himself.
19:43
The guardian, light him.
19:44
In that case, I think had to run from him at one point.
19:48
And I'm not saying that to dissuade people from being Guardians line,
19:50
but he was just like, this guy's too scary
19:52
to even get on the same side of the street.
19:54
And, and we went through the Act process and it was a real slog
19:58
because there's one of our first cases,
20:00
and we were getting challenged by all sorts of different entities.
20:03
And, but then we finally got the order and we're like, hey, we got an order. And,
20:08
I think it was like a year later we were doing,
20:10
I call it walkabout, where I go out
20:12
with the doctor and the outreach workers and whoever wants to tag along,
20:16
and we kind of go check out how people are doing.
20:18
Whatever. Yeah. And, one morning,
20:22
I remember they were like, hey, let's have a coffee.
20:24
Let's sit down here.
20:24
And I sat down and there was a guy that was sitting next to me
20:27
having coffee also, and he was a t shirt and his hair was well cut.
20:32
He had a backpack on,
20:33
and I thought he was just another guy having coffee, you know,
20:36
and we were kind of sitting on fourth Street Mall and our doctor said, do
20:40
you know who that is?
20:42
And I said, no.
20:43
And it was, it was that individual that we had got that order for.
20:46
And he had recovered to a degree that he wasn't, you know,
20:51
he was not going to run for mayor or, you know, be a world beater.
20:54
But he was he was not trying to harm anyone.
20:56
He wasn't harm himself.
20:57
And he had a haircut and he was moving on with life.
21:00
And that one to me was just like, that's the reason that, you know,
21:04
this work needs to be done.
21:06
And so if someone knows a lawyer or is a lawyer
21:09
or wants to find out more, what's your advice to them.
21:14
For assisted community treatment?
21:15
Yeah.
21:17
As a guardian ad litem or an attorney.
21:18
Or just want to know more, or maybe you thinking about it,
21:21
but you know, they weren't really familiar with the.
21:25
Yeah, I contacted judiciary contact Connie, contacted myself.
21:27
Contact the mayor's office.
21:30
You know, it is kind of an amorphous concept.
21:32
You know, what is what is this? This? You mean treatment, right?
21:34
How does it work? How do I get involved?
21:36
But in in reality, what it really is, is,
21:40
you know, just the, the nuts and bolts of gathering information
21:44
and making good decisions and getting people moved in the right direction.
21:48
And there's no we've learned there's no right or wrong to
21:52
how you do it or how it gets done necessarily.
21:55
As long as within the boundaries of the law.
21:56
But, you know, there's, there's,
21:59
it's really you can do how, however and whatever you want.
22:02
I always tell folks that want to get involved.
22:04
It's kind of nice to
22:05
get out of your office, you know, walk the streets a little bit, meet people
22:09
and get a bunch of information and kind of,
22:11
you know, see a little bit different perspective on how legal work can,
22:14
can help people out.
22:15
And Randy,
22:16
I think I, on the other hand, you know, I feel like when I got into this
22:19
kind of work went homelessness.
22:20
You know, I had left the hospital and I thought, oh, okay.
22:23
I didn't realize
22:23
I was going to deal with so many mentally ill people still, you know, but,
22:29
I also didn't realize I was going to be getting involved
22:32
in the legal system as much, you know, going to court and that sort of thing.
22:35
And, that has been really interesting for me because at one time,
22:39
very early in life, I thought I might go into, law myself.
22:43
Right.
22:43
But then.
22:43
So I don't think I will do that.
22:45
I'll go into nursing instead.
22:47
But I think, you know, just being able to see how, again,
22:51
we're also connected, you know, and how everybody has a different role.
22:55
And in this particular, process.
22:57
That is so true.
22:58
You know, like Chris has his role.
23:00
I have my role. You know, our outreach workers have their role.
23:03
And just really connecting with the person and getting them to a place where,
23:08
you know, they might even,
23:09
you know, take medication even before we get an act order.
23:13
And I, I want to say that, too, you know, it's not like
23:15
we do this with every single person that is mentally ill,
23:18
but it's those people that are just so entrenched
23:20
and they're headed down this path
23:22
where there's something bad going to happen to them or to somebody else.
23:25
But, you know, there are so many other people
23:28
that in the course
23:29
of trying to get them treatment and thinking we needed to do act,
23:33
they took their
23:33
medication and we would see these, you know, real amazing recoveries.
23:37
And then we thought, oh, I guess we don't have to do the act here.
23:40
We don't have to be in such a hurry to do it.
23:42
Let's see what where this goes.
23:43
And then sometimes getting the act is about helping
23:46
that person stay on their medication, because maybe they feel like,
23:50
oh, I'm so good, I don't really need to take medication.
23:51
And many people who are mentally ill do decide to stop taking their medication.
23:56
But I think what we're trying to do is help people to have
23:58
that kind of stability that allows them to just keep going
24:02
and keep getting better and recovering and being able to be,
24:06
the beneficiary of the rehabilitation
24:09
and reconnecting with their life and their loved ones.
24:13
Well, thank you both.
24:14
Is there anything that we missed?
24:16
No. I think, you know, I just wanted to, you know, really thank our mayor,
24:19
you know, for just putting this call out to people.
24:23
I think sometimes doing this work is,
24:26
a little bit lonely because it doesn't seem like anybody else wants to do it.
24:30
And I think for me, I'd like to really encourage other case
24:33
management agencies, you know, to just really get involved more also,
24:37
because we certainly don't want to be the only ones doing this,
24:40
you know, and we really want other people to feel like, yeah, we can do this too,
24:44
especially now that the AG's are also, assisting with filing for these petitions.
24:49
You know, to me, it is part of the toolkit that we have to help people
24:53
who are chronically mentally ill and who do not have the ability
24:57
to make those decisions for themselves that would help them get better.
25:02
Chris, I think that.
25:02
Yeah, it's really good to see the the mayor's office,
25:06
giving attention to the issue.
25:07
And I know the also the governor's office in the state legislature.
25:12
You know, I've learned a little bit about how other states do
25:14
these programs and, and in reality,
25:18
Connie and her organization are really doing the work
25:21
that other states devote their entire, you know, department
25:24
in the Department of Health to doing.
25:26
You know, it's normally a state function that kind of goes top down.
25:29
And what Connie is doing is she's kind of doing a bottom up.
25:32
And, and
25:33
and by doing so is, is really kind of carrying the burden for the community.
25:37
So I appreciate now
25:39
the, you know, the program getting more attention
25:41
and hopefully getting more resources in an effort to.
25:45
Well, thank you both.
25:46
Like Chris mentioned, you can contact the judiciary for more information
25:50
as at gal@quartz.hawaii.gov.
25:54
Thank you again for being here.
25:55
And the mayor's
25:56
next town hall meeting is tonight, April 24th at Mililani High School.
26:00
That start time is set for 7 p.m..
26:02
We hope to see you there. Mahalo for listening.
26:04
And until next time, Aloha.