Why Join The Florida Self-Directed Care Advisory Council?
By Gordon Magill

The first Self-Directed Care program was conceived in Jacksonville, Florida in early 2000, and was implemented in 2002 through the effort of people with mental illness, and other advocates who believed people with mental illness need to be squarely at the center of decision making that affects them.  The Florida Self-Directed Care Advisory Council continues in this path giving FloridaSDC participants, people with mental illness, and other advocates a voice in FloridaSDC vision, goals, policy and procedures. 

FloridaSDC is determined to respond to the needs of people with mental illness, and to do that FloridaSDC needs to know your needs.  FloridaSDC was conceived by people like you, and FloridaSDC will thrive only when people like you participate in the Advisory Council. 

What kind of services do you need?  What would an ideal mental health system look like?  What mental health services are working and what services are not working?  What can be done so that choice, hope, respect, and personal responsibility, are part of every mental health service?  What is working well in FloridaSDC and what is not working?  How can we make FloridaSDC better?  What can we do do build the kind of program we need?  What can be done to make the entire mental health system better?  The Advisory Council is a place where you can make your voice heard on these issues, and more.

This is the mandate of the Advisory Council as written in the FloridaSDC policy and procedures:

The purpose of this Council is to:

Advise the District Eight SAMH Program Office, the State SAMH Program Office, and NAMI of Collier County about policy issues related to Self-Directed Care.

To ensure and support programmatic and operation fidelity, allowing flexibility for District Eight's unique needs, of the FloridaSDC Program.

To hear reports of the ongoing status of SDC, evaluate these reports, and make appropriate recommendations where indicated.  These reports will include monthly operational reports, participant concerns, compliments, concerns, incident reports, and other reports submitted to the District Eight SAMH Program Office, including financial reports relevant to District Eight's SDC Program.

To approve/revise a permanent set of bylaws.

This may sound dry.  The work of implementing the Advisory Council is hard, and might sometimes be frustrating.  But the Council is a tool to help implement the original and ongoing vision of FloridaSDC, and when this tool is forged in the fire of the FloridaSDC vision the work of the Council is exciting and rewarding.  To have a choice we must have a voice!  Your voice is needed on the FloridaSDC Advisory Council.  We hope to see you there.