Words to Live by Speaker Series
THIS FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 3rd, 5:30 pm
Mental Health Response and the Criminal Justice System in Santa Barbara County
With Sheriff Bill Brown and Dr. Cherylynn Lee
Sheriff Bill Brown
Bill Brown has served as Santa Barbara County’s Sheriff-Coroner since January 9, 2007. He was first elected on November 7, 2006, re-elected to a second term in June, 2010, re-elected to a third term in June, 2014, and re-elected yet again to a fourth term in June, 2018.
Sheriff Brown began his law enforcement career in 1977 with the Pacifica Police Department in the San Francisco Bay area. In 1980, he transferred to the Inglewood Police Department. He served that Los Angeles County community until 1992, when he was selected as chief of police for the City of Moscow in Idaho. In that position he was responsible for overseeing police operations for both the City of Moscow and the University of Idaho. In 1995, Brown was selected as chief of police for the City of Lompoc, being only the eighth person to hold the title of police chief in that community since it incorporated in 1899. He led the Lompoc Police Department for the next 11 years until being elected to his present office.
Sheriff Brown received his master’s degree in public administration from the University of Southern California in 1995. He was president of the 91st Class of the Delinquency Control Institute, and is a graduate of the Northwest Command College, the 169th Session of the FBI National Academy, and the 33rd Session of the FBI National Executive Institute.
Sheriff Brown is a past president of the California State Sheriffs’ Association and a past president of the California Police Chiefs’ Association; as such, he is the only person to have ever held both positions. Since 2010 he has served as a Commissioner on the Mental Health Services Oversight and Accountability Commission for the State of California, and he leads Santa Barbara County’s version of “Stepping Up,” a National Initiative to Reduce the Number of Mentally Ill People in Jails. Sheriff Brown is also Chairman of the Santa Barbara County Law Enforcement Chiefs (C.L.E.C.).
Sheriff Brown received the Santa Barbara County Rescue Mission’s Léni Fé Bland Award, the Santa Barbara County Community Action Commission’s Community Champion Award, the California Forensic Mental Health Association’s Words to Deeds Paradigm Award, and their Christine M. West award for significant contributions to the field of forensic mental health, and he was selected as the California Peace Officers’ Association’s 2016 Sherman Block Law Enforcement Professional of the Year Award.
Sheriff Brown was awarded the Westmont Medal from Westmont College and the Goleta Elks Outstanding Service Award for his leadership during the twin disasters of the Thomas Fire and the Montecito 1/9 Debris Flow.
Active in his community, Sheriff Brown serves as an honorary board member for the North County Rape Crisis and Child Protection Center and Santa Barbara Domestic Violence Solutions, as an advisory board member of the Anti-Defamation League and the United Boys and Girls Clubs of Santa Barbara County, and as a Red Cross Ambassador for the Santa Barbara Chapter of the American Red Cross. He is also a steering committee member for Santa Barbara’s “Fighting Back” (Against Alcohol & Drug Abuse), sits on the Lompoc Hospital District Board of Trustees, and is on the board of directors for the Pierre Claeyssens’ Veterans Foundation.
Sheriff Brown is deeply committed to the philosophy of community policing and corrections, wherein peace officers and citizens work together to identify and seek long-term solutions to problems relating to crime, fear of crime, neighborhood decay and quality of life
Cherylynn Lee, PhD
Dr. Lee is a Licensed Psychologist, specializing in Police Psychology. She has served with the Santa Barbara Sheriff’s Office as the Behavioral Sciences Manager since 2015.
Dr. Lee graduated with her Master’s Degree and PhD in Clinical Health Psychology from the prestigious Californian School of Professional Psychology in San Diego. She completed residencies in Bariatrics, Family Medicine and Mindfulness at the University of California San Diego (UCSD) and completed her doctoral internship at the San Mateo Medical Center where she treated patients in the Intensive Care Unit, Palliative Care Program and Medical Surgical Unit.
Dr. Lee moved to Santa Barbara in 2013 and managed an outpatient opiate addiction treatment center with 400 patients and 25 staff. During this time, she presented at many local and regional conference on opiate abuse and holistic approaches to patient care. In 2014, she received the National Health Service Psychologist credential- a recognition afforded to one early career psychologist per year.
Dr. Lee is the first Behavioral Sciences Manager for the Santa Barbara Sheriff’s Office. The Behavioral Sciences Unit (BSU) is responsible for all POST certified Crisis Intervention Training (CIT) for the Sheriff’s Office, and all Santa Barbara County law enforcement agencies receive CIT training through the Sheriff’s Office. The BSU is also home to Santa Barbara Counties first law enforcement mental health co-response team. The teams consist of CIT trained deputies and licensed clinicians from Behavioral Wellness. Together, they respond to mental health crises calls coming through 911. It is estimated that on any given day up to 80% of calls for service for the Sheriff’s Office have a mental health component.
In addition to managing CIT training and the co-response teams, Dr. Lee oversees the Sheriffs Medication Assisted Treatment Program, is a member of the Hostage Negation Team and oversees the departments wellness program. She is a member of the Santa Barbara County Community Wellness Team, South County Opioid Coalition and is a board member for CALM, a local organization that provides services for children who have been abused. Dr. Lee is also a subject matter expert with California Peace Officers Standards and Training (P.O.S.T) on both officer and dispatcher wellness and has contributed to multiple projects available to all 82,000 peace officers across the state of California.
We are thrilled and honored to have Sheriff Brown and Dr. Lee with us to discuss this vital topic.
We look forward to hosting you - as always - bring your questions!
5:30 - 6:30 pm
LIVE-IN PERSON OUTDOORS
PLEASE RSVP by replying to this email.
ZOOM LINK:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/8053441900?pwd=WWlmRm01TDkwTDdmQTVxdjFCaUN5Zz09
Meeting ID: 805 344 1900
Passcode: CASA
WORDS TO LIVE BY SPEAKER SERIES
September 10th - Pascale Beale - SALADE II!! Book signing and conversation
September 17th - Fred Brander - Brander Vineyard and Winery
October 1 - Tracy Quinn - The State of California's Water Management.
