Apalachee Center awards law enforcement and politicians as 'community heroes'

In the meeting room of the Apalachee Center, it was a time of laughter and celebration with friends amongst key Florida lawmakers, law enforcement, and community advocates for mental health.

The honorees for the Apalachee Center Community Hero Award are State Rep. Alison Tant, Florida Sen. Corey Simon, State Rep. Jason Shoaf ,who was not present at the event, and Leon County Sheriff Walt McNeil.

"I personally love working with each and every one of you and you represent our community well. Keep up the good fight," said Tallahassee Mayor John Dailey, who has served on the governing board for over 20 years at the Apalachee Center.

The Apalachee Center is a private, nonprofit organization that specializes in providing mental health care to those experiencing emotional, psychiatric, and substance abuse crises.

It was organized in Leon County in 1948 and has expanded to eight counties in the Big Bend area with the help of many politicians through funding and support, including the four elected officials honored Monday as "community heroes."

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Apalachee Center CEO Jay Reeve said each person is always on standby to help, and supportive in the expansion of the organization.

According to Reeve, Shoaf, who was elected to District 7 in 2019, reached out to the Apalachee Center to assist its mission to bring affordable and effective mental health services to the Big Bend.

"Beginning in 2020, his first year in office, Representative Shoaf was not only supporting but sponsoring funding that was for substantial Apalachee Center expansion," Reeve said.

Shoaf sponsored bills in 2020 and 2022 with the Apalachee Center's name in the title.

According to Leon County Sheriff Walt McNeil, the Sheriff's Office has a contract with the Apalachee Center to provide mental health services to those in detention facilities.

"We are trying to make sure that persons who leave our detention facility, if they have mental health issues or are on medication, that we now have up to a month's medication to go out with," McNeil told the Tallahassee Democrat after the awards ceremony.

Apalachee Center has launched multiple programs in partnership with the Sheriff's Office, including the Mobile Response Team which provides emergency behavioral health assessments to avoid detention facility, hospital and emergency room use.

Reeve joked with Simon during the ceremony about the first time a senior manager on Apalachee's staff asked if it was OK to snap a selfie with the former Florida State and NFL player, who went on to rack up major funding for local projects in his rookie legislative session.

"The senator hit the ground running when it came to behavioral health," Reeve said.

Simon, who defeated Democratic incumbent Lorrane Ausley, was instrumental in scoring over $10 million in funding for the expansion of the Apalachee Center in Gadsden and Leon counties earlier this year.

"When I jumped into politics, I had a few things that I really wanted to touch on and mental health was one of them," said Simon, who represents District 3.

"It's bigger than money, it's awareness," Simon told the Tallahassee Democrat.

Tant, a state representative for District 9, said she was working with the Apalachee Center long before she ran for public office and was motivated by her own experience with her son who has a disability, to continue advocacy efforts once in office.

"I've been in the mental health space for a long time as an advocate really," Tant told the Tallahassee Democrat. "We're still seeing the impacts of COVID even now on our children and families so there's just a lot to do, but I think with telemedicine, and the mobile response team as well as the city's collaboration with mental health people to come along with law enforcement, is a really impressive step in something that will make a difference."

In total, the honorees all sponsored and supported legislation that brought the Apalachee Center over $5 million in funding this year.

Contact Democrat staff writer Alaijah Brown at abrown1@Gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Apalachee Center honors 'community heroes' for mental health advocacy