Tuesday Plenary
A. Kathryn Power, MEd, is Director of the Center for Mental Health Services (CMHS), Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA). CMHS provides national leadership in mental health promotion, mental illness prevention, and the development and dissemination of effective mental health services for all Americans. As Director, Ms. Power leads CMHS staff in facilitating the transformation of our nation’s mental health care system into one that is recovery oriented and consumer centered.
WEDNESDAY PLENARY
TOPIC: JUDGE AS CHANGE AGENT AND PARTNER
Judge Leifman is currently on Special Assignment to the Supreme Court of Florida as Special Advisor on Criminal Justice and Mental Health.
Judge Steven Leifman chairs the Supreme Court of Florida Mental Health Subcommittee and the Mental Health Committee for the Eleventh Judicial Circuit of Florida. Judge Leifman was responsible for creating the Eleventh Judicial Circuit Criminal Mental Health Project. This highly successful program diverts non-violent misdemeanor defendants with mental illnesses to appropriate mental health facilities and provides Crisis Intervention Team training for law enforcement agencies in Miami-Dade County. The program has substantially reduced recidivism, saved critical funds and has saved lives. In recognition of this program, the Project was awarded the 2001 Council of State Governments Innovations Award and a million dollar SAMSHA Jail Diversion Expansion Grant.
Due to his expertise in this area, Judge Leifman has been appointed to several local, state and national mental health initiatives, including Co-Chair of the Judges’ Criminal Justice/Mental Health Leadership Initiative and Co-Chair of the Miami-Dade County Mayor’s Task Force on Mental Health. Judge Leifman also serves as Finance Chair of the Miami-Dade Homeless Trust and Chairman of the Board – Elect of Florida Partners in Crisis, a statewide coalition of stakeholders advocating improvements in Florida’s mental health and substance abuse delivery system. Judge Leifman was also appointed to the American Bar Association Commission on Homelessness and Poverty.
Justice Evelyn Lundberg Stratton, of the Ohio Supreme Court, came to the bench by a very different route.
She was born to missionary parents in Bangkok, Thailand, and spent her childhood in Southeast Asia, attending boarding school in South Vietnam during the height of the Vietnam war, and later in Malaysia, coming to America once every five years with her parents on furlough. At age 18, she returned to America alone with only a few hundred dollars in her pocket. She worked her way through school, receiving a Bachelor of Arts degree from The University of Akron, which later awarded her an honorary law degree. She earned her Juris Doctor degree from The Ohio State University College of Law and also holds an honorary Doctor of Laws degree from Capital University Law School.
Justice Stratton’s legal career began in the courtrooms of central Ohio, where she gained valuable experience as a trial lawyer. Her courtroom successes ultimately led to her election as the first woman judge in Franklin County Common Pleas Court in 1989, where she presided over major cases ranging from capital murder trials to major civil actions. In her years on the bench, she established a solid record of judicial integrity, fairness, and diligence. Her approach to sentencing in serious felony cases earned her the nickname "The Velvet Hammer." Her work on the Court led to her appointment, and subsequent election, to the Ohio Supreme Court. In 1996, in her first statewide campaign, she won in 86 of Ohio’s 88 counties.
