Florida Partners in Crisis

Gail Cordial

Gail Cordial was named executive director of Florida Partners in Crisis in March, 2009.  Cordial brought to the job more than 20 years experience in the area of health-related policy and legislative affairs.

Cordial

“I am so excited to be working with all of the great people at Partners,” said Cordial.  “Partners has many successes to its credit, thanks to its unique makeup of judges, law enforcement and corrections officials, state agencies, providers, advocates and consumers.  I see a great future for us as the go-to organization for information and support on criminal justice, mental health and substance abuse issues.”

Cordial previously was the Florida and Georgia state government affairs manager for Eli Lilly & Company.  In that role, she focused on legislative and regulatory issues in the public health care arena, including access to mental health medications for patients enrolled in Medicaid.

Before joining Lilly in December 2001, she was vice president of the Florida Association of Community Health Centers, Inc., which represents the state’s Federally Qualified Health Centers. She has also been a legislative assistant to former State Rep. Dixie Sansom and former State Rep. Howard Futch and an analyst in the Ohio House of Representatives.

Expanding Partners' membership and raising funds to support the organization's education and advocacy role are two of Cordial's major goals for Partners.  She is leading Partners in Crisis' effort to launch a judicial education project in collaboration with The Advocacy Center for Persons with Disabilities, National Alliance on Mental Illness Florida, Florida Institutional Legal Services, the Office of the State Courts Administrator and the Florida Psychiatric Society.

 Cordial is also working to strengthen Partners’ statewide visibility while showcasing successful criminal justice, mental health and substance abuse collaborative programs through Success Stories, a monthly electronic newsletter.  “We want to do all we can to promote the great partnerships that currently exist and to help build additional support for more of these initiatives like mental health courts and drug courts, jail diversion programs, Crisis Intervention Team training for law enforcement and more,” she said.

Cordial said maintaining current funding for behavioral health and substance abuse services is one of Partners’ ongoing legislative priorities.  In keeping with that goal, the organization supports adoption of additional revenue sources to maintain the mental health and substance abuse services critical to the health and safety of Florida communities.

Among Partners’ other public policy priorities is passage of the Mental Health and Substance Abuse Treatment and Crime Reduction Act. The bill will help grow community collaboration to develop effective police response, jail diversion, court intervention programs and re-entry programs that reduce the criminalization of those who have a mental illness and/or substance use disorder.

“I encourage anyone with an interest in these areas to contact us directly, view the website or attend a Partners meeting to learn more.  We owe much of our success to the diversity of the organization and always encourage new people to join us.”