Miriam Brown leads the way at the Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health (LACDMH) with the broadest view of the ways the department can and will respond to a long menu of emergencies in a City like Los Angeles, California. Her expertise, and even more, her dedication, has brought her to the position at LACDMH of Deputy Director of the Emergency Outreach and Triage Division. Her many years of work in this field has made LACDMH an innovator and a model leading the way for mental health departments throughout the USA and beyond. Miriam admits you have to have a certain kind of personality to face the demands and difficulties of mental health community outreach work with emergencies that are presented to her staff every day on a 24/7 basis. These emergencies often require close cooperation and training with Police, Fire, Public Health, and Probation departments, community organizations and not least of all, School Districts. She has spent decades forging links to all these important partners in responding effectively to those in need. The width and breath of what she overseas with her staff is enormous. Here are a few examples; threat assessments reported by a school official, a criminal act committed due to a mental illness, a family argument out of control, a person displaying high risk behavior. Miriam wants us to understand that this outreach is a reflection of the aggressive way LACDMH is reaching into all corners of the Los Angeles community hoping to help people avoid incarceration, hospitalization, encouraging ways people with mental illness may be able to function in the community with necessary supports. She brings the necessary wisdom and devotion to these varied tasks and with her steady leadership makes a healthier and better Los Angeles. The LACDMH 24/7 access number for help is 1-800-854-7771 The National Suicide Crisis Line is #988