Los Alamos County Health Council Meeting - August 6, 2026
Los Alamos County Health Council Meeting
The Los Alamos County Health Council met on Thursday, August 6, 2026 at 12:00 PM in a hybrid format (Municipal Building Room 100 and Zoom). The meeting featured a presentation from Nick Boukas, Director of New Mexico's Behavioral Health Services Division, and updates from staff on ongoing initiatives. New council members were introduced.
Consent Calendar
- Call to Order at 12:00 PM by Chair Lisa Hampton.
- Approval of Agenda: The agenda was approved as presented with a recommendation to move a presentation by intern Evelyn Drake to a later date.
- Approval of Minutes: Minutes from the June 4, 2026 meeting were approved.
Public Comments & Testimony
- Silva (JJAB Prevention Specialist, Los Alamos Public Schools) expressed appreciation to New Mexico Behavioral Health Services for their investment and funding.
Discussion Items
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Presentation by Nick Boukas, Director of New Mexico's Behavioral Health Services Division
- Announced a new evidence-based mental health app for youth ages 13-18, free and vetted, to be released on Apple and Google Play stores.
- Described Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinics (CCBHCs): closest to Los Alamos is in Española (run by Presbyterian Medical Services), offering 24/7 mobile crisis teams accessible via 988. These teams staffed by behavioral health professionals, not law enforcement, to reduce unnecessary emergency room visits.
- Offered free programs to Los Alamos: PAX Good Behavior Game training, Yellow Ribbon campaign, Mental Health First Aid for school staff, and Narcan training and kits (15-minute training, free, no ID required).
- Provided statistics: In the past 1.5 years, Los Alamos County trained 107 people and distributed 617 Narcan doses; Rio Arriba County trained over 8,000 and gave away thousands of doses. Youth suicide attempt rate (10th grade, self-reported, 2024 data) in Los Alamos: 6.8%; state average: 8.4%.
- Urged the council to help break the stigma around mental health and take advantage of free resources.
- Council members asked questions:
- Councillor Riedel asked about inpatient bed availability for youth. Boukas noted Haven Behavioral Health in Española and recommended using 988 for real-time bed location; a new closed-loop referral system RFP is forthcoming.
- Councillor Williams asked about resources for LGBTQIA+ youth. Boukas stated 988 call centers receive mandatory training for LGBTQI+ individuals; additional resources exist in Taos, Santa Fe, and Albuquerque. Cultural competence is required for all Medicaid-enrolled providers.
- Councillor Granville asked about affordable and transitional housing. Boukas described programs like Fresh Start Rental Assistance (up to 9 months of rent) and Linkages, but noted a shortage of enrolled landlords. The state is working on housing affordability incentives.
- Councillor Williams asked if domestic violence services fall under behavioral health. Boukas said yes, and there are specific programs through CYFD and others.
- Councillor Hand (online) asked about the barrier of Department of Energy security clearances at Los Alamos National Laboratory. Boukas acknowledged the challenge but emphasized starting with school-based trainings as a low-stigma entry point.
- Sylvia Deal (JJAB Prevention Specialist from the audience) thanked Boukas for funding that brought the PAX Good Behavior Game to the community and asked how to bring a CCBHC to Los Alamos. Boukas suggested engaging providers and the Chamber of Commerce to assess sustainability, noting that underreported numbers may deter providers.
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Staff Report by Jessica Strong
- Intern Evelyn Drake’s presentation postponed to September or October 2026; Drake will continue through the school year.
- Introduced Aylin Meza, the new Social Service Case Coordinator (started three weeks prior), trained in trauma-informed care, SBIRT, and fluent in Spanish.
- Outreach Specialist Jamie Allbach is organizing a series of trainings: opioid overdose response, Narcan distribution (available at libraries, visitor centers, transportation, schools), and upcoming sessions for Suicide Prevention Awareness Month (September) and Mental Health Awareness Month (October).
- Future Health Council meetings will feature speakers on domestic violence and food insecurity in Los Alamos.
- Annual planning to begin in December, updating the Comprehensive Health Plan and action items.
- Social Services is collaborating with the courts on criminal justice/reentry efforts.
- First kickoff meeting held for the Behavioral Health Regional Investment Act (Senate Bill 3) in Region One (Los Alamos, Rio Arriba, Santa Fe) to address transportation gaps to CCBHCs.
Key Outcomes
- The agenda and minutes were approved unanimously.
- The presentation by Nick Boukas was received and will inform future collaborations.
- Intern Evelyn Drake’s report was postponed to a later meeting.
- New council members introduced themselves: Matthew McCleary (affordable housing), Joseph Granville (affordable housing, mental health), Susan Williams (early childhood, elderly, domestic violence), Stacy Frers (older adult population), and others. Vice-Chair Marna Riedel (hospital patient gaps) and existing members Elizabeth Ibañez (first responders, transition services), Joyce Richins (infection prevention), and Cecile Hemez (public health) also participated.
- The meeting adjourned early, ahead of schedule.
Meeting Transcript
They go the team can pop in there and it gives them little tidbits and little videos that they can look at to help them navigate, and then at the end of that, it gives them additional resources. So we want to make sure that that is out there because you know that 13 to 18 year age, which you know, I think we can all agree is a very difficult time in our lives. It's been a while since I've been there, but nonetheless, it hasn't changed. That's a very difficult time, especially for kids that might not feel like they belong to a group or have that ability to talk to someone. Um if they're gonna use an app, I would rather that they use something that's been vetted, and these actually have evidence-based practices associated with them, which means that they've been tried, tested, and fixed. It's not chat GPT, it's not Dr. Google. This is an actual thing that's related to science, and we're gonna be rolling this out across the state. Um, and so far, what we've seen is really good results from this because we're meeting teens where they're at, when they want it, and we're making sure that if it's a crisis, that they know that there's resources available to them. The app is free, the crisis resources are free. We need to kind of get the word out. Right now it's available on their website, it's a waiting release onto the Apple store and uh the Google Play Store or what I I have an Apple, so I don't know what it's called on Google, forgive me. Um, but we're gonna make sure that it's available. It's Google Play, that's it. All right. I probably have that in my notes, but who reads those things. But the biggest thing that we see is that there continues to be this disconnect. So some of the other things that we're working on is we've launched what's known as CCBHCs, which are certified community behavioral health clinics. And if you're familiar with an FQHC, which is the physical health side version of this, which is a federally qualified health clinic. A CCBHC doesn't turn anyone away. They have to meet very rigorous standards in nine categories, um, which is that they and I'm not going to go over all nine because we're short on time, but some of the things that they do is they have to treat the entire lifespan so they can do family services. They also treat have to have services for veterans, they have to have services for treatment and make sure that some of those things are available. But one thing that they also have to do is they have to have a mobile crisis team. Now, the CCBHC that's closest to Los Alamos is actually located in Espanola. Okay. Um, and that's run by Presbyterian Medical Services. But those crisis services are available 24-7. Um, and when someone calls 988, they will then triage them, and if they need to send out a mobile crisis team, they will, which is staffed by behavioral health professionals. Why that's important is because we know that when we engage law enforcement or EMS, sometimes they don't end up in the right spot. And we know that our law enforcement, number one, are overworked and over taxed, but more importantly, they don't get a lot of training in behavioral health. So having someone respond that's trained, whether that's as a social worker, a peer support worker, it can be clinicians, helps de-escalate the situation and get them to the right resource, which usually is not an emergency room. Well, they'll get stuck in a hallway and hopefully they get seen soon, but there's no guarantee on that. So those are some of what the crisis services are. I did want to kind of also just mention a couple of other things. Um, we've reached out before, and I'm always happy to have this conversation. We offer a lot of free programs that we have offered to Los Alamos, and I would want to extend the offer again. For example, the PAX Good Behavior trainings for kids. Um it's to train students as to how they can kind of engage and teach kids the right way to cope with situations. We have something known as the yellow ribbon campaign, where we train uh adults that if a kid comes to them and they hand them their yellow card, that kid is then put into a safe space while someone then goes and assesses them. Um the use of the yellow card is to try and make it as non-judgmental of having to ask for something to raise your hand to use secret code words. Um, and we've had very good success across the state. The other thing, and I you know, uh I want to note is that we've offered um mental health first aid training for the school district for free. We're willing to do that. All of those programs I just mentioned right now are free to train staff, and if you feel that there's others that are in contact with kids after school sports programs, so forth. We are I I will pay for it. Not personally, but the state will pay for it. Um I don't know if I mentioned that cracked windshield on my Subaru. So these are resources that are available to you all, and I offer them up again. Um how can we do that? The other thing I I want to just note because it's been in the news quite a bit, is the overdose rates in New Mexico.
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