Bono Mack, Nestande Among Panelists at Free Health Summit

The Coachella Valley Health Collaborative will hold a mental health summit at Cal State San Bernardino's Palm Desert Campus Friday.

Panelists for the free summit, which starts at 8:30 a.m. in the campus's Indian Wells Theater, include Rep. Mary Bono Mack, Assemblymen Brian Nestande and V. Manuel Perez and Riverside County Supervisor John Benoit. Ron Manderscheid, executive director of the National Association of County Behavioral Health and Developmental Disability Directors, will be the keynote speaker.

In the afternoon, mental health care leaders have been invited to review a plan designed to reduce mental illness stigma and increase access to mental health services in the Coachella Valley and San Gorgonio Pass area. They will be asked to develop action plans and to implement them, campus spokesman Mike Singer said.

Members of the public can attend the morning session of the summit, Singer said.