NAMI Basics offers education and support. Taught by parents who have lived similar experiences with their own children. NAMI Basics is an educational program that provides learning and practical insights for families. Course elements include:
The trauma of mental illness for the child and the family
The biology of mental illness: getting an accurate diagnosis
The latest research on the medical aspects of the illness and advances in treatment
An overview of the treatment options – treatment works
The impact of a child’s mental illness on the rest of the family – caregivers and siblings
An overview of the systems involved in caring for children and teens
The course is offered free of charge and consists of six classes that meet weekly for 2 ½ hour sessions.
Classes will be held in two locations:
NAMI PA Montgomery County
100 W. Main Street
Suite 204
Lansdale, PA 19446
Thursday, September 15, 2011
7:00 PM
Co-taught by NAMI PA Bucks County
Child and Family Focus
2935 Byberry Road
Hatboro, PA 19040
Monday, September 12, 2011
7:00 PM
Please call or email Kathy Laws, 610-999-3586, kathylaws@verizon.net to register. More information is available on our website www.montconami.com
NAMI PA MONTGOMERY COUNTY
NAMI PA BUCKS COUNTY
Thursday, July 28, 2011
Wednesday, May 25, 2011
House Passes FY 2011-12 Budget
Hello All:
Last evening the Pennsylvania House of Representatives voted 109-92 (on
almost totally partisan lines) to pass a state budget that sets
spending at $27.3 billion for the 2011-12 fiscal year, the same amount
as in Governor Corbett’s budget proposal.
House Bill 1485 cuts $1 billion from public schools and reduces Governor
Corbett’s DPW budget by $471 million for health and human services for
children, women and people with disabilities. The House approved budget
does not raise taxes nor does it enact an extraction tax on natural gas.
The House budget plan leaves untouched a $500 million state revenue
surplus.
Rep Dom Costa (D-21st Legislative District, Allegheny) posts on his
website today that "It doesn't have to be this way. We have a $500
million surplus that we could be investing in Pennsylvanians. Instead,
it's being stashed out of the reach of the people who need it now for a
"rainy day" sometime in the future."
The House approved Budget plan now moves to the PA Senate, where
Republicans are more open to spending the state's $500 million estimated
surplus.
For HB 1485 text, history and record of the vote go to:
http://www.legis.state.pa.us/cfdocs/billinfo/billinfo.cfm?syear=2011&sind=0&body=H&type=B&BN=1485
Southwestern PA House members who voted YES on the budget bill were
Christiana, Maher, Marshall, Mustio, Reed, Turzai, and Vulokovich.
Members who voted NO included Burns, Costa, D., Costa. P, Deasy, DeLuca,
Dermody , Frankel, Gergely, Kortz, Kotik, Markosek, Preston, Ravenstahl,
Readshaw, Wagner, Wheatley, and White.
CALL TO ACTION: Go to www.namiswpa.org and click on Legislative Affairs
for more details and legislators' contact information.
Please email or call the offices of House members who voted YES on the
House budget plan to let them know these cuts may have a devestaing
effect on Pennsylvanians that rely on health and human services funded
through DPW. It is also most important to thank those who voted NO on
the bill.
Take further action now by encouraging House and Senate leaders and Gov.
Tom Corbett to craft a responsible budget that does not leave you out in
the rain. Also contact your state senator to schedule a meeting in their
district office and ask them to urge Senate leadership to encourage
reinvestment in Pennsylvanians by responsible utilization of the $500
million surplus.
Share with state lawmakers that you disagree with lockboxing the surplus
for some unknown "rainy day" in the future.
Remind them it's raining now!
Thanks to each of you for your collective efforts to improve the lives
of individuals and families effected by mental illnesses!
Last evening the Pennsylvania House of Representatives voted 109-92 (on
almost totally partisan lines) to pass a state budget that sets
spending at $27.3 billion for the 2011-12 fiscal year, the same amount
as in Governor Corbett’s budget proposal.
House Bill 1485 cuts $1 billion from public schools and reduces Governor
Corbett’s DPW budget by $471 million for health and human services for
children, women and people with disabilities. The House approved budget
does not raise taxes nor does it enact an extraction tax on natural gas.
The House budget plan leaves untouched a $500 million state revenue
surplus.
Rep Dom Costa (D-21st Legislative District, Allegheny) posts on his
website today that "It doesn't have to be this way. We have a $500
million surplus that we could be investing in Pennsylvanians. Instead,
it's being stashed out of the reach of the people who need it now for a
"rainy day" sometime in the future."
The House approved Budget plan now moves to the PA Senate, where
Republicans are more open to spending the state's $500 million estimated
surplus.
For HB 1485 text, history and record of the vote go to:
http://www.legis.state.pa.us/cfdocs/billinfo/billinfo.cfm?syear=2011&sind=0&body=H&type=B&BN=1485
Southwestern PA House members who voted YES on the budget bill were
Christiana, Maher, Marshall, Mustio, Reed, Turzai, and Vulokovich.
Members who voted NO included Burns, Costa, D., Costa. P, Deasy, DeLuca,
Dermody , Frankel, Gergely, Kortz, Kotik, Markosek, Preston, Ravenstahl,
Readshaw, Wagner, Wheatley, and White.
CALL TO ACTION: Go to www.namiswpa.org and click on Legislative Affairs
for more details and legislators' contact information.
Please email or call the offices of House members who voted YES on the
House budget plan to let them know these cuts may have a devestaing
effect on Pennsylvanians that rely on health and human services funded
through DPW. It is also most important to thank those who voted NO on
the bill.
Take further action now by encouraging House and Senate leaders and Gov.
Tom Corbett to craft a responsible budget that does not leave you out in
the rain. Also contact your state senator to schedule a meeting in their
district office and ask them to urge Senate leadership to encourage
reinvestment in Pennsylvanians by responsible utilization of the $500
million surplus.
Share with state lawmakers that you disagree with lockboxing the surplus
for some unknown "rainy day" in the future.
Remind them it's raining now!
Thanks to each of you for your collective efforts to improve the lives
of individuals and families effected by mental illnesses!
Coercion Is Not Mental Health Care
Janice L. LeBel, Ed.D.
Massachusetts Department of Mental Health
In this month's issue, Newton-Howes and Mullen report findings of their review of the literature on consumers' experience of coercion in care. What is remarkable is that this is the first systematic review of research on consumers' perception of coercion. It is also remarkable that the literature spans more than 30 years. This raises the question: Why has no one conducted a comparative analysis of consumers' perception of coercion?
One need only consult with the experts—consumers themselves—to understand why. In a nonsystematic review of consumer opinions, adolescent and adult consumers were asked why they thought such an analysis had not been undertaken before. They offered the following explanation: 1) discrimination, 2) discrimination, and 3) discrimination. They also agreed: "Coercion is in the eye of the beholder," and the orientation of the researcher biases the study. Research findings are inherently flawed—and our understanding of coercion along with them—unless the study and the data analysis are conducted by consumers who have experienced coercion.
However, consumer-experts find hope in new federally funded transformation initiatives. These efforts have helped to promote consumer voice and choice and expand peer roles. Thirty years ago, when the study of consumers' experience of coercion in care was in its infancy, the idea of peer specialists working in inpatient and outpatient settings was unheard of. Not now. Thirty years ago, the possibility of young adults working as peer mentors in inpatient and outpatient services did not exist. It does now. Thirty years ago, "parent partners" working in hospital and community-based care was unknown. Not anymore. These roles and many more are emerging in public and private health care systems and transforming and destigmatizing mental health treatment—making recovery real.
Newton-Howes and Mullen recommend further study "to enable psychiatrists to optimize management of their patients while maximizing their autonomy." The time has come to shift the research focus from coercion in traditional care to autonomy in peer programming. It is time to study what enables consumers to self-manage and what promotes satisfaction and efficacy. Recent research suggests that peer-run and peer-staffed crisis services lead to higher levels of consumer satisfaction and a reduction in psychiatric symptoms. In a service system focused on transformation, studying the facets of care that promote recovery is prudent and necessary.
Ironically, a bill introduced in Congress in response to health care reforms was titled "Coercion Is Not Health Care." At issue is a perceived lack of choice by Americans about health insurance. The matter may be headed to the Supreme Court for resolution, but for the moment, it appears that consumers and some legislators may have found common ground: coercion is not health care or mental health care.
Massachusetts Department of Mental Health
In this month's issue, Newton-Howes and Mullen report findings of their review of the literature on consumers' experience of coercion in care. What is remarkable is that this is the first systematic review of research on consumers' perception of coercion. It is also remarkable that the literature spans more than 30 years. This raises the question: Why has no one conducted a comparative analysis of consumers' perception of coercion?
One need only consult with the experts—consumers themselves—to understand why. In a nonsystematic review of consumer opinions, adolescent and adult consumers were asked why they thought such an analysis had not been undertaken before. They offered the following explanation: 1) discrimination, 2) discrimination, and 3) discrimination. They also agreed: "Coercion is in the eye of the beholder," and the orientation of the researcher biases the study. Research findings are inherently flawed—and our understanding of coercion along with them—unless the study and the data analysis are conducted by consumers who have experienced coercion.
However, consumer-experts find hope in new federally funded transformation initiatives. These efforts have helped to promote consumer voice and choice and expand peer roles. Thirty years ago, when the study of consumers' experience of coercion in care was in its infancy, the idea of peer specialists working in inpatient and outpatient settings was unheard of. Not now. Thirty years ago, the possibility of young adults working as peer mentors in inpatient and outpatient services did not exist. It does now. Thirty years ago, "parent partners" working in hospital and community-based care was unknown. Not anymore. These roles and many more are emerging in public and private health care systems and transforming and destigmatizing mental health treatment—making recovery real.
Newton-Howes and Mullen recommend further study "to enable psychiatrists to optimize management of their patients while maximizing their autonomy." The time has come to shift the research focus from coercion in traditional care to autonomy in peer programming. It is time to study what enables consumers to self-manage and what promotes satisfaction and efficacy. Recent research suggests that peer-run and peer-staffed crisis services lead to higher levels of consumer satisfaction and a reduction in psychiatric symptoms. In a service system focused on transformation, studying the facets of care that promote recovery is prudent and necessary.
Ironically, a bill introduced in Congress in response to health care reforms was titled "Coercion Is Not Health Care." At issue is a perceived lack of choice by Americans about health insurance. The matter may be headed to the Supreme Court for resolution, but for the moment, it appears that consumers and some legislators may have found common ground: coercion is not health care or mental health care.
Friday, May 13, 2011
Next to Normal
A Broadway musical and 2010 Pulitzer Prize winning play, tries to paint an authentic picture of mental illness and how it impacts one family. Touring nationally, the play arrives at Philadelphia's Academy of Music on Tuesday June 21. Tickets purchased through NAMI Montgomery County are for June 23, 2011
Sunday, May 1, 2011
Alternatives 2011 Annual Conference
Coming Home: Creating Our Own Communities of Wellness and Recovery
October 26-30, 2011 Orlando, FL
The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration’s (SAMHSA) Center for Mental Health Services (CMHS), through a contract with Westover Consultants, Inc. (Westover), and AFYA, Inc. (AFYA), is providing financial support to consumers of mental health services who wish to participate in the Alternatives 2011 Annual Conference. The purpose of this scholarship is to foster the transformation of mental health care to focus on recovery.
Please Note: In order for you to be eligible for this scholarship, a completed application must be received by U.S. Mail, postmarked on or before the deadline of May 16, 2011. No faxed of e-mailed submissions will be accepted. The scholarship application and other ideas for obtaining funding to attend the conference are available at http://www.alternatives2011.org/.
October 26-30, 2011 Orlando, FL
The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration’s (SAMHSA) Center for Mental Health Services (CMHS), through a contract with Westover Consultants, Inc. (Westover), and AFYA, Inc. (AFYA), is providing financial support to consumers of mental health services who wish to participate in the Alternatives 2011 Annual Conference. The purpose of this scholarship is to foster the transformation of mental health care to focus on recovery.
Please Note: In order for you to be eligible for this scholarship, a completed application must be received by U.S. Mail, postmarked on or before the deadline of May 16, 2011. No faxed of e-mailed submissions will be accepted. The scholarship application and other ideas for obtaining funding to attend the conference are available at http://www.alternatives2011.org/.
Tuesday, April 19, 2011
IT'S TIME TO SIGN UP TO WALK NOW!
The Greater Philadelphia NAMIWalk is May 22nd!
Our Walk is growing and we want YOU to be a part of it! Please go to our website and sign up now. Join an existing team or create a team of your own. WHY DO YOU WALK? Please email Neen Davis at neendave@aol.com and share your story with us. We ALL want to STOMP OUT STIGMA and CREATE AWARENESS. Mental Illness touches so many of us. Please sign up now to show your support of this worthy cause.
Our Walk is growing and we want YOU to be a part of it! Please go to our website and sign up now. Join an existing team or create a team of your own. WHY DO YOU WALK? Please email Neen Davis at neendave@aol.com and share your story with us. We ALL want to STOMP OUT STIGMA and CREATE AWARENESS. Mental Illness touches so many of us. Please sign up now to show your support of this worthy cause.
DID YOU KNOW...
Montgomery County has a great online resource, a website called the Network of Care for Behavioral Health, provided by the Montgomery County Department of Behavioral Health/Developmental Disabilities.
This Web site is a resource for individuals, families and agencies concerned with behavioral health. It provides information about behavioral health services, laws, and related news, as well as communication tools and other features. Regardless of where you begin your search for assistance with behavioral health issues, the Network of Care helps you find what you need - it helps ensure that there is "No Wrong Door" for those who need services. This Web site can greatly assist in our efforts to protect our greatest human asset - our beautiful minds.
Please click here to learn how to get services in Montgomery County
This Web site is a resource for individuals, families and agencies concerned with behavioral health. It provides information about behavioral health services, laws, and related news, as well as communication tools and other features. Regardless of where you begin your search for assistance with behavioral health issues, the Network of Care helps you find what you need - it helps ensure that there is "No Wrong Door" for those who need services. This Web site can greatly assist in our efforts to protect our greatest human asset - our beautiful minds.
Please click here to learn how to get services in Montgomery County
Thursday, February 17, 2011
NAMI National Education Reorganizes
Changes to take place in training, field services, training and peer support
From NAMI National by Staff Writer, February 10, 2011
Joyce Burland will be leaving her role as director of NAMI's Education, Training and Peer Support Center at the end of July 2011. We hope you can come to the Convention in Chicago to celebrate the 20th anniversary of Joyce's brainchild and NAMI's cornerstone program: Family-to-Family.
We have also taken steps to reorganize the Education Center so that we can continue to serve as effectively as possible. We are historically organized by individual programs, adding a director and program center as each new program came on board. However, the things you are asking for in the field are common to all of our programs—technical assistance, advice on problems shared by every program, timely updates, data reporting, training, etc. Given this commonality, it doesn't make much sense for us to make a distinction between family and consumer programs any longer, or stay in our silos working separately on program issues shared by all of our programs.
Therefore, we have decided to reorganize by function—specifically, the function of technical assistance, the function of curricula and training and the function of internal project direction. This is how it will look:
Lynne Saunders, Director of Field Services (with an emphasis on family and Veterans programs)
Cynthia Evans. Director of Field Services (with an emphasis on consumer programs)
Lynne and Cynthia will focus on technical assistance and support to the field across all programs, including continuing education in program leadership and management.
Teri Brister, Director of Training (with an emphasis on family, child and adolescent programs)
Sarah O'Brien, Director of Training (with an emphasis on consumer programs)
Teri and Sarah will focus on training, program content and updates, and will be responsible for repurposing existing programs into virtual formats.
Candita Sabavala, Departmental Project Director
Candita will work with departmental directors and staff to provide project oversight and direct supervision of support staff to ensure all departmental deliverables are met.
Maura Bulger and Carmen Argueta will continue as our indispensable departmental Coordinators, responsible for support functions across programs, with Carmen taking on the additional role of Spanish Language Specialist. In their support role as departmental assistants, Blakelee Sharpe will be in charge of document management, and Marshall Epstein will manage the demanding task of order fulfillment for all programs.
This reorganization plan means there will be some significant shifts in how we work together. For us, like many of you already running several NAMI programs from your desks, it means we must become program “generalists” (good news: we have actually been working on cross-training for some time.) For you, it means learning to contact us in our new functions, rather than in our specific prior roles as program directors.
As we move forward, we want to assure you that there is really “no wrong door” in contacting us: We are still dedicated to serving you the best way we can, and we will as we always have, learn these new steps together. Our annual state calls to you will commence next month, giving us an opportunity to review all these changes with you. In the meantime, we greatly appreciate your understanding as we put these changes into place.
--The staff of the Education, Training and Peer Support Center
Source: NAMI National
Link: http://www.nami.org
From NAMI National by Staff Writer, February 10, 2011
Joyce Burland will be leaving her role as director of NAMI's Education, Training and Peer Support Center at the end of July 2011. We hope you can come to the Convention in Chicago to celebrate the 20th anniversary of Joyce's brainchild and NAMI's cornerstone program: Family-to-Family.
We have also taken steps to reorganize the Education Center so that we can continue to serve as effectively as possible. We are historically organized by individual programs, adding a director and program center as each new program came on board. However, the things you are asking for in the field are common to all of our programs—technical assistance, advice on problems shared by every program, timely updates, data reporting, training, etc. Given this commonality, it doesn't make much sense for us to make a distinction between family and consumer programs any longer, or stay in our silos working separately on program issues shared by all of our programs.
Therefore, we have decided to reorganize by function—specifically, the function of technical assistance, the function of curricula and training and the function of internal project direction. This is how it will look:
Lynne Saunders, Director of Field Services (with an emphasis on family and Veterans programs)
Cynthia Evans. Director of Field Services (with an emphasis on consumer programs)
Lynne and Cynthia will focus on technical assistance and support to the field across all programs, including continuing education in program leadership and management.
Teri Brister, Director of Training (with an emphasis on family, child and adolescent programs)
Sarah O'Brien, Director of Training (with an emphasis on consumer programs)
Teri and Sarah will focus on training, program content and updates, and will be responsible for repurposing existing programs into virtual formats.
Candita Sabavala, Departmental Project Director
Candita will work with departmental directors and staff to provide project oversight and direct supervision of support staff to ensure all departmental deliverables are met.
Maura Bulger and Carmen Argueta will continue as our indispensable departmental Coordinators, responsible for support functions across programs, with Carmen taking on the additional role of Spanish Language Specialist. In their support role as departmental assistants, Blakelee Sharpe will be in charge of document management, and Marshall Epstein will manage the demanding task of order fulfillment for all programs.
This reorganization plan means there will be some significant shifts in how we work together. For us, like many of you already running several NAMI programs from your desks, it means we must become program “generalists” (good news: we have actually been working on cross-training for some time.) For you, it means learning to contact us in our new functions, rather than in our specific prior roles as program directors.
As we move forward, we want to assure you that there is really “no wrong door” in contacting us: We are still dedicated to serving you the best way we can, and we will as we always have, learn these new steps together. Our annual state calls to you will commence next month, giving us an opportunity to review all these changes with you. In the meantime, we greatly appreciate your understanding as we put these changes into place.
--The staff of the Education, Training and Peer Support Center
Source: NAMI National
Link: http://www.nami.org
Friday, January 21, 2011
States’ Budget Crises Cut Deeply Into Financing for Mental Health Programs
By MARC LACEY, KEVIN SACK and A. G. SULZBERGER
Published: January 20, 2011
TUCSON — Unlike many of her fellow governors, Jan Brewer of Arizona knows well the inner workings of her state’s mental health system: her son has schizophrenia and was committed to a state hospital more than 20 years ago after being found not guilty by reason of insanity of sexual assault and kidnapping.
Although she rarely speaks of her son’s crisis, Ms. Brewer has long been an advocate for the mental health system, pushing for state money for drugs and community programs.
But with Arizona and other states across the country facing huge budget holes, Ms. Brewer and many of her fellow governors in both parties are presiding over what is being described as a dismantling of the safety net for the mentally ill.
The cuts, denounced by activists, are gaining fresh scrutiny after a troubled young man’s shooting rampage here on Jan. 8 left 6 people dead and 13 wounded, although nobody is suggesting that budget cuts, past or present, had any connection. The man accused, Jared L. Loughner, 22, exhibited signs of bizarre behavior in the years leading up to the shootings, according to people around him, but was not known to have received a diagnosis of a mental illness, or any treatment.
“After what happened in Tucson, we need to realize that we need these programs,” said Linda Lopez, a Democratic state senator in Arizona who works in community outreach at a Tucson mental health facility.
Until recently, Arizona had one of the most generous benefits packages for mental health treatment, largely as a result of the settlement of a 1989 class-action lawsuit and a state law guaranteeing assistance to the mentally ill. But last year, the program began to shrink. The state cut counseling, case management, voluntary hospitalization, brand-name medication and numerous other services for non-Medicaid patients.
Ms. Brewer, a Republican, is also proposing cuts in eligibility for Medicaid, which is the largest insurer of public mental health services.
“I’ve been close to her for years, and she has been a help,” said Charles L. Arnold, a mental health lawyer in Phoenix who once sued the state to force it to provide better services. “But she’s thrown the human service community under the bus.”
Not everyone blames Ms. Brewer. “Since she has become governor she has tried very hard to shelter the system to the best of her ability, and that’s despite a lot of pressure from her own party,” said Daniel J. Ranieri, president and chief executive of La Frontera Center, a mental health clinic in Tucson.
Ms. Brewer and other governors say dire fiscal realities are forcing them to propose cost-saving measures that carry profound consequences. This year’s cuts are expected to be substantial, but they are just the latest round in the recessionary demolition of a public mental health system that has long been underfinanced and politically vulnerable.
The National Association of State Mental Health Program Directors estimates that at least $2.1 billion has been cut from state mental health budgets in the last three fiscal years.
Adult day treatment centers have been shuttered; subsidies for outpatient counseling, medications and family support services have dried up; case managers have been laid off; and more than 4,000 beds in psychiatric hospitals have closed, according to Michael J. Fitzpatrick, executive director of the National Alliance on Mental Illness. The fiscal squeeze has highlighted the inadequacy of community services to accommodate deinstitutionalization, and waiting lists have grown steadily in many states.
In Washington State, Gov. Christine Gregoire, a Democrat, imposed nearly $19 million in midyear cuts to community treatment programs last fall, said David A. Dickinson, director of the state’s Division of Behavioral Health and Recovery. The cuts led to the immediate closing of a 16-bed evaluation and treatment center and a 30-bed ward at a state hospital.
The state had previously reduced Medicaid payment rates to mental health providers, and the governor has proposed additional cuts of $17.4 million over the next two years. As Ms. Gregoire presented the plan last month, she conceded that “this budget does not represent my values, and I don’t think it represents the values of this state.”
In Kansas, the new governor, Sam Brownback, a Republican, has asked the Legislature to eliminate $10.2 million from the state’s community mental health centers and $5 million from therapeutic services for children with severe disorders.
In Mississippi, Gov. Haley Barbour, a Republican, has proposed spending 13 percent less on mental health than his own division director said would be needed to provide the same level of services as this year. His state has already cut spending on group homes, subsidized medications, case management, halfway houses and crisis intervention. It has also eliminated $7 million in grants to community agencies and closed more than 200 beds at a state hospital and a dorm at an adolescent treatment center.
In Iowa on Wednesday, the new governor, Terry Branstad, rejected a proposal by his predecessor, Chet Culver, to eliminate 129 beds and 136 workers to help close a midyear gap. The state’s human services director said savings would have to be found elsewhere.
Here in Arizona, where the governor delayed announcing her budget to mourn the victims of the Tucson shooting, Ms. Brewer is proposing to help close a $1 billion budget hole by seeking federal approval to significantly scale back the state’s Medicaid program. To reduce the blow on 5,200 mentally ill people who would lose their health coverage, she proposes spending $10 million to keep vulnerable people on medication.
While no one suggests that such budget cuts had anything to do with the Tucson shootings, advocates point out that slashing mental health programs does have consequences, including potential human costs.
“We know that incidents of violence with people with severe mental illness are only slightly higher than with the average person,” said Sita M. Diehl, director of state policy and advocacy for the National Alliance on Mental Illness. “But when you get untreated mental illness and substance abuse combined, you do get some pretty bizarre and alarming things sometimes.”
Patients, who know the system best, lament how the shrinking of services can throw their fragile lives into turmoil.
Not long after Arizona’s cuts went into effect last year, Jo Evelyn Ivey, 32, whose bipolar disorder forced her to end her career as a lawyer, had the worst episode of her life. But having lost access to a case manager, she spent four days trying unsuccessfully to reach a doctor. On the fifth day, she tried to commit suicide by overdosing on medicine.
When she instead became very ill, she called the police and was taken to the hospital in restraints. She was kept in intensive care for four days, then spent a week in a mental hospital, she said.
“The harder you make it for people with mental illness to access their medicine, their doctor or their services, the more situations you’re going to have like me in restraints,” she said.
Published: January 20, 2011
TUCSON — Unlike many of her fellow governors, Jan Brewer of Arizona knows well the inner workings of her state’s mental health system: her son has schizophrenia and was committed to a state hospital more than 20 years ago after being found not guilty by reason of insanity of sexual assault and kidnapping.
Although she rarely speaks of her son’s crisis, Ms. Brewer has long been an advocate for the mental health system, pushing for state money for drugs and community programs.
But with Arizona and other states across the country facing huge budget holes, Ms. Brewer and many of her fellow governors in both parties are presiding over what is being described as a dismantling of the safety net for the mentally ill.
The cuts, denounced by activists, are gaining fresh scrutiny after a troubled young man’s shooting rampage here on Jan. 8 left 6 people dead and 13 wounded, although nobody is suggesting that budget cuts, past or present, had any connection. The man accused, Jared L. Loughner, 22, exhibited signs of bizarre behavior in the years leading up to the shootings, according to people around him, but was not known to have received a diagnosis of a mental illness, or any treatment.
“After what happened in Tucson, we need to realize that we need these programs,” said Linda Lopez, a Democratic state senator in Arizona who works in community outreach at a Tucson mental health facility.
Until recently, Arizona had one of the most generous benefits packages for mental health treatment, largely as a result of the settlement of a 1989 class-action lawsuit and a state law guaranteeing assistance to the mentally ill. But last year, the program began to shrink. The state cut counseling, case management, voluntary hospitalization, brand-name medication and numerous other services for non-Medicaid patients.
Ms. Brewer, a Republican, is also proposing cuts in eligibility for Medicaid, which is the largest insurer of public mental health services.
“I’ve been close to her for years, and she has been a help,” said Charles L. Arnold, a mental health lawyer in Phoenix who once sued the state to force it to provide better services. “But she’s thrown the human service community under the bus.”
Not everyone blames Ms. Brewer. “Since she has become governor she has tried very hard to shelter the system to the best of her ability, and that’s despite a lot of pressure from her own party,” said Daniel J. Ranieri, president and chief executive of La Frontera Center, a mental health clinic in Tucson.
Ms. Brewer and other governors say dire fiscal realities are forcing them to propose cost-saving measures that carry profound consequences. This year’s cuts are expected to be substantial, but they are just the latest round in the recessionary demolition of a public mental health system that has long been underfinanced and politically vulnerable.
The National Association of State Mental Health Program Directors estimates that at least $2.1 billion has been cut from state mental health budgets in the last three fiscal years.
Adult day treatment centers have been shuttered; subsidies for outpatient counseling, medications and family support services have dried up; case managers have been laid off; and more than 4,000 beds in psychiatric hospitals have closed, according to Michael J. Fitzpatrick, executive director of the National Alliance on Mental Illness. The fiscal squeeze has highlighted the inadequacy of community services to accommodate deinstitutionalization, and waiting lists have grown steadily in many states.
In Washington State, Gov. Christine Gregoire, a Democrat, imposed nearly $19 million in midyear cuts to community treatment programs last fall, said David A. Dickinson, director of the state’s Division of Behavioral Health and Recovery. The cuts led to the immediate closing of a 16-bed evaluation and treatment center and a 30-bed ward at a state hospital.
The state had previously reduced Medicaid payment rates to mental health providers, and the governor has proposed additional cuts of $17.4 million over the next two years. As Ms. Gregoire presented the plan last month, she conceded that “this budget does not represent my values, and I don’t think it represents the values of this state.”
In Kansas, the new governor, Sam Brownback, a Republican, has asked the Legislature to eliminate $10.2 million from the state’s community mental health centers and $5 million from therapeutic services for children with severe disorders.
In Mississippi, Gov. Haley Barbour, a Republican, has proposed spending 13 percent less on mental health than his own division director said would be needed to provide the same level of services as this year. His state has already cut spending on group homes, subsidized medications, case management, halfway houses and crisis intervention. It has also eliminated $7 million in grants to community agencies and closed more than 200 beds at a state hospital and a dorm at an adolescent treatment center.
In Iowa on Wednesday, the new governor, Terry Branstad, rejected a proposal by his predecessor, Chet Culver, to eliminate 129 beds and 136 workers to help close a midyear gap. The state’s human services director said savings would have to be found elsewhere.
Here in Arizona, where the governor delayed announcing her budget to mourn the victims of the Tucson shooting, Ms. Brewer is proposing to help close a $1 billion budget hole by seeking federal approval to significantly scale back the state’s Medicaid program. To reduce the blow on 5,200 mentally ill people who would lose their health coverage, she proposes spending $10 million to keep vulnerable people on medication.
While no one suggests that such budget cuts had anything to do with the Tucson shootings, advocates point out that slashing mental health programs does have consequences, including potential human costs.
“We know that incidents of violence with people with severe mental illness are only slightly higher than with the average person,” said Sita M. Diehl, director of state policy and advocacy for the National Alliance on Mental Illness. “But when you get untreated mental illness and substance abuse combined, you do get some pretty bizarre and alarming things sometimes.”
Patients, who know the system best, lament how the shrinking of services can throw their fragile lives into turmoil.
Not long after Arizona’s cuts went into effect last year, Jo Evelyn Ivey, 32, whose bipolar disorder forced her to end her career as a lawyer, had the worst episode of her life. But having lost access to a case manager, she spent four days trying unsuccessfully to reach a doctor. On the fifth day, she tried to commit suicide by overdosing on medicine.
When she instead became very ill, she called the police and was taken to the hospital in restraints. She was kept in intensive care for four days, then spent a week in a mental hospital, she said.
“The harder you make it for people with mental illness to access their medicine, their doctor or their services, the more situations you’re going to have like me in restraints,” she said.
Wednesday, January 12, 2011
Gary D. Alexander was Gov-elec Corbett's choice for secretary of the Department of Public Welfare
Alexander, most recently served as Rhode Island's Secretary of Health and Human Services, where, according to the transition team, he was "the governor’s chief adviser on all health care, social services and rehabilitative policies, overseeing more than 3,000 employees and a combined budget of more than $2.5 billion."
The Rhode Island state government website press release section credits Alexander with "crafting and designing the landmark and first in the nation Global Consumer Choice Medicaid Waiver (unique in the nation) transforming the Rhode Island Medicaid program into a value-oriented and performance-driven healthcare system focused on the needs of the consumer."
We have reached out to NAMI Rhode Island asking for their assessment of Alexander's tenure as Secretary and to also assess their working relationship over the years. More to come after NAMI Rhode Island responds.
In previous public service, Alexander has served as policy director for Rhode Island's Lt. Governor and as a healthcare budget analyst for the Massachusetts Senate Committee on Ways and Means.
Alexander earned his Juris Doctor at Suffolk University Law School in 2002. He graduated Magna Cum Laude from Northeastern University in Boston with a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science.
The appointment of Alexander requires Senate confirmation.
We will provide updates on the transition as merited along with useful tips for outreach to the incoming Administration.
The Rhode Island state government website press release section credits Alexander with "crafting and designing the landmark and first in the nation Global Consumer Choice Medicaid Waiver (unique in the nation) transforming the Rhode Island Medicaid program into a value-oriented and performance-driven healthcare system focused on the needs of the consumer."
We have reached out to NAMI Rhode Island asking for their assessment of Alexander's tenure as Secretary and to also assess their working relationship over the years. More to come after NAMI Rhode Island responds.
In previous public service, Alexander has served as policy director for Rhode Island's Lt. Governor and as a healthcare budget analyst for the Massachusetts Senate Committee on Ways and Means.
Alexander earned his Juris Doctor at Suffolk University Law School in 2002. He graduated Magna Cum Laude from Northeastern University in Boston with a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science.
The appointment of Alexander requires Senate confirmation.
We will provide updates on the transition as merited along with useful tips for outreach to the incoming Administration.
Monday, January 10, 2011
The Arizona Tragedy and Mental Health Care
Statement by
Michael J. Fitzpatrick, Executive Director,
National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI)
NAMI is an organization of individuals and families whose lives have been deeply affected by mental illness.
We share the sadness of other Americans over the Tucson, Arizona tragedy and extend our sympathy to the families of the six individuals who died. We pray for the recovery of U.S. Representative Gabrielle Giffords and the 13 other persons who were wounded.
Representative Giffords is a NAMI friend who has served as co-chair of the NAMIWalk in Southeast Arizona and has supported our missions of education, support and advocacy.
When tragedies involving mental illness occur, it is essential to understand the nature of mental illness—and to find out what went wrong.
The U.S. Surgeon General has reported that the likelihood of violence from people with mental illness is low. In fact, “the overall contribution of mental disorders to the total level of violence in society is exceptionally small.” Acts of violence are exceptional. They are a sign that something has gone terribly wrong, usually in the mental health care system.
Nationwide, the mental health care system is broken. Arizona, like other states, has deeply cut mental health services. Arizona has a broad civil commitment law to require treatment if it is needed; however, the law cannot work if an evaluation is never conducted or mental health services are not available.
In specific cases such as this, authorities and the news media should seek to objectively determine every factor that may have contributed to the tragedy—so that we can act on lessons learned.
* Was there a diagnosis?
* What is the full medical history?
* When were symptoms first noticed?
* Did family members receive education about mental illness and support?
* Did the person or family ever seek treatment—only to have it delayed or denied?
* Was the person seen by mental health professionals? By whom? How often?
* Was treatment coordinated among different professionals?
* Was the person prescribed medication? Was it being taken? If not, why not?
* Was substance abuse involved?
* What may have triggered the psychiatric crisis?
About NAMI
NAMI is the nation's largest grassroots mental health organization dedicated to improving the lives of individuals and families affected by mental illness. NAMI has over 1,100 state and local affiliates that engage in research, education, support and advocacy.
Michael J. Fitzpatrick, Executive Director,
National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI)
NAMI is an organization of individuals and families whose lives have been deeply affected by mental illness.
We share the sadness of other Americans over the Tucson, Arizona tragedy and extend our sympathy to the families of the six individuals who died. We pray for the recovery of U.S. Representative Gabrielle Giffords and the 13 other persons who were wounded.
Representative Giffords is a NAMI friend who has served as co-chair of the NAMIWalk in Southeast Arizona and has supported our missions of education, support and advocacy.
When tragedies involving mental illness occur, it is essential to understand the nature of mental illness—and to find out what went wrong.
The U.S. Surgeon General has reported that the likelihood of violence from people with mental illness is low. In fact, “the overall contribution of mental disorders to the total level of violence in society is exceptionally small.” Acts of violence are exceptional. They are a sign that something has gone terribly wrong, usually in the mental health care system.
Nationwide, the mental health care system is broken. Arizona, like other states, has deeply cut mental health services. Arizona has a broad civil commitment law to require treatment if it is needed; however, the law cannot work if an evaluation is never conducted or mental health services are not available.
In specific cases such as this, authorities and the news media should seek to objectively determine every factor that may have contributed to the tragedy—so that we can act on lessons learned.
* Was there a diagnosis?
* What is the full medical history?
* When were symptoms first noticed?
* Did family members receive education about mental illness and support?
* Did the person or family ever seek treatment—only to have it delayed or denied?
* Was the person seen by mental health professionals? By whom? How often?
* Was treatment coordinated among different professionals?
* Was the person prescribed medication? Was it being taken? If not, why not?
* Was substance abuse involved?
* What may have triggered the psychiatric crisis?
About NAMI
NAMI is the nation's largest grassroots mental health organization dedicated to improving the lives of individuals and families affected by mental illness. NAMI has over 1,100 state and local affiliates that engage in research, education, support and advocacy.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
