MENTAL ILLNESS POLICY ORG.

From: "Mental Illness Policy Org" <office@mentalillnesspolicy.org>
Subject: NYS Mental Illness Update
Date: May 9th 2012

(This update is for residents of NYS Only)

Dear Friend:

PLEASE CALL NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY SPEAKER SHELDON SILVER AT 518-455-3791 AND GOVERNOR CUOMO AT: (518) 474-8390 AND URGE THEM TO PASS A6987, THE KENDRA'S LAW IMPROVEMENT ACT

Background: Kendra's Law allows courts to order certain people who have the most serious mental illnesses (and a past history of violence, incarceration, needless hospitalization or dangerous behavior) to accept outpatient treatment as a condition of living in the community. More importantly, Kendra's Law allows courts to order the mental health system to provide the treatment. It stops the system from cherry-picking the easiest to treat for admission to programs. It helps the most seriously ill who don't volunteer for treatment or stay in it. Kendra's Law is proven to work:

rreduced homelessness (74%);
reduced suicide attempts (55%);
reduced substance abuse (48%);
reduced physical harm to others (47%);
reduced property destruction (43%);
reduced hospitalization (77%);
reduced arrests (83%);
reduced incarceration (87%).

The Kendra's Law Improvement Act would close giant cracks in the law that prevent those who may need it from getting access

Close the crack in the system, whereby mentally ill prisoners are discharged without seeing if they may need treatment to prevent them from becoming violent.
Close the crack in the system, whereby individuals who are involuntarily committed to hospitals are discharged without seeing if they may need mandatory treatment.
Close the crack in the system that allows mental health officials to refuse to investigate reports of mentally ill individuals who need help when those reports are received from family members.
Close the crack whereby if a person ordered by courts to receive mandatory treatment moves to a different county, they are free to go off mandatory treatment.
Close the crack in the system whereby court orders to stay in mandatory treatment expire without a review.

PLEASE CALL ASSEMBLY SPEAKER SHELDON SILVER AT 518-455-3791 AND GOVERNOR CUOMO AT: (518) 474-8390 AND URGE HIM TO PASS A6987 to Close the Cracks In Kendra's Law. This is critical. Now is the time. SHARE THIS WITH OTHERS.

Current Status

Senator Catherine Young and Assemblymember Aileen Gunther have taken the lead and are doing all they can to move A6987/S4881, The Kendra's Law Improvement Act. The legislators made certain amendments to satisfy Mental Hygiene Directors.

The main sticking point is that the mental health system is taking a Head in the Sand approach to mental illness.

No one in the system wants to even know about people with serious mental illness, much less be obligated to provide treatment.

Hospitals are objecting to provisions that ask them to evaluate involuntarily committed mentally ill patients prior to release to see if they could benefit from Kendra's Law.
Jails and prisons are objecting to provisions that ask them to evaluate the incarcerated mentally ill prior to release to see if they could benefit from Kendra's Law.
Local Mental Health directors are objecting to being informed by families, hospitals, or prisons about people with serious mental illness who may need help.
OMH is objecting to having to oversee and monitor Kendra's Law to ensure people with serious mental illness who could benefit form Kendra's Law gain access.
The trade association for those who provide non-medical voluntary mental health services, NYAPRS, objects to more attention being paid to those not well enough to volunteer for treatment.
NAMI/NYS is doing nothing in spite of having a policy to support the changes.

In other words, no one wants to help people who are seriously mentally ill.

PLEASE CALL ASSEMBLY SPEAKER SHELDON SILVER AT 518-455-3791 AND GOVERNOR CUOMO AT: (518) 474-8390 AND URGE THEM TO PASS A6987 TO CLOSE THE CRACKS IN KENDRA'S LAW. THIS IS CRITICAL. NOW IS THE TIME. TELL OTHERS TO CALL TOO

This can't be done without you, your friends, your members. Call now. Thank you.

DJ Jaffe
Executive Director
Mental Illness Policy Org.
http://mentalillnesspolicy.org
djjaffe@mentalillnesspolicy.org
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DJ Jaffe
Mental Illness Policy Org
50 East 129 St., PH 7
New York, NY 10035
office@mentalillnesspolicy.org
http://mentalillnesspolicy.org
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