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Preserving affordable housing and revitalizing
distressed neighborhoods will help many mental health consumers’ in their
efforts to stay healthy.
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Legislature Works to Overturn COAH Rules
Much to the surprise and
delight of MHANJ, the Anti-Poverty Network and
the Housing Network, S2170 sponsored by Senator Shirley Turner (D15) and its
Assembly companion A2540 sponsored by Assemblywoman Bonnie Watson Coleman (D15)
and Assemblyman Willis Edwards III (D24), which would require 25% of COAH
affordable housing be reserved for very low income households, was posted and
passed the Assembly Housing and Local Government Committee and the Senate
Community and Urban Affairs Committee. Advocates worked hard to see that this legislation moved through the
legislature before the end of the session in January and to the desk of
Governor McGreevey, to no avail.
Why
is this bill important to mental health consumers?
As you know, MHANJ has worked actively to change
the Council on Affordable Housing’s (COAH) third round regulations so that they
actually reflect the housing needs of people with mental illness. Members of the Legislature responded and
took action where they could by pushing these bills forward.
Housing is the most significant issue for people
with mental illness, many of whom have extremely low incomes.
Unfortunately because of
lack of awareness, stigma, and discrimination, the affordable housing delivery
system has been resistant to fill the housing needs of people with disabilities. Mental health consumers must have the
opportunity to live and recover in the communities of their choice and among families,
loved ones, and friends.
Thanks to the members of the NJ Legislature who
took action on our behalf. Hopefully we
will have an opportunity to pass this important legislation in the 211th
Legislature.
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Drug Utilization and Review Board Requirements Amended to
Include a Psychiatrist
At the
behest of MHANJ and the NJ Psychiatric Association, Senator Joseph F. Vitale
(D19) and Senator Ronald L. Rice (D28) amended S2094, while Assemblywoman Joan
M. Quigley (D32) and Assemblyman Frank Blee (R2) amended A3498, to require a
psychiatrist as one of seven physicians on the Drug Utilization Review Board
(DURB). The legislation passed the
Legislature and was signed into law by the Governor on January 14th.
Why is it important that the DURB have someone of
sufficient expertise, experience, and credentials to advise them on decisions pertaining to
psychotropic medications?
Psychotropic medications are a
major part of Medicaid and PAAD expenditures. According to the First Health
Services Corporation, psychotropic medications are the largest therapeutic
category and have twice the number of claims as anti-infectants which include
HIV/AIDS medications. Clinical
psychiatrists are more current regarding psychiatric research than are most
other physicians. Mental health consumers cannot stay out of the hospital and
recover in the community without the proper medications which are non-interchangeable. Often
members ask questions of a psychiatrist who regularly attends the DURB meetings
on a voluntary non-voting basis.
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NJ Youth Suicide Prevention Advisory Council Becomes
Law
On January 9th, 2003,
Governor McGreevey signed S1515/A3035 which requires reporting by certain
persons of attempted or completed suicides by youth, and establishes NJ Youth Suicide Prevention
Advisory Council. The bill was
sponsored by Senator Peter A. Inverso (R14), Senator Diane Allen (R7),
Assemblywoman Mary T. Previte (D6) and Assemblyman John J. Burzichelli
(D3). Special thanks to Assemblywoman
Previte who, in the midst of the process, agreed to amend the legislation to
include MHANJ’s request that the
Council include a member of the NJ Traumatic Loss Coalition, an alcohol and
drug counselor, and a school based counselor.
Why is this bill important to mental health
consumers?
Every single day, teenagers are
thinking about suicide or making actual attempts. The most recent survey on youth risk behavior from the CDC
reports that annually, 3 million teenagers or 19% of U.S. high school students
had thoughts of suicide and more than 2 million made plans to carry out the
act. Some 400,000 made actual suicide
attempts requiring medical attention.
Consider that the risk of
suicide for young people coincides with the first signs of the most severe
forms of mental illness, which generally emerge in the late teens and young adulthood. Multiple studies have found that in 90% of
suicide cases, there is an underlying psychiatric disorder. Depression is the most common disorder, followed by bipolar disorder,
schizophrenia, substance abuse and borderline personality disorder.
What many completed suicides
have in common, is either ineffective treatment or lack of intervention
altogether.
HELLO 211th NEW JERSEY LEGISLATURE
For consumers, recovery and a life in the community
are now real possibilities. Yet, as the
President’s New Freedom Commission on Mental Health recently found, “For too
many Americans with mental illness, the mental health services and supports
they need remain fragmented, disconnected and often inadequate…Instead of ready
access to quality care, the system presents barriers that all too often add to
the burden of mental illness for individuals, their families, and our
communities.”
Below are some of the challenges many mental health
consumers confront, and MHANJ’s corresponding efforts on their behalf.
· Work: For many individuals with mental illness, the
obstacles to getting and keeping a job are numerous
Improvements in treatment
and advancements in community based rehabilitation services mean that many more
people with serious mental illnesses are able to work. However, factors such as stigma, public
misperception, programs that focus primarily on individuals with less serious disabilities, inadequate resources,
and ineffective bureaucracies contribute to consumers’ history of frustrating and
fruitless search for work.
In addition to providing
The Career Connection Employment Resource Center, and its award winning and nationally recognized employment program,
Consumer Connections, MHANJ works with the Division of Mental Health Services
(DMHS) and the Department of
Labor to promote programs that have contributed to successful job placements
for people with mental illness, and for the many members of the TANF population
who have mental health related issues.
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Housing: Key administrative
leadership has not risen to the challenge of expanding housing opportunities
for people with disabilities
Due to lack of awareness,
stigma, and/or discrimination on the part of the affordable housing delivery
system, housing has become the most significant issue facing mental health
consumers. Studies show that consumers
struggle in the community and often land back in the hospital if this
fundamental need is not met.
The MHANJ works with the Supportive Housing
Association, the Housing and Community Development Network, and the Anti-Poverty Network to increase
the availability of, and access to, affordable housing.
·
Children: There is a dearth in
the kind of settings and treatment children and adolescents who have
psychiatric illnesses
require to recover?
The failure to invest in
children’s behavioral health care has prevented services from being accessible,
flexible, and comprehensive. Studies show that
for children exhibiting mental health symptoms, the best system of care is one
that is coordinated between
parents, providers, teachers, and case managers.
The MHANJ works to ensure
the statewide implementation of the nationally recognized Partnership for
Children to create “wrap around services” for children with behavioral health
care issues.
·
Community Mental Health Services:
Community mental health services are grossly under funded and thus, unable to
meet the needs
Forty years ago,
President John Kennedy signed the Community Mental Health Centers Act, under
which large state hospitals for the mentally ill would give way to small
community clinics. Unfortunately, the
continuum of care necessary for consumers to recover in the community was given
short shrift and many people were often caught in a revolving door, failing in
the community and going back into hospitals and prisons.
The MHANJ works with DMHS
and the Mental Health Coalition to fully realize Redirection II wherein
consumers have been able to recover and reclaim their lives in the “least
restrictive” setting with the help of family, friends, and peers.
·
Public and Private Behavioral
Health Insurance Coverage: There is an erosion of benefits under Medicaid, a
continuous and pervasive disparity in coverage between mental and physical
illness in both private and public insurance, and a growing number of uninsured
working poor.
Mental Health consumers
cannot thrive and recover without access to adequate behavioral health
care. The erosion and inequities in our private
and public insurance systems have led to increased emergency room use and
inpatient hospitalization, and have caused economic and emotional disruption to
consumers’ families and work lives.
The MHANJ works with the
Mental Health and Addictions Parity Coalition, Mental Health Coalition, and the
Anti-Poverty Network, ensure that consumers obtain and maintain access to the
health insurance coverage they need to stay healthy.
Join MHANJ’s Legislative Network!
Contact C. Chin at 973.571.4100
Ex. 37
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