In May 2001, MHANJ hired a new Director of Consumer Advocacy, Marie Verna. Since then, Marie has visited self-help centers and other programs around the state and has gotten involved with existing groups devoted to advocacy for those of us with mental illness.

Prior to joining MHANJ, Marie worked as the Director of the National Mental Health Consumers’ Self-Help Clearinghouse, a national technical assistance center dedicated to empowering consumers to recover, to reintegrate into healthy, happy lives, and to take steps towards improving the system for those who come after them. As a national organizer, Marie had the opportunity to learn about states where consumers get involved on all levels: federal, state, county, and local. Slowly, but surely, consumers are finding themselves in situations where policy makers are listening—and learning that the consumers’ viewpoint is the key to successful systems change.

As Marie travels around New Jersey, she pays particular attention to opportunities for consumers to get involved in advocacy, public policy, and government affairs. She looks for situations where consumers can take action, no matter how large or small, to assert their value and their belief that consumers deserve compassionate, quality care and the opportunity to regain their self-esteem, their relationships with other people, job opportunities, and financial independence, in short, their lives.

Consumer Involvement in Government Affairs

New Jersey’s got a lot going for it in terms of consumer involvement. The state has an existing coalition of consumer organizations, COMHCO, and a very extensive system of self-help centers around the state (28 centers). In addition, the Mental Health Association has 9 affiliates around the state, each of which focuses tremendous energy on programs and services for consumers. And Collaborative Support Programs of New Jersey (CSPNJ) serves consumers all over the state offering services that allow them to recover in the community.

In the last year, New Jersey made a few additional steps:

• The Director of the Division of Mental Health Services, Alan Kaufman, hired a consumer, Margaret Molnar, for the position of Special Assistant reporting directly into him for the important goal of receiving input firsthand from consumers about improvements to the Division’s programs for consumers. Margaret has reinstituted the State Consumer Advisory Committee, otherwise known as SCAC, to actively dialogue with consumers on a regular basis about what’s working and what isn’t.

• The Executive Director of the Mental Health Association in New Jersey, Carolyn Beauchamp, has hired two powerhouses in the organization’s Government Affairs department: Cathy Chin, Legislative Advocate and Nancy Becker, state lobbyist. Our Director of Consumer Advocacy, Marie Verna, stays involved with Carolyn, Nancy, and Cathy as they identify initiatives that consumers should know about, set up meetings with elected officials, and watchdog legislation. Watch your mail for our new monthly bulletin summarizing the legislation we’re following, The Cutting Edge. If you need more details, check out MHANJ’s website, www.mhanj.org. At least once a week, MHANJ posts information that consumers and advocates need to know about opportunities to get involved—and get other consumers involved.

• The Mental Health Association in New Jersey has formed a Consumer Advocacy Partnership with Collaborative Support Programs in New Jersey, the goal of which is to create opportunities for consumers to effect systems change. Through this partnership, we’ve opened an office in Trenton, where our Director of Consumer Advocacy works fulltime.

The most exciting things we’re working on together are:

When Governor McGreevey took office, MHANJ paid close attention to his response to the worst budget deficit in the history of the state. We worried most about the effect on Redirection II, a state plan to build a new and better hospital at Greystone, as well as to inject new money into more community services. Consumers in the community responded with a tremendous voice: Overnight, we gathered 400 signatures on a petition asking the Governor to save the plan. By the next week, we had over 700. At this writing, we have over 1500 signatures, which we believe influenced Governor McGreevey’s decision to keep important mental health initiatives in the budget he proposed at the end of March: Redirection II, the Children’s Initiative, and the Direct Care Salary rate.

President Bush’s Budget

In February, President Bush announced a budget that proposed cuts to several important mental health initiatives, including national technical assistance centers for consumers. Consumers in self-help centers around the state have contacted NJ’s leadership in Washington letting them know that cuts for those services would slow down progress that New Jersey has experienced as a result of consumer activities, such as self-help. New Jersey was one of the first states to build self-help centers in the community and has substantial data that those services result in fewer hospitalizations and more significant recovery.

Consumer Public Policy Committee

New Jersey now has a formal committee, made up of only consumers, whose goal is to influence public policy on all levels: federal, state, county, and local. MHANJ is proud to announce the committee’s members: Denise Babin, Ida Baskerville, Karen Burke, Anna D’Aversa, Tom Estler, Patrick Martin, Regina Sessoms, and Marie. The group is currently comparing existing policy statements from MHANJ and CSPNJ, looking for specific areas where consumers’ viewpoint is necessary. In addition, the group has identified four new areas, where consumers should take the lead: 1)education of consumers just entering the system, 2)education of consumers getting ready to leave the hospital to recover in the community, 3)consumers who are parents, and 4)consumes who are not in the public system, the “invisible consumers.”

Consumer Leadership Retreat

In May, MHANJ will co-host a Consumer Leadership Retreat at CSPNJ’s Leadership Academy in Wildwood, NJ, for 30 of the strongest consumers in the state. During the retreat, we’ll actively build consumer leadership by developing a growing pool of motivated and trained consumers to work on advocacy efforts statewide. The event in May is just the first of many such retreats to come. If you’d like to get connected to this new network, fill out and return the Legislative Network Application on the last page.