Vol. 1 Issue 2

The Mental Health Association in New Jersey (MHANJ), in partnership with Collaborative Support Programs of New Jersey (CSPNJ), has formed a committee devoted to consumer public policy. The committee meets in person on a quarterly basis at our office in Trenton and more frequently through teleconferences.

The committee is made up of consumers in the state who have demonstrated a longstanding commitment to advocacy and government affairs: Denise Babin and Patrick Martin (Northern Region); Regina Sessoms and Marie Verna (Central Region); Ida Baskerville, Karen Burke, and Anna D’Aversa (Southern Region). In addition, Tom Estler and Wayne Vivian represent the interests of consumers who are members of the Consumer Provider Association and the Coalition of Mental Health Consumer Organizations (COMHCO), respectively. Both Tom and Wayne live in the Northern Region.

The primary goal of the committee is to identify and reach consensus on those issues most critical for consumers in New Jersey and to develop policy statements based on their firsthand knowledge of those issues. These policy statements will be shared with both MHANJ and CSPNJ and appropriate advocacy strategies will be developed by each organization, so that the consumer viewpoint is paramount.

In recent meetings, the committee has begun work on prioritizing issues and comparing priorities with those voiced by consumers at the COMHCO retreat in April and State Consumer Advisory Committee meetings held to advise the Division of Mental Health Services in the May and June.

So far, statewide consumers from many sources (MHANJ affiliates, Self-help center members, COMHCO members, SCAC members, Consumer Connections students, Career Connection students, visitors to the Leadership Training Academy, consumers in partial care programs and ICMS programs, PACTs, and NAMI-NJ members) agree that the most critical issues for NJ consumers are the following:

• Housing
• Boarding homes (abuse of tenant rights)
• Homelessness
• Disincentives to employment
• Community services (need for more, need for more consumer participation in existing services)
• Transportation
• Force and coercion (seclusion, restraints, outpatient commitment, forced medication)
• Discrimination (stigma)
• Education (of consumers, police, providers, hospital staff, families)
• Education (of illnesses, of medications, of rights)
• Forensics (jail diversion, treatment in jails)
• Quality of care (enforcement of licensing and certification standards)
• Rights protections
• Self-advocacy
• Consumer empowerment
• Substance abuse
• Insurance (public and private systems)
• Children
• Parents
• Consumers in rural areas (esp. in South and Northwest)
• Consumers of minority cultures

If you’d like to offer your viewpoint on any of these issues, or if you see some things missing, please let us hear from YOU. E-mail your opinions to any of the committee members at the following email addresses:

“Budget” Advocacy

Once again, NJ consumers rallied to get a message to the New Jersey Legislature, in time for budget negotiations at the end of June, to keep the budget intact for Redirection II, the Children’s Initiative, and the COLA increase for direct care workers. Consumers gathered 716 signatures on a petition drafted by Steve Jakubowitz and revised by consumers at a Leadership Retreat in May. Marie Verna, Director of Consumer Advocacy for MHANJ, mailed the petition results to all members of the Senate Budget Committee and the Assembly Appropriations Committee to urge those committee members to maximize funding for those programs.

In Passaic County, Denise Babin visited Assembly representatives Alfred Steele (D-35) and Nellie Pou (D-35), while Jeannie Metzger, Passaic County consumer and provider, visited Peter Eagler (D-34). During each visit, consumers voiced their concerns about NJ’s mental health budget, especially community support services and programs for consumers who are parents.

Regina Sessoms recently testified before the Assembly and Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee on behalf of Redirection II and COLA salary increases for direct care workers. Her testimony is an example of simple, direct activism that effectively drives its message home. You can read it for yourself on our web site.

On a federal level, a consumer delegation visited representatives in Washington, D.C. to voice serious concerns about President Bush’s budget proposal, which worries mental health consumer advocates because it calls for cuts in programs that are run by and for consumers. Consumer advocates have fought for these programs for many years as viable ways to help consumers recover “in the least restrictive setting” required by the Federal Supreme Court’s decision in Olmstead vs. the State of Georgia. This decision was a landmark for mental health consumer advocates because it validated mounting evidence that, with appropriate supports in the community, mental health consumers stand a far greater chance of recovering than they do if left in hospitals.

Specifically, those services that could be affected are Consumer Connections, Collaborative Support Programs of New Jersey, and the Coalition of Mental Health Consumer Organizations (COMHCO). Because states like New Jersey have been so successful in developing consumer-run services, the Surgeon General in the 1999 Report on Mental Health recognized the value of self-help and peer support.

In addition, New Jersey has 28 Self-help Centers around the state that are managed by and for consumers. These centers offer consumers services that help them recover in the community and stay out of the hospital. New Jersey was able to develop such a large number of quality centers due, in part, to technical assistance from national centers run by and for consumers.

New Jersey also has benefited from Community Action Grants (CAG) from the federal Center for Mental Health Services that help fund the Consumer Provider Association, a Multicultural Leadership Academy, and Career Connections, a program that prepares consumers to return to work, Youth Violence Prevention initiatives, and the Children’s Mental Health Services Program.

In addition to informing our 2 Senators and 13 Representatives in the House about our budget concerns, consumers urged members in the House to co-sponsor HR 2363, The Mental Illness Consumer-Run Services Support Act.

“Housing” Advocacy

On April 29th and 30th, consumers traveled to the National Low-Income Housing Association’s annual conference to take part in Government Affairs Day, where consumers met with federal legislators about the housing crisis in New Jersey, especially for mental health consumers attempting to recover in the community. New Jersey’s delegation urged Congress members to pass the Housing Trust Fund program, which would provide a steady funding stream over the next 10 years for the construction of new housing units.
A few weeks later, on May 13, Consumer Public Policy Committee members, Patrick Martin and Regina Sessoms, traveled with housing advocates to Columbus, Ohio to take part in discussions on increasing supportive housing programs in the state. New Jersey was one of 11 states to take part in the SAMHSA sponsored event.

On Trenton’s statehouse steps, over 500 consumers, advocates, and housing organizations gathered on June 13th to rally for affordable housing in New Jersey. In recent months, more consumers have been joining the Housing and Community Development Network of NJ, a non-profit organization that advocates for a response from federal and state officials to New Jersey’s critical shortage in housing.

Regina Sessoms delivered a very animated and determined address to the crowd with a message of urgency about NJ’s housing crisis and hope for change in the future.

Wildwood, Washington, What’s Next?

Wildwood

In collaboration with Collaborative Support Programs of New Jersey (CSPNJ), MHANJ hosted a Consumer Leadership Retreat on May 3rd and 4th at the Leadership Training Academy in Wildwood, NJ. “The Wildwood 31,” as the group called itself, included 31 consumers from around New Jersey who are interested in leading the state’s consumers to more active involvement in government affairs, networking, legislative advocacy, voter empowerment, and advocacy. If you’d like to get involved, fill out the Legislative Network application at the back of this newsletter.

Washington

Thirty-eight consumers traveled to Washington, D.C. on June 6th for the National Mental Health Association’s Government Affairs Day. Consumer advocates visited with their Congressional representatives to discuss the following issues: mental health parity, Bush’s budget proposal (especially targeted cuts to consumer programs), Medicare modernization, TANF reauthorization, and housing. MHANJ Vice President and consumer, Wayne Vivian, presented awards to two New Jersey members of the House of Representatives, Chris Smith (R-4) and Marge S. Roukema (R-5), who received the Legislator of the Year and the Into the Light awards, respectively. Consumers also participated in a national parity rally on the steps of the Capitol to urge Congress to pass full parity this year.

What’s Next?

With the fall approaching, MHANJ has begun plans for a special edition of The Consumer Viewpoint which will focus on getting consumers in your area registered and prepared to vote. Watch for it in September! In late September, MHANJ will also be traveling to Trenton with its affiliates to increase awareness among members of the legislature about mental health issues around the state. To get involved, call our office in Verona at 973-571-4100; ask for Cathy Chin, Legislative Advocate.