NYS Mental Health "Leaders" Race to Avoid Mentally Ill. Call Now

Please call Assembly speaker Sheldon Silver at 518-455-3791 and Governor Cuomo at: (518) 474-8390 and urge them to Close the Cracks In Kendra's Law. This is critical. Now is the time. Tell others to call too.

Research shows there are giant cracks in Kendra's Law and these cracks are putting patients, public, police and families at risk:

1. People with mental illness who are being released from Involuntary Treatment (i.e, were already danger to self or others) are not being evaluated by hospitals for inclusion in Kendra’s Law or other community treatment.
2. Mentally Ill Prisoners who are being released from jails and prisons (i.e, already committed a crime) are not being evaluated for inclusion in Kendra’s Law or other community treatment.
3. Mentally Ill people who have previously attacked family members, are not being considered for Kendra’s Law or other community treatment, especially if the family has not reported attacks.

Kendra’s Law (court-ordered outpatient commitment) is proven to reduce violence, arrest, incarceration, hospitalization, homelessness and suicide when used, but is not used for the most seriously ill because neither hospitals, prisons, jails, local mental health directors or NYS OMH wants to accept responsibility.

NYS Senator Catherine Young and Assemblywoman Aileen Gunther introduced The Kendra's Law Improvement Act (A6987/S4881) to close these cracks by requiring officials to accept responsibility for the most seriously ill, but mental health officials oppose it.

Head in the sand" approach to the seriously ill.
The main sticking point is that mental health officials do now want to even know about people with serious mental illness, much less be obligated to provide treatment.

1. Hospitals are objecting to provisions that ask them to evaluate patients prior to release to see if they could benefit from Kendra's Law.
2. 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.
3. Local Mental Health directors are objecting to being informed by families, hospitals, or prisons about people with serious mental illness who may need help.
4. 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.
5. 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.

Since no one wants responsibility, individuals with serious mental illness are being sent to the streets, jails, prisons and morgues instead of treatment.

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. Spread the word. Tell others to call too.

Providing services to the most seriously ill should be, the core function of mental hygiene directors and the office of mental health. Their raison d’etre. Unfortunately, this core function of providing services to the most seriously ill is often ignored in favor of providing services to others. This approach sends the most seriously ill to jails, prisons, shelters and morgues and puts public and police at risk. Improvement of care for the most seriously ill is almost always and exclusively obtained by legislation or law suits. The Kendra’s Law Improvement Act is one such piece of legislation. It not only allows courts to commit the seriously ill to accept treatment, it commits the mental health system to meeting their core responsibility of providing it.