NAMI/National less than honest with members

Call 202 224 3121 or go here and urge your U.S. Representative to co-sponsor HR 3717, the Helping Families in Mental Health Crisis Act.

NAMI State and local chapters do brilliant work trying to improve care for people with the most serious mental illnesses and provide comfort to them and their families. NAMI/National is ignoring the most seriously ill in order to be politically correct.

Representative Tim Murphy (R. PA) has proposed HR3717 the “Helping Families in Mental Health Crisis” that does much of what NAMI local and state members have been begging for.

•  It slightly frees families from HIPAA Handcuffs so they can get certain medical info about mentally ill loved ones
• Forces SAMHSA and other agencies to use their funds to treat people with serious mental illness as opposed to improving the mental health of all others.
• Increases NIMH funding.Requires government to invest in evidence-based programs rather than just politically correct ones.
• Takes steps to see that some hospital beds are preserved for those who need them.
• Stops federally funded lawyers from working to close hospitals and free people with serious mental illness from treatment (Something that led to the death of Joe Bruce’s wife at the hands of his son, Willie).
• Provides funding for Assisted Outpatient Treatment. AOT (Kendra’s Law in NY, Laura’s Law in CA) is only for a small subset of the most seriously ill that has already accumulated multiple hospitalizations, arrests, incarcerations, and episodes of homelessness caused by going off treatment that was available to them. AOT allows courts to provide those individuals a case management team and require them to stay in six months of monitored treatment in the community (with all sorts of due process protections). It also allows courts to order mental health programs to admit the most seriously ill, rather than cherry pick the easiest to treat. This combination has been proven to reduce incarceration, hospitalization, arrest, homelessness, and other negative outcomes of untreated serious mental illness by about 70% each wherever it has been used.  By reducing the use of expensive and inhumane hospitals, jails and prisons, it cuts the cost of care in half, which can be reinvested to help even more people.
• Gives states an incentive to implement “need for treatment” civil commitment standards. Current law in many states prevents treatment of someone who is psychotic, hallucinating, or delusional until after they become danger to self or others. That’s ludicrous. Laws should prevent violence, not require it.

You can see a comparison of HR3717 to another bill here that NAMI has not shared with members.  Because of these provisions, most individual NAMI members, many NAMI local affiliates, and NAMI State Chapters have been vigorous supporters of The Helping Families in Mental Health Crisis Act. But NAMI/National refuses to lead the fight.

In a recent blog, NAMI/National Executive Director Mary Giliberti, formerly of the Bazelon Center explained NAMI’s failure to rally support because the bill is not supported by everyone in the mental health industry and she fears  'the harm caused by infighting." NAM/National should not be ceding control of its policy to those  who might disagree with it. NAMI/National, like state and local chapters, should stand up for those with serious mental illness, not side with the mental health industry. She also refuses to rally support for the bill because it has AOT provisions in it, and allows access to treatment before someone becomes dangerous. But those specific provisions are part of NAMI’s own policy!

History is repeating itself. Circa 1988 some NAMI/National Board members spent seven years trying to get the rest of the NAMI/National board to develop a thoughtful policy on Involuntary and Court Ordered Treatment. NAMI/National refused to adopt a policy or even a process to consider a policy. After seven years, a provision in the NAMI/National bylaws was used to work around the NAMI/National boards refusal to lead. A policy endorsing AOT and other reforms was put to a direct vote of the entire NAMI membership at the annual meeting in 1995. It was  overwhelmingly endorsed by them.  It wasn't even close.  AFTER the NAMI grassroots acted, the NAMI/National board adopted the policy as their own. And then they let it sit, refusing to advocate for it.  

Cut to today. A bill in Congress, The Helping Families in Mental Health Crisis Act (HR3717) would provide federal funding for the AOT pilot programs and civil commitment improvements that NAMI members voted for. The NAMI policy says:

“Involuntary inpatient and outpatient commitment and court-ordered treatment should be used as a last resort and only when it is believed to be in the best interests of the individual in need”

Giliberti defends NAMI’s failure to rally support for the bill by arguing that NAMI does not focus on treatments that are used as a “last resort” for the seriously ill, and only work for “first resort” treatments that help all others. This decision sentences many of the most seriously ill to jails, shelters, prisons and morgues. It is cruel to those who need NAMI’s help the most. Giliberti goes on to describe AOT as ‘controversial’ and a ‘third-rail’. But AOT is widely supported by police, the public, consumers who have been in AOT and most importantly, NAMI’s own members who voted on the issue. It is true that some in the mental health industry oppose it because it somewhat eliminates their ability to cherry pick the easiest to treat for admission to their programs. NAMI/National should be fighting against that, not supporting it.  

For some individuals with very serious mental illness AOT is the last off ramp before incarceration. It is like placing a fence by the edge of the cliff, rather than an ambulance at the bottom.   It's important. Politicians will make their compromises, our job is to tell them what's right.

Please call 202 224 3121 or go to http://www.opencongress.org/people/zipcodelookup  and urge your Representative to “Cosponsor HR3717, the Helping Families in Mental Health Crisis Act”. Even if NAMI/National won’t stand up for the most seriously ill, local and state members still can. Bless you.

Video of Dr. Murphy discussing schizophrenia and the Helping Families in Mental Health Crisis on floor of House of Representatives several days ago.

Comparison of provisions related to serious mental illness in adults

in the Helping Families in Mental Health Crisis Act (HR 3717) and the

Strengthening Mental Illness in our Communities Act (HR 4574)

CALL YOUR REPRESENTATIVE AT 202 224 3121. URGE SUPPORT OF HR3717

	Helping Families in Mental Health Crisis Act (HR-3717)	Strengthening Mental Health in Our Communities (HR-4574)
Co-sponsors	62 Republican 34 Democrat	66 Democrat 0 Republican
Starts to address hospital bed shortage that prevents seriously ill from getting care when needed	Yes	No
Provides funds for Assisted Outpatient Treatment Pilot Programs (last off ramp before jail).	Yes	No
Gives states incentive to implement need for treatment/grave disability standards so mentally ill loved ones can be treated before becoming danger to self or others.	Yes	No
Writes exceptions into HIPAA/FERPA so parents can get information about diagnosis, what prescriptions need filling, and pending appointments of their loved ones to help them	Yes	No
Funds NIMH research into reducing violence by untreated seriously mentally ill	Yes	No
Requires government to prioritize the most seriously ill rather than least ill	Yes	No
Inhibits SAMHSA from giving grants to non-evidenced based programs and funding anti-treatment advocacy (ex. eliminating hospitals, banning ECT, opposing AOT…)	Yes	No
Inhibits PAIMII from overruling parents involved in care of loved ones	Yes	No
Focuses on medical model of treatment	Yes	No
Gives law enforcement and people with a medical background an important role on advisory boards	Yes	No
Cuts funding of programs that are not working	Yes	No
Eliminate the 190 day lifetime limit On inpatient psychiatric hospital care under Medicare	No	Yes
Reauthorizes Garrett Lee Suicide Programs	Yes	Yes
Support for Mental Health Courts	Yes	Yes
Train police to handle mental illness calls better	Yes	Yes
Protects Classes of medicines	Yes	Yes
Increases data collected by DOJ on mental illness	Yes	Yes

ASK YOUR REPRESENTATIVE TO COSPONSOR HR 3717:

THE HELPING FAMILIES IN MENTAL HEALTH CRISIS ACT