NAMI NEW JERSEY ADVOCACY E-NEWS

February 22, 2008

ADVOCACY NEWS FROM NAMI NEW JERSEY:

1. PSYCHIATRIC PATIENTS ARE GETTING A PLAN TO END DISCHARGE DELAY
2. IMPROVED CARE FOR MENTALLY ILL WILL BE COSTLY
3. ATTORNEY GENERAL'S ADVISORY COMMITTEE RECOMMENDS REVISIONS TO USE OF FORCE POLICY
4. UMDNJ MAY RUN MENTAL HOSPITAL

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PSYCHIATRIC PATIENTS ARE GETTING A PLAN TO END DISCHARGE DELAY

Hundreds of patients who remain in public psychiatric hospitals long after doctors have recommended their release would be placed in supervised housing and community treatment programs under a six-year plan released by the state Department of Human Services. The plan targets the widely criticized practice of preventing patients from leaving state psychiatric hospitals even though doctors have deemed them stable enough to be released.

Read Susan Livio's Star Ledger Report:
http://www.nj.com/news/ledger/morris/index.ssf?/base/news-0/1203140108304900.xml&coll=1

View the Olmstead Home to Recovery CEPP Plan:
http://www.state.nj.us/humanservices/dmhs/CEPP_Plan_1_23_08_FINAL.pdf


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IMPROVED CARE FOR MENTALLY ILL WILL BE COSTLY

To examine conditions at Ancora, the Assembly Human Services Committee will be conducting a hearing in Trenton. As the committee prepares to meet, the key questions are: Does New Jersey have the will - and the money - to make the hospital better? And if the desire is there to help Ancora's involuntarily committed, seriously mentally ill patients, what sort of changes can and should be made?

Read this and Alan Guenther's full Asbury Park Press Series on Ancora:
http://www.app.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080219/NEWS/802190385&referrer=FRONTPAGECAROUSEL


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ATTORNEY GENERAL'S ADVISORY COMMITTEE RECOMMENDS REVISIONS TO USE OF FORCE POLICY

The Attorney General's Advisory Committee on Less-Lethal Force has recommended that the Attorney General's Use of Force Policy be revised. The committee recommended a policy change that would authorize officers to use less- lethal ammunition against a person who is threatening or actively engaged in suicidal or other self-destructive behavior. The committee also recommended that police training include instruction on how law enforcement officers should deal with persons who appear to be suffering from mental illness.

Read the Attorney General's Press Release:
http://www.nj.gov/oag/newsreleases08/pr20080213c.html

Read the full Advisory Committee Report:
http://www.nj.gov/oag/newsreleases08/AttorneyGeneral-AdvisoryGroup-Report.pdf


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UMDNJ MAY RUN MENTAL HOSPITAL


State mental health officials are negotiating with the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey to run the state's largest psychiatric hospital, which has been beset by a string of deaths and mistakes that led to the recent ouster of its top manager. Human Services officials have approached the state's medical university to run Ancora, according to the sources who declined to be identified because the agreement is under review by the Attorney General's Office.

See Susan Livio's Star Ledger report:
http://www.nj.com/news/ledger/jersey/index.ssf?/base/news-9/1203658527146420.xml&coll=1&thispage=2


 


NAMI NEW JERSEY, the State's voice on mental illness, is a statewide coalition of self-help support and advocacy groups composed of families and friends of persons with a serious mental illness. With chapters in all 21 counties we are New Jersey's largest grassroots organization dedicated to improving the quality of life of individuals who have a serious mental illness and their families.


Please distribute this Alert to other advocates for improved mental health services in New Jersey.  If you would like to receive NAMI NEW JERSEY Advocacy Alerts by email, contact Phil Lubitz, Director of Advocacy Programs at advocacy@naminj.org or by phone 732-940-0991.
 

 

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