ADVOCACY NEWS FROM NAMI NEW JERSEY:
1. MENTAL HEALTH NEEDS SEEN GROWING AT COLLEGES
2. NJ TAX REVENUE INCREASES MORE THAN EXPECTED
3. N.J. CARETAKERS FIND LITTLE SUPPORT
4. SENATE PASSES VETERANS TAX CREDIT FOR PSYCHIATRIC TREATMENT
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MENTAL HEALTH NEEDS SEEN GROWING AT COLLEGES
Rushing a student to a psychiatric emergency room is never routine, but when Stony Brook University logged three trips in three days, it did not surprise Jenny Hwang, the director of counseling. Stony Brook is typical of American colleges and universities these days, where national surveys show that nearly half of the students who visit counseling centers are coping with serious mental illness, more than double the rate a decade ago. More students take psychiatric medication, and there are more emergencies requiring immediate action.
Read more in the NY Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/20/health/20campus.html?hpw
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NEW JERSEY TAX REVENUE INCREASES 3.8%, MORE THAN EXPECTED, TREASURER SAYS
New Jersey collected 3.8 percent more revenue in the first five months of the fiscal year than projected in its budget as income taxes ran almost 13 percent above estimates, the state treasurer said. The “welcome development” may help New Jersey avoid mid- year budget cuts, Treasurer Andrew Sidamom-Eristoff said in a statement.
“The good news is that we are right on target for the first five months of 2010, but collections during the first four months of calendar 2011 will determine whether the faster growth we’re seeing in New Jersey incomes is real and can be sustained,” Sidamon-Eristoff said.
See the Bloomberg News report
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-12-14/new-jersey-tax-revenue-increases-3-8-more-than-expected-treasurer-says.html
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YEARS AFTER TASK FORCE ON 'DUALLY DIAGNOSED,' N.J. CARETAKERS FIND LITTLE SUPPORT
Donna Icovino was co-chair of a task force of parents and professionals that in 2008 produced a report called "a landmark effort" by state Human Services commissioner Jennifer Velez, who convened the task force. Her department vowed to make the report a blueprint to beef up sorely needed services. But two years later, some task force members say little has changed. They say there’s no new money, only a handful of new treatment spots, and no organized process that links families to the fragmented services that exist when a crisis erupts.
Read Susan Livio’s Star Ledger report
http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2010/12/years_after_task_force_on_dual.html
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SENATE PASSES VETERANS TAX CREDIT FOR PSYCHIATRIC TREATMENT
The New Jersey State Senate approved legislation (S-1026) sponsored by Senator Christopher J. Connors, Assemblyman Brian E. Rumpf and Assemblywoman DiAnne C. Gove that would allow for a tax credit to be available for unreimbursed psychiatric treatment provided to a veteran who has been honorably discharged from active military service and is a resident of the state. The measure now moves to the Assembly Military and Veterans’ Affairs Committee.
Read more:
http://bit.ly/h4sNdR
