ADVOCACY NEWS FROM NAMI NEW JERSEY:
1. A STATE BUDGET PLAN WITH DAYS TO SPARE
2. MILITARY'S MENTAL HEALTH SYSTEM NEEDS HELP
3. HOUSE VOTES TO BOLSTER DATABASE ON GUN BUYERS
4. POLICE LACK TRAINING TO DEAL WITH CRISIS
5. COLLINGSWOOD TO TEST NEW MENTAL HEALTH APPROACH
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A STATE BUDGET PLAN WITH DAYS TO SPARE
The revised budget also backs away from demanding co-payments
from low-income and disabled people on Medicaid for prescription
drugs and outpatient hospital care. In a compromise, nonprofit
agencies that serve abused children and disabled people
will get a 3 percent raise in their contracts with the state,
instead of the 2 percent Corzine had proposed. The providers
had sought a 4.1 percent raise.
Read more:
http://www.nj.com/news/ledger/index.ssf?/base/news-11/118171012367290.xml&coll=1
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MILITARY'S MENTAL HEALTH SYSTEM NEEDS HELP
A year-long study by a federal task force highlights an
urgent need for improvement in the U.S. military's mental
health system. Soldiers and their families receive inadequate
care from the system, overloaded by soldiers returning from
the war in Iraq, said the report released in Washington
Thursday.
Read the AP story:
http://www.upi.com/NewsTrack/Science/2007/06/15/militarys_mental_health_system_needs_help/7782/
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HOUSE VOTES TO BOLSTER DATABASE ON GUN BUYERS
The House voted Wednesday to close a loophole in gun control
laws that allowed the Virginia Tech gunman to buy firearms
even though he had been committed to a mental hospital.
The Senate is likely to follow suit, marking the first time
since 1996 that Congress has approved a measure strengthening
gun control. Those prohibited from gun ownership include
convicted criminals, those involuntarily committed to mental
health facilities, and those whom courts have deemed “a
mental defective,” meaning they are a danger to themselves
or to others.
Read
the full NY Times report (free to register).
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POLICE LACK TRAINING TO DEAL WITH CRISIS
During the past week, police statewide have shot three
people described as having a mental illness or mental disability.
Such events raise questions about police training in dealing
with the mentally disabled. Local police and mental health
professionals say officers receive training and support
from local hospitals that provide emergency psychiatric
services. But some police officials acknowledge that the
training is limited by strained resources.
See
the Herald News story.
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COLLINGSWOOD TO TEST NEW MENTAL HEALTH APPROACH
Gale Lewin never had a problem with the Oaklyn police officers
who responded to her home when her son's mental illness
caused him to act out. But even the officers' consideration
couldn't stop her son from spending time in the Camden County
Jail, which was the only place Lewin felt he could get immediate
medical attention. She was among an array of mental health
advocates, law enforcement officials, lawyers, educators
and medical providers who attended a daylong seminar Wednesday
on a pilot program now under way in the Collingswood Police
Department. The program trains police officers to find alternatives
to jail for the mentally ill.
See the Courier Post report:
http://www.courierpostonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070614/NEWS01/706140412/1006/news01
