ADVOCACY NEWS FROM NAMI NEW JERSEY:
1. PANEL SENDS "PARITY" BILL TO ASSEMBLY
2. MENTAL HEALTH CRISIS IN ERS STATEWIDE
3. CONFRONT STIGMA OF MENTAL HEALTH
4. EXHIBIT CHRONICLES LIVES OF MENTAL ASYLUM ACTIVISTS
5. NAMI NJ ANNUAL CONFERENCE ON JUNE 2, 2007
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PANEL SENDS "PARITY" BILL TO ASSEMBLY
A bill that would require health insurers to cover more
treatment for mental illnesses advanced out of the Assembly
Appropriations Committee Thursday, moving it to the brink
of passage by the Legislature. Under the bill, insurers
would have to cover treatment for mental illnesses such
as post-traumatic stress disorder, anorexia and drug addiction
in the same way they cover other health problems and mental
disorders.
Read the full Asbury Park Press report:
http://www.app.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2007705110377
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MENTAL HEALTH CRISIS IN ERS STATEWIDE
A shortage of psychiatric beds is taking a toll on medical
patients and hospital personnel
A rising number of severely mentally ill people in need
of psychiatric commitment are overwhelming emergency rooms
statewide, stressing hospital staffs and budgets, and violating
patients' rights, according to medical and mental health
professionals. A lack of available psychiatric beds, especially
for short-term care, has turned emergency rooms into holding
areas for in-crisis patients with no place else to go, officials
said.
Read Lawrence Ragonese’s Star Ledger report:
http://www.nj.com/news/ledger/jersey/index.ssf?/base/news-7/1179030842309280.xml&coll=1
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CONFRONT STIGMA OF MENTAL HEALTH
As we try to understand the details surrounding the shootings
at Virginia Tech, let us educate ourselves and our communities
about this public health issue. The time has come for us
to recognize that just like any other illness, mental illness
is treatable and recovery is possible.
Read Stigma Council ED Celina Gray’s letter to the
Asbury Park Press:
http://www.app.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2007705070303
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EXHIBIT CHRONICLES LIVES OF MENTAL ASYLUM ACTIVISTS
The Trenton City Museum at Ellarslie Mansion in Cadwalader
Park and McCarter Theatre in Princeton tomorrow will unveil
"Mind's Injustice/Minds in Justice," their fifth
exhibition collaboration. "The exhibit will take the
shape of a historical storybook and will showcase and chronicle
the life and times of two, formidable, 19th-century women
activists and reformers, Elizabeth Packard and Dorothea
Dix," says Maria Newman, the exhibit's curator.
Dix was the 19th-century reformer and humanitarian who
championed the rights for the mentally ill and changed the
face of facilities to care for them -- separating the criminals
from those who truly had the "disorders of affect,"
among others. Dix founded the New Jersey State Lunatic Asylum
-- now known as the Trenton Psychiatric Hospital.
Read more:
http://www.nj.com/living/times/index.ssf?/base/entertainment-0/1177042260305710.xml&coll=5
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NAMI NJ ANNUAL CONFERENCE ON JUNE 2, 2007
The 23rd NAMI NEW JERSEY Annual Conference "Experiencing
Recovery" will take place on June 2, 200 7 at the Holiday
Inn in Somerset, NJ. The conference features a close look
at the different components that can make recovery possible,
and present the latest information on issues of importantance
to families and consumers.
To learn more:
http://www.naminj.org/programs/conf_sem/NAMI_NJ_Conference_07.htm
