NYAPRS Note: Collaboration as described in my recent TU letter below between House Republican and Democratic leaders took a big step forward this past Tuesday when Reps. Murphy and Barber met for a legislators-only breakfast with as many as 20 of their colleagues and emerged with a pledge to attempt to work toward a meaningful compromise to advance legislation as early as July. Stay tuned!
Collaborate To Improve Care For The Mentally Ill
Albany Times Union June 22, 2014
Politics should indeed not deter us from implementing long-needed mental health reforms, but the commentary from D.J. Jaffe and Irene Tursky (“Politics imperil treatment,” June 12 http://www.timesunion.com/opinion/article/Politics-imperil-treatment-5546020.php) only takes us further in that direction. It insists that advancing proposals that differ from Republican Rep. Tim Murphy’s bill is playing politics and that longtime mental health advocate Rep. Paul Tonko’s co-authorship of a Democratic proposal is misguided.
While Mr. Murphy has rightly raised the bar on strategies to prevent avoidable relapses, homelessness and incarceration, the proposal from Mr. Tonko adds a number of critically needed provisions to get that done, has more than 50 co-sponsors and is supported by psychiatrists, school psychologists, county mental hygiene officials and suicide prevention and veterans’ groups.
With a little effort, negotiators can find consensus to enhance our focus on serving the most needy, educate professionals that they can and should share patient information with families when health and safety are threatened and expand criminal justice, suicide prevention, children’s, veterans and workforce initiatives.
But politics has discouraged such collaborations. Mr. Murphy’s bill didn’t include input from GOP and Democratic colleagues and advances controversial provisions that have raised serious concerns among his House GOP leadership, e.g. dismantling the federal mental health agency, weakening protection and advocacy programs that primarily expand access to services and forcing court-ordered treatment approaches on states.
As someone with a mental illness who helps represent people with mental illnesses, we deserve a far more collaborative process to achieve true mental health reform.
Harvey Rosenthal
Greenwich
Executive Director, New York Association of Psychiatric Rehabilitation Services