Search Results for: violence

(7-28-16) Rep. Tim Murphy’s Helping Families in Mental Health Crisis Act was passed by a 422-2 vote in the House earlier this year, but it’s now treading water and the prospect of it being signed into law this session is fleeting.

The trouble has nothing to do with the contents of Murphy’s much altered bill. As first reported by Peter Sullivan in The Hill, this time around the fight is in the Senate and it is about guns.

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(7-21-16) Did a Virginia official, whose job is to protect the public from dishonest government officials, lie to me?

A whistleblower complaint alleges that Virginia Inspector General June Jennings   provided me with false and misleading information. It also accuses Jennings and her assistant, Priscilla Smith, who is responsible for monitoring behavioral health agencies, of misleading state Sen. Creigh Deeds and other elected officials during testimony, and of violating HIPAA regulations when handling confidential medical information inside the Office of State Inspector General (OSIG).

Even more damning, the complaint claims the OSIG has failed to thoroughly investigate the deaths of prisoners with mental illnesses in Virginia’s jails and prisons, choosing instead to rubber stamp reports submitted to them by jailers and mental health officials.

The accusations are being levied by Cathy Hill, an OSIG employee who is seeking whistleblower protection, and two OSIG consultants, William Thomas and Ann White. In their complaint, which was filed yesterday, they asked Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring to launch a criminal investigation of the OSIG office to determine if Jennings and Smith have violated state and federal laws, writing:

It is our belief that their actions violate both Virginia and federal law, and undermine public trust and the mission of the OSIG. Our concerns have grown to the degree that we feel we can no longer in good faith remain silent. 

An email request for a reaction and comment by Jennings and Smith – that I sent yesterday – has gone unanswered.

Was I told a lie?

The complaint alleges that Jennings and an unnamed OSIG public relations officer hid information from me when I filed a Freedom of Information Act request.

But before I get to that accusation, let’s examine a much more troubling charge.

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(7-6-16)  Mental health activist Leah Harris has written and is performing a one woman show about family trauma based, in part, on her childhood experiences with her mother who had schizophrenia. Performances begin July 9th and run until July 23rd in the Washington D.C. area. Congratulations Leah!

The playwright with her mother and grandmother, 1977.

Why I’m Doing a One Woman Show about Inherited Family Trauma

By Leah Harris

I was raised by Jewish grandparents who grew up during the Great Depression. (I guess this makes me an honorary Baby Boomer, even though I’m technically Generation X.) My grandmother loved to tell me stories told to her by her father, my great-grandfather Max Schumacher, who emigrated from Poland to the US in   1914, and died before I was born.

“Your great-grandfather was sitting on the stoop with this little girl, and a Cossack rides by on his horse and pop! shoots the little girl in the head, killing her. He never forgot that day. Soon afterwards, he came to America. If he hadn’t, he most likely would have been killed in the Holocaust.”

“Grandma, what if the Cossack had shot great-grandpa Max instead of the little girl?”

“Well,” she’d say, “none of us would be here.” It made my head hurt to think about it too much.

As a child, I would sometimes get annoyed at my grandmother, because she told the same exact stories over and over again. I could recite them by heart. But today, I am grateful for my her storytelling. Our family stories are firmly implanted in my consciousness. They have formed the seeds for my creative work delving into the nature of trauma and memory.

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(7-4-16) This is the second analysis of Rep. Tim Murphy’s mental health reform legislation that could be voted on as soon as tomorrow in the House.) 

AN OPEN LETTER TO ADVOCATES ABOUT THE MURPHY/JOHNSON  BILL

BY DEBBIE PLOTNICK, MENTAL HEALTH AMERICA

Dear Fellow Advocates:

It’s time to step back and take some credit. Acknowledge that your efforts have made a significant difference, even though no one has gotten everything they’ve wanted. But your efforts have had very positive results. Then gather your strength to not only beat back more of what you don’t want, and what you find hurtful, but also to fight for more of what you know is true and right, and for what you do want.

Look closely at where things are presently, not only where you wish they were, and just how far they have yet to go. Stop and really assess, don’t get stuck on where things were. Look at pending legislation in terms of existing law and regulation, and then think about what has the potential for good, as well as for bad. But most importantly, and hardest of all, is look beyond personalities and propaganda. Follow your own good counsel to present. Be in the here and now as you fight for what you passionately believe should come to pass (no pun intended).

What follows is detailed and nuanced. I respectfully ask you to please read it and then critically weigh what you think, and consider how you’d like to proceed. Maybe something will change, maybe everything will change, and maybe nothing will change. But it is my sincere hope that by reading this you’ll have a better understanding of where things are now, how they got there, and the important role advocacy has played, and can still accomplish.

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(7-1-16) The House is expected to vote on Rep. Tim Murphy’s Helping Families In Mental Health Crisis Act early next week. I’m publishing two blogs about the bill, which is being called the first major reform in decades of our mental health system. D. J. Jaffe initially strongly supported the bill but had doubts after it was revised — although he still backs it. On Monday, we will hear from an advocate who initially opposed the bill but later endorsed it after it was redrafted.) 

Helping Families In Mental Health Crisis Act

An Analysis by D. J. Jaffe, director of Mental Illness Policy Org.

I have been asked whether people should support the Helping Families in Mental Health Crisis Act of 2015 (H.R. 2646)  which will shortly come to a vote in the House. At this point, the decision is not, “how does this bill compare to previous versions of the bill?” It is clearly very much weaker. The question is: what is the net impact on “adults” with “serious” mental illness, the population we advocate for? Positive or negative?

I do come down on the side of supporting.

Others may disagree with our conclusion because they are focused on different populations. Mental Illness Policy Org is focused on the 4% who have the most serious mental illnesses, primarily schizophrenia and treatment-resistant bipolar. Most community programs refuse to serve these ‘high-needs’ patients. The seriously ill are the ones most likely to become victimized, incarcerated and homeless. Put another way: throwing money at mental health does little for the seriously ill. Schizophrenia and bipolar cannot be predicted or prevented. The treatments adults with them need, for example hospital care, is much different from children with mild ADHD or adults with “lived-experience” need. So that is the lens we look through to analyze the bill.

Rep. Murphy, who originally authored the bill, is a hero who never gave up advocating for the most seriously ill. But late in the process, Energy and Commerce Committee chair Fred Upton, allowed Ranking Member Frank Pallone to insert numerous provisions–some merely wasteful, others problematic– at the behest of the mental health industry and to remove numerous provisions that would require them to serve adults with serious mental illness. But there are still provisions that are very helpful to the seriously ill.

Rep. Murphy’s bill will be voted on by the entire house after July 4^th recess. No news on when or if the Senate will consider The Mental Health Reform Act (S. 2680), a semi-companion bill.

Following are provisions still in the bill that could affect adults with serious mental illness grouped into four subjective categories which you may agree or disagree with.

1. Definitely good provisions
2. Potentially beneficial provisions that really can’t be judged
3. Useless provisions
4. Potentially harmful provisions

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(6-29-16) An Open Letter to Fairfax Board of Supervisor Pat Herrity

The Washington Post recently quoted you voicing your objection to quickly releasing the names of police officers involved in shootings because: “There are a lot of crazy people out there.”

I realize you were expressing your concern about protecting officers from retribution and will assume that your choice of words was not ill intended.

Sadly, they were.

My adult son is one of those “crazy people out there.” When he was in college, he was diagnosed with bipolar disorder, a mental illness. He did not do anything to bring this illness upon himself anymore than someone who has a heart attack or cancer. Yet for the next seven years, he was repeatedly hospitalized, arrested after breaking into an unoccupied house to take a bubble bath while delusional, and shot twice with a taser by the Fairfax County police. Part of the reason why he couldn’t get help is because of significant budget cuts in Fairfax for crucial community mental health services.

Today, my son has been stable seven years. He works as a peer to peer specialist on a diversion team that helps Fairfax residents with mental illnesses avoid jail and get help for their illnesses. He pays taxes, is enrolled in graduate school, and is doing great.

Your reference about “crazy people out there” promotes stigma. It unfairly links persons with mental illness with violence. It warns the public that “crazy” people are dangerous and you need to be careful to avoid them. This language reminds those with mental disorders that they are different and not valued by society. Stigma has been shown as a reason why many of the 57.7 million Americans with a diagnosable mental illness do not seek help.

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