NAMI’s Grading the States 2009

1. NAMI’s Grading the States 2009 Ron Honberg – Director of Policy and Legal Affairs National Alliance on Mental Illness 2009 NAMI Convention San Francisco, CA

3. Goals • Advocacy and communications • Public education • Increase transparency/accountability • Document changes over time • Highlight best practices • Identify worst practices

4. What Data Did We Use? • What we need vs. what we have... • GTS-09 Data Sources: • Survey of State Mental Health Agencies • Hospital beds (AHA) • Workforce shortage (Sheps Center) • Consumer & Family Test Drive • Web-based survey of consumers and family members

5. Four Groups of Measures • Health Promotion and Measurement • Financing and Core Treatment/ Recovery Services • Consumer and Family Empowerment • Community Integration and Social Inclusion

7. National Trends - Positive • Recovery is widely accepted • More focus on evidence-based practices • Growing concern about wellness, whole person • Stronger collaborations at state and local levels • Support for stigma reduction, public education • Consumer and family recognition/empowerment

8. National Trends - Negative • Budget cuts • Lack of acute inpatient beds, crisis stabilization services. • Poor data, particularly on outcomes. • Continued fragmentation of systems and services. • Too many people falling through the cracks.

9. Policy Recommendations • Increase public funding for mental health care services • Improve data collection, outcomes measurement, and accountability • Integrate mental and physical health care • Promote recovery and respect • Increase services for people with serious mental illnesses who are most at risk

10. Consumer and Family Quotes • “Recovery means I have many identities, not only my mental illness. I am a wife, mother, sister, daughter, friend, nana. My illness is not the first thing I think about when I wake up in the morning.”(Pennsylvania) • “Lo mejor es que tienen un equipo de Act el cual me aydo mucho a recobrar las reindas de mi vida.” (New York)

11. Consumer and Family Quotes • “I take it one day at a time and generally rely on family and friends instead of the doctors that are supposed to be there to help.”(Alabama) • “When I first tried to get help after attempting suicide, I was told that I wasn’t sick enough to qualify.” (Arizona)

12. Consumer and Family Quotes • “Our Proposition 63 Mental Health Services Act monies have been targeted towards … new programs. Meanwhile, old time clients are living in below standard board and cares with very little access to programs and services.”(California) • “If my mother had not fought with them on my behalf, I most likely would have committed suicide.” (Florida)

13. Consumer and Family Quotes • “My peer services are great. One of the things that has been most helpful is the Pathways to Recovery group at my CRO.” (Kansas) • “My employer (I was employed at a public mental health center) saw my improvement and offered me an opportunity of a lifetime. They asked me if I would like to be a peer support specialist.” (Wyoming)

14. Consumer and Family Quotes • “Lots of people fall through the cracks and in a crisis end up in jail…Why don’t the taxpayers understand that jail costs five times more than treatment and medications?” (Ohio) • “The worst thing about the public mental health system is the lack of funding for community-based services.” (New Mexico)

15. Ways to use the report • Communications with key state officials (mental health, Medicaid, etc.) • Testimony at legislative hearings on funding, systems change, etc. • Working with the media • Illustrating the lived experiences of people with mental illnesses and their families

17. Beyond Grading the States 2009 • State policy/planning/transformation • Federal leadership (data standards) • Children and youth version • Grading the States 2012!

18. More Information & Questions Full GTS-09 report at www.nami.org/grades09 Information on health care reform at www.nami.org\policy\healthreform Ron Honberg RonH@nami.org