Deblasio policies cause NYC mental illness stabbings

Deblasio administration refuses to use Kendra's Law when needed

Our hearts go out to James Patrick Dillon, his family, those who were stabbed by him, and the  police who had to respond. Like almost all these cases, Mr. Dillon was already known to be seriously mentally ill, had a family that tried to help him get treatment, but could not get him treatment because the DeBlasio administration refuses to focus it's mental health efforts on the most seriously ill. 

Specifically, the DeBlasio administration has failed to robustly implement Kendra's Law. Kendra's Law allows judges to order the most seriously ill, who refuse treatment, to accept six months of mandated and monitored treatment as a condition of living in the community. Kendra's Law reduces homelessness, arrest, incarceration in the 70% range. It keeps patients, public and police safer. 

Our Oped in Manhattan Institute’s City Journal on how ThriveNYC ignores the most seriously mentally ill  http://www.city-journal.org/2015/eon1208dj.html

Our oped in NY Post on how NYC mental health officials ignore the most seriously mentally ill  http://nypost.com/2015/11/15/the-citys-dangerous-mental-health-dodge/

Our oped in Manhattan Institute’s City Journal on how NYC data shows it is failing seriously mentally ill   http://www.city-journal.org/2015/eon0805dj.html

Brian Lehrer (NPR) interview with DJ Jaffe on how NYC mental health officials decided to ignore violent mentally ill   https://www.wnyc.org/radio/#/ondemand/571653

Brian Lehrer (NPR) interviews Chirlane McCray and Dr. Gary Belkin about failure to use Kendra’s Law    http://www.wnyc.org/story/first-lady-chirlane-mccray-kendras-law/

Main Site: http://mentalillnesspolicy.org

NY Site: http://kendras-law.org

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Join Important March 10 Mental Illness Teleconference with Pete Earley

Dial (712) 775-7031 at 7PM EST on Thursday, March 10 and use Access Code 715149. Mental Illness Policy Org invites you to join our popular evening teleconference interview series. DJ's next special guest will be former Washington Post reporter, advocate and author Pete Earley. Pete will tell his personal story trying to get care for a loved one, and use his experience as a former reporter to explain how to get the media to do more and better stories about serious mental illness. He'll answer all your questions. Pete is the author of Crazy: A Father's Search Through America's Mental Health Madness which documents how the failed mental health system leads to incarceration, and the grotesque conditions faced by the incarcerated mentally ill.  Pete was the first, and so far only journalist to highlight how the Supreme Court's Olmstead decision, which is touted by some, could be unleashing a second wave of disastrous deinstitutionalization.  He testified to Congress on multiple occasions, runs a very popular blog, and recently gave one of the best speeches on serious mental illness ever.  He is one of the most important mental illness advocates on the scene today. We hope you'll join us for this important call. Bring all your questions. Share this with your friends and social networks. To join the call, dial (712) 775-7031 at 7PM eastern(!) standard time on Thursday, March 10 and use Access Code 715149. Thank you for all you do to improve care for people with the most serious mental illnesses.