Please send letter in Support of Helping Families in Mental Health Crisis Act

If you are part of any organization (state or local NAMI, MHA, Prison Reform, Consumer Group, etc) that wants to help persons with serious mental illness, please send a letter on your letterhead, to Rep. Tim Murphy urging passage of Helping Families in Mental Health Crisis Act (HR 3717). They want as many letters of support from organizations as possible.

You can see the NAMI/NYS letter below and use it as a model. You can see other letters (ex. NAMI National, American Psychiatric Assoc., etc) at http://murphy.house.gov/helpingfamiliesinmentalhealthcrisisact#Letters%20of%20Support


 You can learn more about the bill at http://mentalillnesspolicy.org/hr3717_helping_families_mental_health_crisis_act.html 

Also, please call your own US Representative and urge him/her to co-sponsor HR 3717, the "Helping Families in Mental Health Crisis Act". It only takes 30 seconds if you go here: http://mentalillnesspolicy.org/hr3717_helping_families_mental_health_crisis_act.html

 Thank you very much. This is the most important bill (and the first in many years) that focuses on serious mental illness vs. improving mental health. Read why here: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dj-jaffe/newbill-decreases-mental-_b_4454811.html Thank you.

February 18, 2014
The Honorable Tim Murphy
Chairman, Oversight & Investigations Subcommittee
United States House of Representatives
2125 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20515

 Dear Congressman Murphy:

On Behalf of NAMI-NYS, the largest family and consumer grassroots organization in the State of New York dedicated to mental health, we write to express our support of H.R. 3717, the "Helping Families in Mental Health Crisis Act" legislation and urge Congress to pass this bill. Not only does this legislation include critical provisions to improve care for people with serious mental illnesses, it also helps the families provide better care and protection for the loved ones.

•  NAMI-NYS strongly supports all provisions in this bill and is especially appreciative that it: 
• Creates exemptions in HIPAA and FERPA that will help families access information necessary to provide care to loved ones. 
• Returns the Protection and Advocacy for Individuals with Mental Illness (PAIMI/P&A) to its original focus of working to improve care for the most seriously mentally ill. 
• Reorients SAMHSA/CMHS so they focus more resources on the most seriously mentally ill rather than the highest functioning. 
• Increases NIMH funding so that they can discover the causes and develop new treatments for serious mental illnesses. 
• Funds pilot Assisted Outpatient Treatment Programs proven to reduce homelessness, hospitalization, arrest and incarceration of the most seriously mentally ill. 
• Funds Mental Health Courts so more people with serious mental illnesses go to treatment rather than to jail and prison. 
•  Funds Telepychiartry in rural communities so those without in-person access to care can still receive care. 
• Creates an undersecretary for mental health within HHS to help reorient spending so the most seriously mentally ill are prioritized rather than offloaded to jails, prisons and shelters. 

We are grateful to you for caring about people with serious mental illnesses and supporting their families. Thank you for your exceptional leadership.

 Sincerely, Thomas B. Easterly President, NAMI-NYS
 Sherry Janowitz Grenz Chair, Government Affairs Committee