Mental Health Advocacy is Important - Intel by mugwort

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Mental Health Advocacy is Important I am a mental health advocate for a social service agency. Its located in Philadelphia. The organization services people with mental illness in terms of employment. Its modeled after a place called Fountain House. Its what's called a clubhouse. This basically means the staff and clients have equal say in how the establishment is run. Everyone is treated as equals. Each clubhouse including the one I work are composed of units. They are basically different types of employment. For example there could be a clerical unit, an information unit, a food service unit, a horticulture one and more. Well where I work there is a mental health advocacy unit. The clients who come to it are completely voluntary. It is not my place or my goal to tell the others what to do or what to think. To me, that would be anti advocacy. Advocacy as I see is being assertive. That is sticking up for your rights, while respecting the rights of others. There are many different issues involved. One is stigma. Stigma can and does lead to unfair discrimination in housing, higher education and housing. I am not implying that somebody should be given work because they are mentally ill. What I am saying is if a man or woman is capable of doing the job and they are stable with treatment, mental illness should not prevent them from being employed. Psychiatric diseases are treatable. Many people with mental illness are quite capable of being gainfully employed. An individual being successfully treated for her/his mental as illness is as reliable, dependable as anybody else. The same thing goes with housing. I am sincerely hoping some day the phrase "Not in my back yard" will be eliminated (NIMBY) Besides its illegal with fair housing laws. Shame. Stigma leads to shame. Many mental health consumers don't seek treatment because they feel too much shame regarding their illness to seek treatment. Expert on Schizophrenia, psychiatrist E. Fuller. Torrey believes consumers don't seek treatment is because they don't realize they need it. This I see is true of some. However I do know there are many who feel too ashamed to seek help. Schizophrenia is basically a mental disorder involving thought as opposed to mood as in depression or bipolar. Bush's 2009 mental health budget cuts. While I sincerely feel sorry for the many groups hurt by his draconian cuts, since I am a mental health advocate my concern is the cuts that hurt the mentally ill. The fact is Bush is slashing funding for case managers, rehabilitation, consumer run support groups. He is completely eliminating mental health care for senior citizens and for people with post traumatic stress disorder. This in spite of the reality of a record number of Iraq veterans coming back with suicidal thoughts. I am hoping and praying the Democratic congress doesn't permit him to get away with such heartlessness. Below is what www.jointogether.org wrote on their site. Join Together is a site that covers the issues mental illness, substance abuse and violence. I believe it's a reliable source of what is happening on these concerns. The National Mental Health Assn too reported Bush's cruel cuts effecting people with mental illness. The same with Bazelon Mental Health Law Center. Bazelon is basically an advocacy organization for those with mental illness. "Drug-prevention advocates and others are raising the alarm over President Bush's FY2009 budget plan, which slashed $198 million from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) and calls for elimination ofRecovery Community Support Programs, STOP Underage Drinking program." Specifically NMHA states the 2009 Federal budget will cut $18 billion in medicaid. Since most people with psychiatric illnesses either can't work or are underemployed they rely on Medicaid for their health coverage. Specifically this includes one billion cut from case management. Case managers, especially Intensive case managers help keep their clients out of the hospital. I am not saying every mental health consumer will wind up hospitalized if they lose their case management service. However many will become inpatients if they lose the support they need. I think George W. Bush's cutting of case management is not only mean spirited its penny wise and pound foolish. It costs significantly more to treat someone in a psychiatric ward or mental hospital then supplying what a person needs to stay out such a place. The issue of the budget is utmost on the minds of the employees of the agency where I work. They are quite concerned about the budget cuts, especially case management. There is the issue of police and mentally ill. Where I used to live in a suburb near Philadelphia, PA the local NAMI(National Alliance for the Mentally Ill) successfully taught the police how to fairly treat people with mental problems. Now they treat them much more fairer, humanely. I just wish other cities and towns would follow through. In conclusion mental health advocacy is important for people with mental illness, their families and society.