Mental Health Association in New York State, Inc.
(Publication Archives)

Friday Fax from Albany

Message from MHANYS CEO: I am very appreciative of the opportunity to become the new CEO of the Mental Health Association in New York State. I have been on the job for a few weeks and I want to take the opportunity to thank the many individuals who have wished me well in this position.

In the coming months, I look forward to visiting affiliates and meeting everyone. I am in the process of calling all affiliates to introduce myself. Please feel free to call me at (518) 434-0439, ext. 20.

My background has been both with New York State government and with not-for-profit organizations.

My most recent position was as the Director of Adult Home Initiatives at the New York State Department of Health. In that position, I witnessed first hand the importance of housing and support services for individuals with psychiatric disabilities. We spent a lot of time working on resources and funding for job training, education and independent activities of daily living for residents of adult homes.

At the Office of Mental Health, I was the Program Director for Kendra’s Law. I witnessed the importance of collaboration between the state and the county. Also, many of the inviduals who were on AOT did well because of the support services that were provided to them. In some cases, for the first time, hard-to-serve individuals were able to live successfully in the community because they had intensive case management and priority access to housing.

As the former director of NAMI, I saw first hand the direct effect that strong advocacy has in changing the system. The individuals I worked with at NAMI were passionate about their cause and about reforming the mental health system.

At MHANYS, I intend to help bring together the lessons I have learned through my different experiences. Mental Health issues are not in separate silos. The significance of the Timothy’s Law campaign has a large impact on the entire mental health system through both changing the law and helping to reduce the stigma associated with mental illness. Issues of housing and appropriate recovery-oriented support services should be a priority for the entire mental health system. PROS is an issue that will have an important impact on the affiliate chapters. We will work at the state level to disseminate as much information as possible about PROS.

In 1993, my first year in the advocacy world, I witnessed the historic signing of the Reinvestment Bill. This was one of the most significant changes in the structure of mental health services in New York State. Not only was it a major new funding source, but through community services boards, family members and recipients of services were able to have a voice in programs at the county level. This came about for several reasons-the most important was that all the advocacy groups spoke with the same voice. Every mental health organization’s first priority for that year was reinvestment. The number one lesson I learned from the Reinvestment campaign was that advocacy organizations speak loudest and most effectively when we work in unified coalitions.

The other lesson I learned from Reinvestment was that the overarching theme for the best advocacy is the premise that individuals with psychiatric disabilities can recover and that stakeholders should be involved in the decision making process.

Aside from policy issues, I have a strong belief that the affiliates are the lifeblood of an organization. I intend to work very closely with affiliates throughout the state. Based on the suggestion of some of the chapters, we are creating a Bulletin Board for all affiliates. We will be providing you with information in the coming weeks.

As Board Chair Rich Dowhy said in the press release, our goal is to create more transparency within the organization. We will do our best to keep our members apprised of any activities. I think the Bulletin Board will be an ideal forum for getting out that message.

I know how strongly people feel about the mission of MHANYS. All the individuals in the office are vested in a strong MHANYS, and they also have great technical knowledge of their subject area. I urge anyone at MHA to use us as a resource.

Also, we would like to hear from you about any innovative programs that you are working on that we can publicize. I have been very impressed with some of the ‘best practice’ model programs run by the various MHAs. It is important to spread the word among all our members as well as the larger mental health community, including OMH.

Finally, I would like to personally thank the Board of Directors and Board Chair Rich Dowhy in particular for hiring me for this position. As I have said throughout the last few weeks, I very much look forward to the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead. I very much look forward to working with all of you.

Glenn Liebman, CEO