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May 7, 2007Topics in this update include:
Jonathan’s Law Signed On Saturday evening, Governor Spitzer signed Jonathan’s Law. This law will impact the incident reporting and follow up quality assurance review in OMH and OMRDD facilities. This legislation will provide family members with greater access to an investigatory process. Those who were opposed to the bill pointed out that this legislation may actually have a different effect than what was intended. With greater family involvement, people were fearful that issues of confidentiality would be lessened and that as a result people may be less willing to come forward and share information We had suggested as part of a compromise that there be teams of families and recipients, based on the successful Philadelphia model, that would be trained to do incident reporting and quality assurance reviews. Often in situations that have arisen in Philadelphia, these recipient and family teams have been called on to do these kind of reviews. We would like to utilize the framework of the task force being created to review current practices in reporting to highlight the need for family and recipient teams. We will keep you updated on that process. Listed below is the Governor’s Press Release regarding the signing of Jonathan’s Law.
CONTACT:
Christine Anderson
JONATHAN’S
LAW SIGNED Governor Eliot Spitzer today announced the signing of “Jonathan’s Law,” which will provide parents and guardians better access to records and reports of incidents and abuse allegations involving their children in residential mental hygiene facilities. Jonathan’s Law is named in honor of Jonathan Carey, a 13-year-old autistic boy who recently died while in the care of a state-run residential facility. Jonathan’s family has long championed this legislation after being refused full access to records and information related to his care and treatment. Jonathan’s Law makes several important changes to state law. In particular, the new law will:
In addition, a Task Force on Mental Hygiene Records will be established to examine existing laws regarding records access concerning individuals receiving care in facilities licensed or operated by the Office of Mental Health and the Office of Mental Retardation and Development Disabilities (OMRDD). The task force will be comprised of representatives from state agencies, private providers, parents, advocates and others. The bill will also increase penalties to $1,000 per day or a maximum of $15,000 per violation for facilities licensed by OMRDD that fail to comply with applicable rules and regulations. When signing the bill, Governor Spitzer noted several improvements that could be made to the law, and called upon the Legislature to enact those changes as soon as possible. These changes include: (1) adopting the current Mental Hygiene Law standard that protects information from release if such disclosure could “cause substantial and identifiable harm to the patient;”(2) creating a mechanism for parents and guardians to appeal denials of access to information; and (3) ensuring that the new law does not conflict with existing provision governing the reporting of child abuse. “It is critical that parents and guardians of children housed in state facilities for the treatment of developmental disabilities and mental illness have access to records related to abuse allegations and other incidents,” said Governor Spitzer. "This bill allows them to better monitor the care their children receive." MHANYS
Mental Health Awareness Event and On, May 3rd, MHANYS held our annual event at the State Room in Albany celebrating May as mental health month. Our keynote speaker was Pete Earley, former Washington Post Columnist and best selling author of Crazy: A Father’s Search Through America’s Mental Health System. Along with his personal story of his son’s struggles, he also outlined an agenda of what the positive transformation of the mental health system should look like. Through his work on the Miami Dade County Jail System, he was able to piece together the elements needed for a framework of change. He highlighted the need for a litany of options in the community from everything from peer support to housing to employment programs and several other initiatives. He echoed the sentiment that mental health services should not be cookie cutters---they have to reflect the individual needs of recipients. Programs that best engage recipients provide the best outcomes. It was a message that had resonance with the many people in attendance at the evening’s events. People were also moved by the obvious love and kindness he has for his son as he detailed his son’s painstaking struggles with his illness. In a follow up article in next week’s Legislative Gazette, he talked about his thoughts related to the shooting at Virginia Tech. That article will be included next week. The other star of the night was the over thirty gift baskets that were donated from area businesses and board members, affiliates and friends of MHANYS. Almost all of the gift baskets were sold and many for higher than the retail price. We were very appreciative of the generosity of those in attendance. We would especially like to acknowledge Mental Health Commissioner Michael Hogan, Assembly member Paul Tonko, Commission on Quality of Care Chair, Gary O’Brien and Albany County Mental Hygiene Commissioner Robin Siegal who were all in attendance at the event along with many of our board members, affiliates and colleagues in the community. There are a lot of people to thank for helping with this event. In a future update, we will provide all of you with a list of the many sponsors. An event like this would have never happened without the tireless efforts of many people including the MHANYS Board Chair, Janine Dykeman and the Resource Development Committee chaired by Deborah Davis. Deborah did a phenomenal job of organizing this event and playing a prime role in making the evening such a success for the organization. She was tireless in her efforts. All of the other committee members also played major roles in ensuring the success of the project including Judy Kahn, Sylvia Lask, Susan Murante, Doug Cooper and Marcia Skeete. The MHANYS staff also played a pivotal role in making sure everything went well. Samantha Phillips, the staff liaison with the Resource Development Committee spent many hours on weekends and off hours working closely with Deborah and the other members of the committee to create an event that will likely become an annual event based on the evening’s success. Several of the other MHANYS staff were also involved in helping to make things run seamlessly. Later this week, check out www.mhanys.org for pictures from the event. OMH Requests Feedback from the Community on Guiding Principles Behind Mental Health Housing and Community Supports Attached is a draft of OMH’s principles for the redesign of housing and community support policies. This is a real opportunity for those of us in the community to highlight the core values that should be defined for housing and community supports. MHANYS will be putting together a comprehensive response to the guiding principles. The timeframe for feedback is ongoing. May 7, 2007 GUIDING PRINCIPLES FOR THE REDESIGN OF THE OFFICE OF MENTAL HEALTH HOUSING AND COMMUNITY SUPPORT POLICIES Introduction: Safe, decent and affordable housing is a cornerstone of recovery from mental illness, as well as a mainstay of “the American Dream.” Stable access to good housing is a fundamental problem for many people with mental illness because of their poverty, the limited supply of very-low-income housing, the rising cost of rental market housing and discrimination. Given this context any approach to reforming housing for people with a mental illness must stress:
Additionally, to reduce stigma, assuage “community resistance” and provide opportunities for recovery and rehabilitation, housing in normal/mixed neighborhoods and settings is preferable. Unmet Needs: The unmet need for decent, safe and affordable housing--often with supports--is very substantial for people with mental illness. As a consequence of poor access to community housing, inadequate levels of mental health housing, and clinical programs that do not support people in getting/keeping housing successfully, many people with a mental illness are poorly housed or institutionalized. Thus, many people with a mental illness are “stuck” in:
Reform must balance improved access to housing for all of these individuals with the need to improve “old” models of residential care, to move toward local systems of care that can arrange, provide, and support people in housing that is appropriate to their needs and preferences at any level of recovery. Current Services: The New York State Office of Mental Health funds and oversees a large array of housing resources and residential rehabilitation programs. These resources include:
27,285 of these units are operated by not-for-profit agencies and 1,204 are State operated. In addition, 8,843 units are in development including 1,825 units of supported housing, 6,738 SRO units and 280 children’s units. These are valuable and also expensive resources that are assets for the local mental health systems throughout the State. Many of these units were developed using approaches put in place in the 1980s and early 1990s, which emphasized a “residential treatment” strategy with services and supports provided in and sometimes as a condition of housing. The New York State community-based mental health system has expanded dramatically during this time. Treatment, rehabilitation and pharmacological interventions have made great strides forward and the consumer empowerment movement has taken hold. Recovery is truly possible with the proper access to these resources. Guiding Principles: It is time, then, to revisit the structures that govern the mental health housing assets in New York. Additional flexibility is needed for this housing to be responsive to individual recipient wishes and needs, system goals and to work effectively as a tool in the creation of local systems of care that reduce institutionalization, homelessness, people stuck in acute care settings, and waste. To achieve this it is appropriate to outline guiding principles which can be used as a compass to focus these restructuring efforts. These principles include the following:
OMH will work with stakeholders (local government, consumers, family advocates, providers) to incorporate flexibility into housing funding, regulation and oversight to introduce the above stated principles into OMH funded housing. Action Implications:
We welcome comments and feedback on these principles and look forward to working with all stakeholders in this ambitious and timely effort. Please send any feedback or suggestions to:
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