Dear supporters, Thank you for joining our effort about #ShatteringSilence about serious mental illness. Your comments are speaking truth to power about the powerlessness the 4% living with serious mental illnesses and their families and providers often experience. It has been reported by Pete Earley that NAMI believes that we are "...a vocal but minority group..." In future updates we hope to better quantify and qualify how big our minority can be. For today, it will be the voice of one family member speaking their truth about the effectiveness of the San Francisco Assisted Outpatient Treatment Program that NAMI's Ceo, Mary Gilberti, referenced in her response to our petition as one she would be tracking. This past week the SF Chronicle posted this article on that program: San Francisco Chronicle columnist Heather Knight appears Tuesday and Friday. Email: hknight@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @hknighsf http://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/Laura-s-Law-making-a-difference-for-SF-s-10878308.php?cmpid=gsa-sfgate-result The article makes the program sound promising. However, the following comment sent to the reporter voices a different perspective: "My name is X and I have written to you many times but sadly have rarely if ever had a reply. I read your columns all the time and admire your work. I am one of the family members who has advocated for the implementation of Laura’s Law in S.F. Your article was in error. The SF Board of Supervisors has fought over Laura’s Law for 11 years, not 4. I testified back in 2003 to the Board, the Health Commission and the Mental Health Board only to be torn down by the “consumer’s union” who believe that it is a civil right to be psychotic and homeless on the streets of SF. I am a former Vice President of the SF chapter of the National Alliance on Mental Illness. I am no longer an active member because the NAMI board fought its members for over 7 years by refusing to allow us to even vote on the need for our affiliate to take a stand in favor of Laura’s Law. Hundreds of lives have been ruined because of the delay in implementation. Plus the criteria for acceptance to the program is much more difficult to meet than it is in Nevada County. A person can skip all appointments with their mental health providers but still be considered to be accepting treatment. Their case remains open for three months and then once they “officially” remove themselves from treatment there is so called outreach for another 30 days to see if the client will agree to return to treatment and at that point they can be placed into the program either voluntarily or by court order. How can they find you during those 30 days if you are wandering around homeless? It is my opinion that Mayor Lee and Barbara Garcia came around to agreeing for Laura’s Law so that they could off set the fury of parents and other advocates that were enraged by the city’s agreement allowing Sutter Health to build the new 2 billion dollar hospital without forcing them to have even one acute inpatient psychiatric bed. This was after Sutter took over St Lukes hospital and closed down 32 inpatient beds and are not replacing them in the new St Lukes. While 100 or so people have been helped by the law I believe that far more would reap its benefits if it was not limited to only those who are homeless. The entire system is broken and I wish that the Chronicle had the resources to do something like the Boston Globe’ Spotlight investigative reporting of critical issues. I am now particularly concerned about the mis use of the Mental Health Services Act funds which the city will claim is being used so effectively when in fact the 4% of those with serious and critical mental illness are left out, P.S. SF has approximately 7.5 acute inpatient psychiatric beds per 100,000 population. This includes the public and private hospitals. The city must not continue to insinuate that SRO beds are part of a mental health system or that inpatient beds are not medically necessary." In all civil rights battles, minority voices matter. WE are a mighty minority with truths to be told and we will not be silenced anymore. We are the investigative reporters who will help get the story right. We must report up. Please share, tweet and comment on this post. Thank you, Teresa