Dear Supporters, With his permission, I am sharing the below letter* to NAMI leaders written by my friend and fellow Contra Costa County advocate, Doug Dunn. I am grateful to be among such wonderful NAMI members like Doug and the members of our local affiliate. Additionally, I am sharing the final speech of the "Focus on Serious Mental Illness" ticket running for the NAMI Board of Directors. Listen to Dr. Robert Laitman, in his own voice. Thank you all for all you do! Teresa * Steve Pitman, JD, President Mary Giliberti, JD, Executive Director Ron Honberg, JD, Legislative Affairs Director National Alliance on Mental Illness 3803 Fairfax Drive, Suite 100 Arlington, VA 22203 June 9, 2017 Thoughts on NAMI 2017 Board Election Personally speaking, after carefully reading the NAMI Board letter, Pete Earley’s blogs, and DJ Jaffe’s reply, here are my thoughts and reflections on the 2017 NAMI Board elections. Foremost, NAMI must be the “focused tent” for families who are the primary caretakers of the most severely and persistently mentally ill among us. Because of its origins and history, no other organization can effectively speak for this most high cost and stigmatized group. Here is what I mean: In Contra Costa County, California, where I live, Contra Costa Behavioral Health Services (CCBHS) serves approximately 13,000 people annually. • In a very recent year, only 600 persons, or 4.26%, cost CCBHS $36M, or 55% of its $65M in reimbursed Medi-Cal and MediCare costs. • During that same time, only 181 or 30% of the 600 persons, cost $6.3M or 63% of the county hospital psychiatric ward $10.1M budget. • During this same time, only two individuals of the 181 (including our loved one) cost the system $500K in one year. Those dollars could have served at least 10 persons in Assisted Outpatient Treatment (AOT) for a full year. • Within the past year, a young adult, whose family desperately tried to get him mental health help, killed a sleeping 9 old friend in bed after being released from the county hospital with just a few hours stay. A jury recently convicted him with a 30 year to life sentence. This, despite the presiding judge admitting that the county mental health system is “inadequate” at best. These are the brutal “grass roots” realities that families of the most gravely mentally ill among us daily live with and are replicated innumerable times across America. They compelled advocates such as Karen Cohen (mother of a severely mentally ill loved one), Teresa Pasquini (mother of the other loved one costing the system $500K), Lauren Rettagliata (2017 SMI board member candidate whom I strongly support), myself, and NAMI-Contra Costa to work for 3 years to finally get Laura’s Law, California’s version of AOT, in our county. That program is finally up and running, with 32, of a projected 75, in the program. So far: • 75%, or 24 persons, enrolled have schizophrenia spectrum disorders. • The other 8 persons, 25%, enrolled have mood disorders. “At the grass roots,” this demonstrates the dire need for NAMI’s advocacy for programs that can help our gravely mentally ill loved ones. Too often NAMI board members and staffers who go from serving locally, to being elected or selected statewide and/or then nationally, can forget their “grass roots” lived experience which compelled their involvement. They can then fall under the influence of “the mental health industry” of their state capitol or of Washington, DC, whose interests are often diametrically opposed to the dire needs of persons living with a grave mental illness, and especially the families that support them. For example, during our 3 year fight to have Laura’s Law implemented in this county, Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law literature was distributed stating that anosognosia (or a person’s neurological lack of insight into living with a mental illness) is merely a patient’s disagreement with their “treating professional.” Meanwhile, on July 8, 2015, at the NAMI Convention in San Francisco, CA, Dr. Steven Adelsheim, MD, Stanford University psychiatrist, and Dr. Nev Jones, PhD, Stanford University post-doctoral fellow and a nationally known consumer, presented information showing that anosognosia is overwhelmingly proven (over 300 large scale studies in the past 25 years) in both medical and behavioral science circles. The also indicated that successive psychotic episodes can often further damage the affected person’s brain and make meaningful recovery that much harder to attain. That afternoon, Pete Earley, author of Crazy, A Father’s Search Through America’s Mental Health Madness, gave his excellent comments during a symposium discussing San Francisco’s new Laura’s Law (AOT) program. This experience illustrates the risk or partnering with “too wide of a net” on mental health issues involving our most gravely mentally ill loved ones. Partnering with entities that support treatment with services (including housing), such as the National Sheriff’s Association and the American Psychiatric Association, etc., is very helpful and necessary. However, as I have experienced both locally and at the state level, partnering with entities opposing the need for treatment with services, such as the Bazelon Center, Mental Health America, and Protection and Advocacy organizations, can do infinite harm to the most chronically mentally ill among us. As demonstrated, on the state and national level, this greatly dilutes NAMI’s effectiveness in advocating for the most severely mentally ill among us. I fully recognize each of our lived experiences with mental illness, whether as family and friends of, or those of us living with mental illness, is what drew each of us to NAMI. I also realize this addresses persons who either work or have worked or been affiliated with entities listed “in the opposition.” Bottom Line, I know all of us really care. I also know each NAMI affiliate should be the “go to” entity for a person living with and especially families of persons experiencing mental illness, regardless of its severity. However, NAMI must never forget that its core “constituency” is families who care for our most severely and persistently mentally ill loved ones. Thus, members and affiliates need to elect the SMI board candidates so NAMI, again, refocuses on being the “focused tent” for families of the most severely and persistently mentally ill among us. As a result, at its June 8, 2017 meeting, the NAMI-Contra Costa Board of Directors unanimously voted (10-0) to support the “SMI ticket” for the 2017 NAMI Board elections. Our affiliate strongly urges all other affiliates and members to do the same. We recognize that when we focus on the most severely mentally ill among us and the families that support them, “everyone counts” as we serve all with mental illness issues and concerns. Douglas Dunn NAMI-Contra Costa 1st Vice President and Director of Government Affairs NAMI Family-to-Family Teacher District 3 At-Large Mental Health Commission (east county) East County Family Member of the Consolidated Planning Advisory Workgroup (advises on county funding of California Mental Health Services Act “millionaires tax” programs). cc: Pete Earley Charles Madison – President NAMI-Contra Costa