The NAMI National Convention will be held in just three weeks and I am thankful for the opportunity to be one of the presenters, along with two other advocates from Illinois and California, and the new Executive Director of the Treatment Advocacy Center, Kurt Entsminger, to talk about the advocacy efforts that I have been involved in since I first became a member of NAMI in January 2000.
I was fortunate to be a part of a very important advocacy effort, along with Charles Bechtel and Ted Burchess, that brought the first Program of Assertive Community Treatment (know as ACT or PACT) to Pennsylvania, which is located in Bucks County . As the Co-Chair of our PA Treatment Law Advocacy Coalition, along with Taylor Andrews, Esq., I will have the opportunity to talk about our current advocacy effort to change our state's assisted outpatient treatment (AOT) law through State Senator Greenleaf's proposed SB 226.
Following is information about the presentation that I will a part of, as well as information about the Crisis Intervention Training (CIT) presentation, which includes a good friend, Wendy Stewart, Executive Director NAMI Cambria County, who successfully started the first CIT in Johnstown, PA. We are fortunate that here in Bucks County, Agnes McFarlane is currently heading an effort to bring CIT to our county.
Lastly, I've also included a link to a MTV presentation by young people who have a diagnosis of schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder and their families who share their personal stories.
From NAMI National Convention 2008 Brochure:
Grand Ballroom E Workshop 3-H One Person Can Make a Difference: Learn to be a Catalyst for Change and Treatment
In this workshop, three accomplished advocates will give you a blueprint for fostering change and creating treatment in your community. The three winners of the 2007 Advocacy Award from the Treatment Advocacy Center will explain how they turned their personal desires to help loved ones with untreated mental illness into powerful grassroots efforts for the reform of laws, programs, and policies denying effective treatment in their states and counties. These three family members relate not only what they have done, but the strategies and tactics behind their successful advocacy.
❖ Karen Gherardini, mental health treatment advocate, Shattuc, IL❖ Jeanette Castello, mental health treatment advocate, Newtown, PA❖ Janice Deloof, mental health treatment advocate, Fullerton, CA❖ Moderator: Kurt Entsminger, executive director, Treatment Advocacy Center, Arlington, VA
9:45am – 12:30pm SPECIAL SESSION Salon 3 CIT – A MODEL FOR ALL COMMUNITIES
CIT programs have been established in hundred of communities in the U.S. and internationally. These innovative collaborations between law enforcement and mental health systems have saved lives and fostered linkages with the mental health system for people who require treatment, not incarceration. This special session on CIT will feature leaders of two cutting-edge and diverse CIT programs – one in a large city, the other in a rural multicounty region. The session will also feature a question-and-answer session with Major Sam Cochran, founder andcoordinator of the first CIT program in Memphis.
❖ Jeffrey Murphy, lieutenant, Chicago Police Department, Chicago, IL❖ Suzanne Andriukaitis, executive director, NAMI Greater Chicago, Chicago, IL❖ Wendy Stewart, executive director, NAMI Cambria County, Johnstown, PA❖ Officer Daniel Marguccio, police coordinator, Laurel Highlands Region Police Crisis Intervention Team, Johnstown Police Department, Johnstown, PA❖ Moderator: Major Sam Cochran, coordinator, Crisis Intervention Team, Memphis Police Department, Memphis, TN
http://www.nami.org/Template.cfm?Section=CIT&Template=/ContentManagement/ContentDisplay.cfm&ContentID=62298
If you haven't seen the MTV episodes on young adults who have a diagnosis of either schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder and their families you can find it on NAMI's home page: http://www.nami.org/ or at
http://www.nami.org/template.cfm?template=/ContentManagement/ContentDisplay.cfm&ContentID=62365&lstid=275
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