MentalHealthAssociationinNewYork
State"
Inc.
GlennLiebman,CEOSylviaLask,BoardChair
MemoranduminSupport
Of
A.8793andS.6002ThePublicDefenseAct
of
2009
TheMentalHealthAssociationinNewYorkState,Inc.(MHANYS)
is
a501(c)(3)not-forprofitorganizationwith30localaffiliateMHAsserving52countiesinNewYorkState.MHANYSanditsaffiliatenetworkworktopromotementalhealthandrecovery,encourageempowermentinmentalhealthservicerecipients,eliminatediscrimination,raisepublicawarenesswitheducation,andadvocateforequalityandopportunityforall.Aspart
of
itsmission,MHANYShasmadeitagoaltoworkforthediversion
of
personswithamentalillnessfromthecriminaljusticesystemtoappropriatementalhealthtreatment.Manypersonswhofallthroughthecracks
of
thecommunitymentalhealthsystemendupwithuntreatedmentalillnessandusingstreetdrugswhichinvariablybringsthemintocontactwiththecriminaljusticesystem.AstudyreleasedbytheCouncil
of
StateGovernmentsJusticeCenterinMay
of
thisyearandconsideredthemostrigorousstudy
of
itskindinover20years,foundthat16.9%
of
personsinlocaljailssuffered
fl.'om
adocumentedseriousmentalillness.Thispercentage
is
startlinginlight
of
alessthan9%figurecitedinthelaststudywhichwasconductedusingasimilarrigorousmethodologyinthe1980s.
It
alsostandsinstarkcontrasttothegenerallyacceptedprevalencefigure
of
seriousmentalillnessinthegeneralpopulationwhichisbetween3and5
%.
Theabovefiguresareextremelytellingforthementalhealthcommunityinterms
of
whatneeds
to
bedoneinterms
of
rampingupawholearray
of
treatmentsandservices.However,italsoremindsus
of
theveryrealneedswhichexistinourjusticesystem
to
ensurethatthoseinthedefensecommunityhaveabetterunderstanding
of
mentalillnessandthementalhealthtreatmentsystem,andareprepared
to
fightzealously
to
achieveaccess
to
goodmentalhealthtreatmentfortheirclients.Asanagencywhichprovidesadvocacyformanypersonswithamentalillnesswhoarecaughtupinthecriminaljusticesystem,wehaveexperiencedthehighsandthelowsindealingwithlocalpublicdefenders.Withoutquestion,excessivecaseloadsareamajorreasonwhydefendersareunabletoprovideadiligentdefensetomany
of
ourclients.Wealsoencounteronaregularbasistoolittleunderstanding
of
mentalillnessandignorance
of
theoperations
of
thementalhealthtreatmentsystem.Insomecases,theseshortcomingshaveprovedextremelydamagingtothewelfare
of
clients.
It
isforthesereasonsthatMHANYSisanardentsupporter
of
ThePublicDefenseAct
of
2009(A.8793)(S.6002).Underthebill,anIndependentPublicDefenseCommissionwilldeveloppoliciesandproceduresandstandardsforthedelivery
of
publicdefenseservices.Eachcountyshouldberequiredtohavestaffspecificallygearedtoprovideservicesto
...
working
to
ensureavailable
and
accessiblementalhealthservices
to
allNewYorkers
194
WashingtonAvenue,Suite
415,
Albany,NewYork12210-2314Telephone:518-434-0439
Fax:
518-427-8676
www.MHANYS
.org
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