CMHS Consumer Affairs E-News December 24, 2002 Vol. 02-97
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2002 Regional Consumer Meetings
- 2002 Year in Review -
Consumer Survivor Issues
Discrimination and Stigma
Consumer Affairs Activities
Regional Consumer Meetings
2002 REGIONAL CONSUMER MEETINGS PROVIDE IMPORTANT INSIGHT INTO CONSUMER NEEDS
Each year, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration's (SAMHSA)
Center for Mental Health Services (CMHS) sponsors a continuing series of
regional consumer meetings to hear directly from mental health
consumers/survivors in their own communities about their views on methods to
improve the publicly funded mental health system. These one-day meetings provide
a forum for consumer/survivor representatives to identify their most pressing
needs and give suggestions on how to address these concerns.
The information received from these meetings helps inform the Federal and State
mental health services planning process. Regional meetings also provide an
opportunity for consumers to convene on a regional basis to network and share
information about what they have learned in their efforts to make mental health
services more accessible and effective.
The first consumer/survivor regional meeting of 2002 was held in Chicago,
Illinois, (Region V) on May 1, and included consumer representatives from the
midwestern states of Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, and
Wisconsin. The Chicago meeting marked the sixth in the series of regional
consumer meetings. Previous meetings have been held in Atlanta, Georgia; Kansas
City, Missouri; Seattle, Washington; New York City, New York; and San Francisco,
California.
The following is a prioritized list of the needs identified at the Chicago
meeting:
1. Consumer-operated services
2. Parity
3. Consumer participation
4. Reducing stigma/discrimination
5. Housing
6. Increased funding/Medicaid reform
7. Education/training
8. Rights/involuntary treatment/seclusion and restraint
9. Affordable medications
10. Trauma
11. Criminal justice issues
12. Employment
13. Integrated treatment for co-occurring disorders
The second consumer/survivor regional meeting of 2002 took place in Denver,
Colorado (Region VIII) in August and included representatives from the states of
Colorado, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Utah, and Wyoming. The following
issues were identified as the most pressing consumer needs and concerns.
1. Affordable housing
2. Increased funding
3. Increased consumer-operated services
4. Medicaid reform to promote independence
5. Insurance parity
6. Affordable medications
7. Increased employment
8. Increased crisis services
9. Better access to services
10. Jail diversion
11. Suicide prevention
12. Increased transportation
13. Increased consumer voice
14. Social Security reform to promote independence
15. Reduced forced treatment
16. Independent living
For a copy of a regional consumer/survivor meeting summary, please contact Chris
Marshall at cmarshal@samhsa.gov.
More regional consumer meetings are in the planning stages for 2003. Tentative
sites are Region VI to be held in Dallas, Texas and include the states of New
Mexico, Oklahoma, Arkansas, and Louisiana and Region III to be held
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and include the states of Delaware, Maryland,
Pennsylvania, Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia. More
information on these meetings will be distributed when available through the
CMHS Consumer Affairs E-News.
Last Updated on
04/14/04
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