John M. Hood Ill

PUBLIC POLICY COORDINATOR

California Network of Mental Health Clients

4512 OHIO STREET • SAN DIEGO, CA 92116  • Ph: (619) 283-5543

 

 

August 22, 1995

 

Suggested New Dimensions for the Restructuring of

THE CALIFORNIA NETWORK OF MENTAL HEALTH CLIENTS

 

I. No CNMHC paid employee should be allowed to be a Board Member of the organization. This represents a clear conflict of interest in any decision concerning salary or other job related disputes.

II. The California State government sees THE NETWORK as the voice of the "mentally ill" speaking for themselves on issues of relevance. Effective outreach must occur for new CNMHC members whose input is respected and these new members given positions of authority. Among others, the following groups ought to be solicited to become members:

A. Clients whose support experiences lie nearly exclusively within the various chapters of the Alliance for the Mentally Ill (AMI). Many of these individuals would expand THE NETWORK power base and both teach a different perspective and learn more about "client empowerment.“ Inclusion of AMI clients is vital for trying to end the feud between family members” and many members of the CNMHC.

B. Many communities have very active Depressive/Manic Depressive organizations which serve clients who are unaware of the CNMHC. Individuals in these groups ought to be wooed into NETWORK membership to widen our group’s true grassroots status. Even if including people in the CNMHC who choose ECT as an acceptable treatment option as part of their lives, we must embrace these clients and validate their opinions as competent people.

C. Emotions Anonymous and Co-Dependency Anonymous groups are important groups to approach for CNMHC membership. Some people who participate in this form of “self-help” have no other ties and we would be nearsighted to ignore them.

D. Substance Abusers, who also have a mental health diagnosis, need NETWORK opportunities to take part in activities at every opportunity.

Conservatively, one-third of the clients in California are Dually-Diagnosed. Even though much of the treatment regime for substance abusers conflicts with medication given to psychiatric patients, the CNMHC is compelled to assist in integrating their needs and empowering them. Some counties, like San Diego, will soon have no Department of Mental Health due to mixing Substance Abuse and Mental Health into a unified agency.

E. Forensics and mental health are becoming more and more an integral part of the same system. As public opinion wanes for compassionate mental health care for clients who break the law, the State Hospitals are emptying out and prisons are over crowded because they can’t get built fast enough. The CNMHC must do more than simply advocate against forced drugging during trial and while incarcerated. We need to have clients in prison on our mailing lists and get them involved in our affairs.

F. Special populations of clients (i.e. HIV/AIDS, TB positive, the homeless, prostitutes, people living in remote areas, gays & lesbians, cultural & religious minorities, physically handicapped, children & adolescents, older adults, etc.) need to be a vital part of any future planning. Even people with no clinical mental health diagnosis ought to have close ties with us. The CNMHC must join with all the disenfranchised and oppressed groups in a partnership. The poor must be of special concern to us. Unfortunately, accessing various entitlements remains a key feature for providing tolerable living situations to a large part of our Country’s population.

G. The CNMHC must find some way of getting more adult members under the age of 30 actively involved.

III. To increase the CNMHC’s revenue and give more clients added income, we need a Grant Writing and Implementation Program which is separate from all the other Programs, the Board of Directors, and the Administration. Projects ought to be as independent from established infighting as possible. I would caution that it may be easier to get a Grant than implement the requirements demanded.

IV. The CNMHC needs to take advantage of more members who will volunteer their skills until a paid position is available. These “volunteers” should have official titles and special privileges within their respective Programs and THE NETWORK.

V. The CNMHC must have a special ARTS Program which works in concert with existing ARTS groups throughout the Country. Creative activity is such a top priority among so many clients, there must be another publication in addition to THE NETWORK NEWS to accommodate the writing and drawing done by California clients. An ARTS Program of the CNMHC needs to have regional chapters in each county since paintings and sculpture are so difficult to haul around to display, and since transporting people is so expensive for client Variety Shows. THE NETWORK NEWS must continue to go out to the CNMHC membership, but ought to be on thinner paper so it will be easier to xerox and can have more pages of relevant news. The ARTS are the best way to break down some of the barriers clients feel due to stigma. “Crazy” artists and poets have existed from the beginning of time and society often accepts them as geniuses.

VI. The members of the CNMHC, and especially the Board of Directors, must learn to have a more forgiving attitude towards the formal mental health delivery system; including psychiatrists. Mainstream mental health professionals are an information and funding source which can allow clients to be transported and housed at gatherings where the clients are in charge. Even pharmaceutical companies can have their say at Statewide meetings of clients if they’re willing to pay for the opportunity to talk to us directly. Some clients are dissatisfied with their current medication and they might consider a drug treatment which may prove more to their liking.

VII. California State advisory bodies and Task Forces are begging for “high functioning” client participation. This is an opportunity for input into the design of the mental health system which makes a difference. Sometimes the contribution of clients is very influential, and sometimes not; but getting the opportunity to meet with key professionals at the top of the mental health system has proven crucial in me getting what I wanted from them.

VIII. The CNMHC needs to expand the use of FAX’s, E-Mail, and other types of rapid transfer of information while continuing to use the telephone and Post Office. Ways of reimbursing some of the cost involved with all of the above is important to getting more participation by clients on very limited budgets. Financing this project may be available in the context of education, self-help, and advocacy since these are obligations of every U.S. citizen in our democracy.

 

John M. Hood III