The American Psychoanalytic Associationwww.apsa.org
For Immediate Release21 June 2001
For more information, contact: Dottie Jeffries, 202-628-6544 ([email protected])
House Minority Leader Richard A. Gephardt to give major policy speech on the future of mental health care
The National Coalition of Mental Health Professionals and Consumers ("The National Coalition") ,in sponsorship with the American Psychoanalytic Association, will hold its third national conference, "Shaping the Future of Mental Health Care: Let Your Voice Be Heard!" on Friday, June 22, 2001 from 2:00 PM to 5:15 PM at the NYU Medical Center Farkas Auditorium located on the first floor of Tisch Hospital at 560 1st Avenue (between 32nd & 33rd Streets) in New York City.
The Conference will bring together two national leaders, the Honorable Richard A. Gephardt (D-MO), the US House Minority Leader and the Honorable US Representative Patrick Kennedy (D-RI), with mental health professionals advocates, and consumers to discuss the future of mental health care in this country. Rep. Gephardt will give his first policy speech on mental health care.
"This is part of an ongoing discussion of a critical issue facing millions of Americans. We should work hard, and work together, to make sure all Americans know that mental illnesses are illnesses, with effective treatments available, and to ensure that everyone who needs it has access to treatment," remarked House Minority Leader Gephardt.
Knowing that there is no future for mental health treatment in this country without an informed public and Congress, Mr. Gephardt and Mr. Kennedy will focus attention on the lack of effective mental health care in this country.
"The archaic distinctions between mental and physical illness are unsupported by science and have caused a public health crisis in this country that largely goes unnoticed despite touching one in five Americans. We need to recognize mental health as an integral component of overall health and ensure that those who need treatment receive it. Nobody should be denied the opportunity to pursue their goals simply because their illness is unpopular," commented Rep. Kennedy.
The National Coalition believes that today there is an opportunity to create a new public consensus for real mental health care as evidence continues to increase that the rationing of mental health care under the aegis of managed care has been a failure.
"Our nation's mental health problems are far more important than people realize. Absence from work due to depression, on-the-job accidents due to stress, alcohol and drug addiction, distressed families, depressed kids, kids with guns, theft, violence, teenage pregnancy, child abuse, divorces that destroy parents and kids, behavioral problems at work and school, the seriously mentally ill being put in jail instead of treatment, white-collar crime....all these and more are mental health problems," remarks Karen Shore, Ph.D., President of the National Coalition.
She continues: "The mental health of our nation should be a primary concern. Over the past decade, managed care has virtually destroyed real mental health treatment and actually eliminated access to any real or long-term treatment. Now only the well-to-do can afford real mental health care because they don't have to rely on their insurance. It is time to rebuild this system. This conference will speak to the future of real mental health care."
Other conference speakers will examine the dire effects managed care has had on care for people with mental illness, addictive disorders, and emotional problems and discuss how a system of mental health care can be built that is pro-consumer, pro-choice, private, and most importantly effective.
Those speakers include:
Harold Eist, MD, past president of the American Psychiatric AssociationHelen H. Krackow, MSW, BCD, incoming president of NYS Clinical Social WorkSheri Larivee, consumer advocateJon Meyer, MD, Dir. Mental Health Services, Medical College of WIRobert Michels, MD, psychoanalyst and ethicist at the Hastings CenterRobert O'Harrow, Jr., The Washington PostDeborah Peel, MD, incoming president of The National CoalitionNick Unger, labor activist with the New York Central Labor CouncilKaren Shore, PhD, a founder of The National Coalition
Dr. Peel will also lead a discussion of the Inform America Campaign, the Coalition's public education initiative on the essential elements of real mental health care.
Other sponsors of the National Conference include the New York University Child Study Center (the conference host) Adelphi Society for Psychoanalysis & Psychotherapy, American Mental Health Alliance-NJ, Alliance For Universal Access To Psychotherapy, American Psychoanalytic Association, Appalachian Psychoanalytic Society, Clinical Social Work Federation, Division 39(Psychoanalysis-Div. & Sec.1) and Div.42 (Independent Practice) of the American Psychological Association, Greater Washington Coalition of Mental Health Professionals & Consumers, Illinois Coalition of Mental Health Professionals & Consumers, National Alliance for the Mentally Ill, Queens (NY), New Jersey Coalition of Mental Health Professionals & Consumers, New Jersey Psychological Association, New York State Psychological Association, New York State Society for Clinical Social Work, Suffolk County (NY) Psychological Association.
For information about registration for the conference call 1-888-SAY-NO-MC or visit www.TheNationalCoalition.org.
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