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Date: Tue, 8 Jun 1999 19:09:15 -0400
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Subject: NAMI E-News   White House Conference Reflects NAMI Message
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______________________________________________________________________
NAMI E-News             June 8, 1999            Vol. 99-152
______________________________________________________________________


CONGRATULATIONS TO THE NAMI MEMBERSHIP,
WHITE HOUSE CONFERENCE REFLECTS NAMI MESSAGE,
NATIONAL LEADERS EMBRACE NEEDS OF PEOPLE WITH SERIOUS BRAIN DISORDERS

As invitees endured the sweltering heat in Washington on Monday, June 7, one
thing became very apparent: the first ever White House Conference On Mental
Health, hosted by Presidential advisor Tipper Gore, was about mental illness.
Over and over again, President Bill Clinton, First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton,
Vice President Al Gore, and Ms. Gore repeated the themes that NAMI consumers and
family members have been advocating for the past twenty years.  These national
leaders invoked throughout the day the tenets of NAMI’s Campaign to End
Discrimination: mental illnesses are brain disorders, treatment works and
discriminatory policies that deny access to treatment must end.  The historic
conference marked the beginning of a new era in the advance of NAMI’s mission.

The White House Conference included most of the President’s cabinet, the Surgeon
General, over a dozen members of Congress, and mayors and administrative
officials from throughout the country.  But, as soon became evident to the
conference’s national audience, NAMI policy issues were the centerpiece for many
of their discussions.

The NAMI Board and staff would like to congratulate our consumer and family
membership and grassroots leaders for twenty years of hard work and tireless
effort communicating the concerns of people with serious brain disorders and
their families.  The values and priorities of this organization have now been
accepted at the highest levels of the government and are shaping mental illness
policy at the national level.

Prior to the conference, NAMI executive director Laurie Flynn met with Ms. Gore
and her staff to encourage and support the integration of issues that people
with serious brain disorders and their families face every day.  In a letter to
Ms. Gore, Laurie Flynn made a strong case for the inclusion of NAMI’s policy
agenda: increased funding for research of serious brain disorders, full parity
in insurance coverage in the public and private market, increased employment and
housing opportunities, access to state-of-the-art treatment (including new
medications and PACT), dual diagnosis, and the alarming trend of the
criminalization of people with serious brain disorders.  All of these NAMI
policy priorities were discussed at the conference, and now represent dominant
areas of concern for the nation.

The White House Conference also featured a series of Presidential announcements
intended to improve the welfare of people with serious brain disorders.  Among
these announcements, the President included a NAMI initiative that will require
health insurance plans participating in the Federal Employees Health Benefits
Program (FEHBP), the nations largest health care insurance program, to provide
full parity coverage for federal employees and their families.  The President
also signed an executive order last week eliminating the government’s stricter
hiring and promotion standards for people with psychiatric disabilities.

A major theme of the conference also was the stigma associated with mental
illness.  Building up to Monday’s event, the President devoted his June 5 weekly
radio address to the announcement of a nationwide anti-stigma campaign intended
to destroy the myths associated with mental illness.  Although the details of
the effort are not yet known, the initiative here too follows NAMI’s lead.
NAMI’s Campaign to End Discrimination has focused on overcoming the stigma and
discrimination by changing domestic policy that for too long has denied just
treatment and services to people with serious brain disorders and their
families.  NAMI Campaign staff and grassroots leaders throughout the country
have put forth tremendous effort in successfully getting state parity laws
enacted by several states each year and ending discriminatory policies.  Ms.
Gore is working with Surgeon General David Satcher to produce the new White
House campaign on mental illness and stigma.

All of these initiatives are a direct result of the constant and effective
communication by NAMI members and grassroots leaders.  Our collective efforts to
push this message and sharpen the debate on issues directly impacting consumers
and family members coping with serious brain disorders have succeeded.  We truly
have become the "Nation’s Voice On Mental Illness," and NAMI members should feel
proud and invigorated.

But now, the hard work really begins.  With national leaders now aligned with
NAMI’s message, we must ensure that the conference vision is translated into
effective treatment and services that too many of our loved ones still are being
denied.  We must push even harder to convert this moment into a better life for
people with serious brain disorders and their families.





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