Wednesday, July 02, 2003

Suit pushes for better care of mentally ill (New York)
Albany Times-Union story - "State officials have discriminated against mentally ill people for decades by warehousing them in substandard adult homes, a lawsuit charged Tuesday. The suit -- filed by advocates for thousands of mentally ill residents -- seeks sweeping improvements in their care. It argues that the residents belong in apartments in normal neighborhoods, as mandated by the Americans with Disabilities Act, previous court decisions and the state's own policies." The suit - brought by Disability Advocates, an Albany-based nonprofit legal services organization, and a number of other orgganizations (the Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law, MFY Legal Services, New York Lawyers for the Public Interest and the Urban Justice Center) - names Gov. George Pataki and the heads of various state health departments as defendants.  
  

Corrective action: Reform work just beginning (Montana)
Montana Forum story on the the prison inmate at the heart of a court ruling "that changed the way mentally ill inmates are treated" in the state after the State Supreme Court ruled that his treatment constituted cruel and unusual punishment - "Lawyers on both sides have been developing plans for treatment of the mentally ill at Montana State Prison. The proposals were due to be in Judge Neill’s hands Monday..."  
  

NIMH grant program: Research on community integration for people with psychiatric disabilities
NIMH press release, which includes links to all required background documents and forms - "The National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) invites research grant applications for multidisciplinary/translational research, especially mixed-methods research, that will explore (a) the individual, social, and service system conditions necessary for people with psychiatric disabilities to reintegrate into community life; (b) the organizational and service system conditions necessary to enable service providers to facilitate that reintegration; and (c) the effectiveness of rehabilitation strategies and programs in helping socioculturally diverse individuals who have widely varying goals, material and social resources, and clinical needs. This research has typically been called "disability" or "psychiatric rehabilitation" research. Historically, however, this research has focused fairly narrowly on the use of services; compliance; symptom reduction; easily assessed criteria of social and vocational success; and cost. The goal of this program announcement (PA) is to encourage researchers to think beyond usual assumptions underlying "psych rehab," program fidelity, and outcomes assessment and to encourage a focus on the individuals within and outside rehabilitation programs, who must function within personal, organizational, service system, cultural, and societal boundaries to achieve a return to community life."  
  

New group home was a team project (Massachusetts)
Ipswich Chronicle story on the opening of a new group home, attended by "... town officials, mental health activists, board members and employees of the Housing Authority, environmentalists and others who collaborated to make the group home a reality."