Bazelon Center to hold 50th Anniversary Awards Gala

 Bazelon Center Awards Gala on October 12th

Bazelon Center 2023 Annual Awards October 12, 2023 - In-Person & Virtual! TICKETS NOW AVAILABLE!

Image Description: Large, thick gold circle sits center left and small blue circle overlaps on right. Words in black overlay the gold circle and words in white are in the small blue circle. Both include information in the text below. TICKETS NOW AVAILABLE 2023 Bazelon Awards: Launching the Next 50 Years An Evening with the Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law In-Person and Virtual Gathering at The Showroom 1099 14th Street NW, Washington, DC 20005 DATE Thursday, October 12, 2023 TIME 6 PM ET - In-Person Reception 6:45 PM - Virtual Program (Livestream) COST Tickets for In-Person Reception: $100 Virtual Program: FREE We’ve reached a remarkable milestone celebrating 50 years of advancing and protecting the rights of people with mental disabilities, and we are excited to launch the next 50 years with you! Tickets are now available! In-person event tickets and donations directly support our work to advocate for solutions and build a brighter future for the full integration and inclusion of people with mental disabilities. Join us as we celebrate leaders in social justice, law, disability rights, and mental health that helped us reach milestones while, simultaneously, we set the stage for the next 50 years of advocacy that will transform the lives of generations to come. This year’s Honorees, Special Guests, and other exciting program updates will be announced soon! Join our growing list of sponsors and contact Holly O'Donnell for more information:  hollyo@bazelon.org Masks will be available. Open Captioning, ASL, and Audio Descriptions will be provided. For additional accessibility requests, email communications@bazelon.org www.bazelon.org | bazelon50.org

Mental Health Legislation Introduced to Increase Community-Based Services

Innovative Mental Health Legislation would Increase Community-Based Services for Adults with Mental Health Disabilities

At the Judge David L. Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law’s June 22, 2023 event celebrating the 24th anniversary of the decision in Olmstead v. L.C. (Lois Curtis), it was announced that New York’s Senator Kirsten Gillibrand and Congressman Daniel Goldman (D-NY-10) have proposed the “Strengthening Medicaid for Serious Mental Illness Act.” Read the press release here.

The Act would provide desperately needed mental health support to the 14 million adults in the U.S. living with a serious mental illness (SMI), such as schizophrenia, bipolar illness, and major depressive disorder. Too many individuals living with SMI are stuck in a devastating cycle moving between hospitals, jails, and housing instability due to lack of access to community-based treatment. In 2021, over 1/3 of individuals with SMI did not receive any form of mental health treatment. In New York City, a number of subway deaths have highlighted the need for access to intense and immediate mental health support. This bill creates a new package of services under Medicaid targeted specifically to individuals living with SMI, sets a national standard for SMI care, and incentivizes states to provide intensive community-based services to treat SMI.

The Bazelon Center helped shape this legislation and strongly supports the “Strengthening Medicaid for Serious Mental Illness Act,” a critical improvement to the Medicaid program. It also has been endorsed by the National Health Law Program.  The legislation, introduced on the 24th anniversary of the Supreme Court’s landmark decision in Olmstead v. L.C. (Lois Curtis), will incentivize states to provide a robust array of intensive community-based services for adults with mental health disabilities. These services - including Assertive Community Treatment (ACT), housing-related services, supported employment, peer support services, and mobile crisis services - have been proven to help individuals with disabilities live successfully in their own homes and communities. The services help people avoid unnecessary institutionalization in hospitals and other facilities, which under Olmstead constitutes disability-based discrimination. This bill will help states comply with their legal obligations and save taxpayer dollars that would otherwise pay for expensive institutional care. 

These services – including housing-related services, supported employment, peer support services, ACT, and mobile crisis services–have been proven to help individuals with disabilities live successfully in their own homes and communities and avoid unnecessary institutionalization in hospitals and other facilities, which under Olmstead v. L.C. constitutes disability-based discrimination.

Specifically, the Strengthening Medicaid for Serious Mental Illness Act would:

1.      Create a new waiver program granting Medicaid authority to provide states with an option to offer a package of services targeted specifically to individuals with SMI. The package would include:

• Assertive community treatment, an evidence-based, highly individualized team-based service designed to support adults with the most intensive mental health needs;
• Supported employment to help individuals get and keep a job;
• Peer support services from individuals who have lived or living experiences with mental health conditions;
• Mobile crisis intervention teams that can help de-escalate situations and link individuals to other community-based services;
• Intensive case management; and
• Housing-related activities and services to support individuals with transitioning to and maintaining housing.

2.      Require states to adhere to certain standards, like tracking disparities in treatment, to ensure services are delivered with care to all in need.

3.      Create a tiered Federal Medical Assistance Percentage (FMAP) increase to incentivize states to provide intensive community-based services to individuals with SMI. This means that states could receive an increase up to 25% in funds allocated by the federal government for their Medicaid programs.

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June 2023 Monthly Briefing, Judge David L. Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law, 2023.

Read the June 22, 2023 Press Release.

Read the June 22, 2023 NHeLP release.

April 28th Bazelon Center Zoom Event 

Bazelon Center Zoom Event on April 28th

Zoom Registration Link

Advancing an Alternative: Peer-led, Community-Based Services that Promote Equity and Safety for All

April 28, 2023, 1:00-2:30 PM ET

Zoom Registration Link

Description:

This webinar is part 2 of a 2-webinar Learning Community hosted by the Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law and National Disability Rights Network (NDRN) that addresses SAMHSA’s priorities of crisis stabilization, mobile crisis, and children. The learning community will focus on leveraging federal funding & policy to increase best practice community-based services that are voluntary, evidence-based, and trauma-informed.

Learning Objectives:

By the end of this workshop, participants will be able to: (1) Understand the disproportionate negative impacts of traditional crisis response systems on over reliance on the police to respond to crises involving communities and people with disabilities, including people with serious mental illness (SMI) or emotional disturbance (SED), and how solutions must be responsive to these disparities; (2) Learn how peer-led, community-based services and supports improve wellness, support communities, and protect civil rights, drawing from real-world examples of programs that have been successfully implemented; and (3) Examine current trends in state and federal policy, including challenges and opportunities to advance peer-led, community-based services for people with SMI or SED.

This is a SAMHSA-Sponsored webinar. Live closed captioning and ASL interpreters will be available.     ***Post materials will be emailed to you within a few days after the     webinar. This will include the recording link, PowerPoint slides and a certificate of attendance as we do not offer CEU credits. For questions, contact Kelle Masten via email at kelle.masten@nasmhpd.org or Paige Thomas at paige.thomas@nasmhpd.org.

Speakers

Vesper Moore: Chief Operating Officer, Kiva Centers (they/elle) Kristina Roth: Senior Policy Associate, Legal Defense Fund (she/her) Ashley Sproul: Peer Facilitator Coordinator, Kiva Centers (she/her) Monica Porter: Policy & Legal Advocacy Attorney, Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law (she/her)

REGISTER HERE

 BAZELON CENTER PRESENT BLACK DISABLED LEADERS TRIBUTE ON 2/23/23

TOMORROW Bazelon Center’s Jalyn Radziminski Joins White House Roundtable Celebrating the Contributions of Black Disabled Leaders; 2/23/23; 10:30 AM ET; Livestream.

During Black History Month, the White House and the Biden-Harris Administration will celebrate the contributions of Black disabled leaders to American history. The Administration will host a roundtable with the next generation of Black disabled young leaders, and highlight Administration actions to promote equity. Jalyn Radziminski, Director of Engagement at the Bazelon Center, evening law student at Fordham University School of Law, founder of Count Us IN and longtime social justice advocate, will be speaking at the event.   WHAT: Black History Month Roundtable with Young Black Leaders with Disabilities  WHEN: Thursday, February 23 10:30 AM ET  WHERE:  Register for the webinar.  ASL and CART will be provided. Please share with your networks! ***** Source: Bazelon Center mailing, February 22, 2023.

 Bazelon Center Develops Resources for "Housing First" Advocates

The Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law is working in coalition with housing, homelessness, veterans, and faith-based organizations to advocate for ending homelessness through the "Housing First" model. Working with this coalition, we have developed resources - posted on the National Low Income Housing Coalition's website - to help policymakers and others understand the benefits of the Housing First model, and drafted a well-received fact sheet explaining how Housing First Supports People with Mental Health Conditions. 

Under the "Housing First" model, stable, affordable, and accessible housing is provided to people experiencing homelessness quickly and without prerequisites, and voluntary supportive services are offered to help improve housing stability and well-being. "Housing First" is an effective practice that has been shown to be effective at ending homelessness, including for people with mental disabilities.  We will continue to advocate for affordable housing, fight housing discrimination, and work to expand supportive housing for people with disabilities.

Many people with mental disabilities - such as mental health, intellectual, or developmental disabilities - face various barriers to voting. A recent post on the Bazelon Center's blog included resources to help explain the voting rights of people with disabilities and how to protect them. Voting is just as important for people with disabilities as it is for everyone else. 

Read the full blog post here. Once there, you can sign up to receive new blog entries by email, or watch this space for updates.