Hello Friends Once again our so called political leaders are placing our mental health system on the chopping block. Another smokescreen masterminded by Senator Frist and company designed to make it appear like things are getting better when actually, things are getting much worse. We need to all get together and write to these congressional leaders and tell them that we don't like their ideas about how to deal with mental illness in this country. I consider Bill Frist to be the single most dangerous man in political office when it comes to human rights and the mentally ill. Remember, he is the one who slipped a bill, attatched to a 1,500 page defense budget bill, that completely relieved drug companies of any liability for damages caused by their drugs. This bill was aimed specifically at the families suffering from the results of lead in childhood immunizations that cause autism. Now, all of the victims of this atrocity have no legal recourse. Basically, the pharmacuetical companies have a license to injure and maim our children in the name of profit. Please read this latest update that I just recieved from NAMI and get involved. Please write a letter to your state reps and senators and ask them to help our mentally ill, not hurt them. April 26, 2006 Senate Health Insurance Legislation Places State Parity Laws At Risk Legislation now before the U.S. Senate would place at risk the 39 existing state laws that require health plans to cover treatment for mental illness on the same terms and conditions as all other illnesses. The legislation, known as the Health Insurance Marketplace Modernization and Affordability Act (S 1955), is intended to make health insurance more affordable to small employers. While NAMI supports this laudable goal, the bill includes provisions that would allow most employers to offer health plans that do not have to comply with existing state parity requirements. S 1955 was reported by the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee on March 15, 2006. It may called up before the full Senate sometime soon. If the bill remains in its current form -- and allows for a massive new loophole for health plans to avoid compliance with mental illness insurance parity laws -- NAMI will continue to oppose it. Read the letter from the Mental Health Liaison Group to Senate leadership. NAMI Needs Your Support! Help us to continue helping others. NAMI offers several ways to contribute in support of our programs and services. Please make a donation to NAMI now! Mental Health Liaison Group April 12, 2006 The Honorable Bill Frist, M.D. The Honorable Harry Reid Majority Leader Minority Leader U.S. Senate U.S. Senate Washington, DC 20510 Washington, DC 20510 Dear Senators Frist and Reid: The undersigned organizations in the Mental Health Liaison Group are writing in opposition to the Health Insurance Marketplace Modernization and Affordability Act of 2005, S. 1955. All of our organizations share Chairman’s Enzi’s concern with taking action to address the needs of the many millions of uninsured Americans, but we believe this controversial legislation would on balance, do too much harm to the coverage of the many millions of Americans each year who require mental health care. Specifically, this bill would preempt state insurance laws, not just in the small group market (as is done by Association Health Plan legislation), but also in the individual and large group markets. S. 1955 would thwart years of state-level efforts to ensure that consumers have adequate health and mental health coverage. S. 1955 would create a federal ceiling on consumer protections that would undermine carefully crafted protections offered to consumers in virtually every state. Most importantly, the bill would have the effect of repealing state laws that have been enacted to ensure that consumers have access to adequate mental health benefits. The bill would preempt state benefit, service and provider mandate laws that states have adopted to ensure that consumers have adequate health and mental health benefits. · As approved by the HELP Committee on March 15, an insurer must meet only a single requirement – that offers wholly inadequate protection -- in order to bypass a state’s mental health and other benefit protections. That is, the insurer must offer consumers, as an alternative to an even more limited health plan option, the option of a plan that resembles one offered to state employees in one of the five most populous states. As such, given the variability among applicable state offerings, beneficiaries could find themselves with only the most limited of mental health benefits (to include a high deductible plan with virtually no outpatient mental health coverage). · This bill would sweepingly override the work of 39 state legislatures that have passed mental health parity laws aimed at preventing discriminatory coverage of mental health services, and in doing so, would leave residents of those states without the protection those laws have afforded them. And, 32 state minimum mental health benefit mandate or mandated offering laws would also be preempted. These laws ensure that consumers have some level of coverage should mental health disorders arise. National organizations representing consumers, family members, advocates, professionals and providers c/o Peter Newbould, American Psychological Association Practice Organization, 750 First Street, NE, Washington, DC 20002 Senators Frist & Reid April 12, 2006 Page 2 · Under this legislation, state incentives to enact laws in the future and be laboratories for healthcare innovation would be undermined because states would lose their ability to protect large segments of their own residents. · For what is expected to become many millions of insureds covered under federally prescribed rating rules, S. 1955 also would preempt stronger state laws that limit the ability of insurers to vary premiums based on health status, age, gender and geography. For many older and sicker residents, this would price them out of the health insurance market, undermining the very purpose of the legislation. Furthermore, the bill imposes on all the states an outdated model law created by the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC), rather than using the NAIC’s current model standard that is more protective. A bill that preempts over 1,000 state laws for millions of insureds warrants much closer review before it is approved on the Senate floor. There is no evidence how this bill will affect premiums across all insured groups or whether it will increase the number of Americans with adequate health insurance. As we have found through analysis of the federal AHP legislation, a proposal that purports to provide more affordable and expanded coverage sometimes can fail to do what it claims and even make existing access and cost problems worse. While the sponsors of S. 1955 have made a sincere effort to address shortcomings of the AHP legislation, their solution would make things worse by endangering the quality of health and mental health care for the 68 million Americans in state-regulated group health plans and 16.5 million with individual coverage. We urge your opposition to this legislation. Sincerely, Alliance for Children and Families American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry American Association for Geriatric Psychiatry American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy American Association of Pastoral Counselors American Association of Practicing Psychiatrists American Counseling Association American Group Psychotherapy Association American Nurses Association American Occupational Therapy Association American Psychiatric Nurses Association American Psychoanalytic Association American Psychological Association American Psychotherapy Association Anxiety Disorders Association of America Association for the Advancement of Psychology Senators Frist & Reid April 12, 2006 Page 3 Association for Ambulatory Behavioral Healthcare Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law Children and Adults with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder Clinical Social Work Federation Clinical Social Work Guild 49, OPEIU Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance Eating Disorders Coalition for Research, Policy & Action Federation of Families for Children’s Mental Health NAADAC, The Association for Addiction Professionals National Alliance on Mental Illness National Association for Children’s Behavioral Health National Association for Rural Mental Health National Association of Anorexia Nervosa and Associated Disorders -- ANAD National Association of County Behavioral Health and Developmental Disability Directors National Association of Mental Health Planning & Advisory Councils National Association of Social Workers National Council for Community Behavioral Healthcare National Disability Rights Network National Mental Health Association Suicide Prevention Action Network USA Therapeutic Communities of America Tourette Syndrome Association U.S. Psychiatric Rehabilitation Association May a smile follow you to sleep each night ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,and be ther waiting, when you awaken. Sincerly, Bill Vanderbilt Mental Health Forums http://community.adlandpro.com/forumShow.aspx?ForumID=8212 http://community.adlandpro.com/forumShow.aspx?ForumID=8259 http://community.adlandpro.com/forumShow.aspx?ForumID=11791 Business Opportunities Probuilders has to be the best opportunity on the entire internet. Here is my link. Go check it out for yourself. http://billyvan.probuilderplus.com/

Hello Friends Once again our so called political leaders are placing our mental health system on the chopping block. Another smokescreen masterminded by Senator Frist and company designed to make it appear like things are getting better when actually, things are getting much worse. We need to all get together and write to these congressional leaders and tell them that we don't like their ideas about how to deal with mental illness in this country. I consider Bill Frist to be the single most dangerous man in political office when it comes to human rights and the mentally ill. Remember, he is the one who slipped a bill, attatched to a 1,500 page defense budget bill, that completely relieved drug companies of any liability for damages caused by their drugs. This bill was aimed specifically at the families suffering from the results of lead in childhood immunizations that cause autism. Now, all of the victims of this atrocity have no legal recourse. Basically, the pharmacuetical companies have a license to injure and maim our children in the name of profit. Please read this latest update that I just recieved from NAMI and get involved. Please write a letter to your state reps and senators and ask them to help our mentally ill, not hurt them. April 26, 2006 Senate Health Insurance Legislation Places State Parity Laws At Risk Legislation now before the U.S. Senate would place at risk the 39 existing state laws that require health plans to cover treatment for mental illness on the same terms and conditions as all other illnesses. The legislation, known as the Health Insurance Marketplace Modernization and Affordability Act (S 1955), is intended to make health insurance more affordable to small employers. While NAMI supports this laudable goal, the bill includes provisions that would allow most employers to offer health plans that do not have to comply with existing state parity requirements. S 1955 was reported by the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee on March 15, 2006. It may called up before the full Senate sometime soon. If the bill remains in its current form -- and allows for a massive new loophole for health plans to avoid compliance with mental illness insurance parity laws -- NAMI will continue to oppose it. Read the letter from the Mental Health Liaison Group to Senate leadership. NAMI Needs Your Support! Help us to continue helping others. NAMI offers several ways to contribute in support of our programs and services. Please make a donation to NAMI now! Mental Health Liaison Group April 12, 2006 The Honorable Bill Frist, M.D. The Honorable Harry Reid Majority Leader Minority Leader U.S. Senate U.S. Senate Washington, DC 20510 Washington, DC 20510 Dear Senators Frist and Reid: The undersigned organizations in the Mental Health Liaison Group are writing in opposition to the Health Insurance Marketplace Modernization and Affordability Act of 2005, S. 1955. All of our organizations share Chairman’s Enzi’s concern with taking action to address the needs of the many millions of uninsured Americans, but we believe this controversial legislation would on balance, do too much harm to the coverage of the many millions of Americans each year who require mental health care. Specifically, this bill would preempt state insurance laws, not just in the small group market (as is done by Association Health Plan legislation), but also in the individual and large group markets. S. 1955 would thwart years of state-level efforts to ensure that consumers have adequate health and mental health coverage. S. 1955 would create a federal ceiling on consumer protections that would undermine carefully crafted protections offered to consumers in virtually every state. Most importantly, the bill would have the effect of repealing state laws that have been enacted to ensure that consumers have access to adequate mental health benefits. The bill would preempt state benefit, service and provider mandate laws that states have adopted to ensure that consumers have adequate health and mental health benefits. · As approved by the HELP Committee on March 15, an insurer must meet only a single requirement – that offers wholly inadequate protection -- in order to bypass a state’s mental health and other benefit protections. That is, the insurer must offer consumers, as an alternative to an even more limited health plan option, the option of a plan that resembles one offered to state employees in one of the five most populous states. As such, given the variability among applicable state offerings, beneficiaries could find themselves with only the most limited of mental health benefits (to include a high deductible plan with virtually no outpatient mental health coverage). · This bill would sweepingly override the work of 39 state legislatures that have passed mental health parity laws aimed at preventing discriminatory coverage of mental health services, and in doing so, would leave residents of those states without the protection those laws have afforded them. And, 32 state minimum mental health benefit mandate or mandated offering laws would also be preempted. These laws ensure that consumers have some level of coverage should mental health disorders arise. National organizations representing consumers, family members, advocates, professionals and providers c/o Peter Newbould, American Psychological Association Practice Organization, 750 First Street, NE, Washington, DC 20002 Senators Frist & Reid April 12, 2006 Page 2 · Under this legislation, state incentives to enact laws in the future and be laboratories for healthcare innovation would be undermined because states would lose their ability to protect large segments of their own residents. · For what is expected to become many millions of insureds covered under federally prescribed rating rules, S. 1955 also would preempt stronger state laws that limit the ability of insurers to vary premiums based on health status, age, gender and geography. For many older and sicker residents, this would price them out of the health insurance market, undermining the very purpose of the legislation. Furthermore, the bill imposes on all the states an outdated model law created by the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC), rather than using the NAIC’s current model standard that is more protective. A bill that preempts over 1,000 state laws for millions of insureds warrants much closer review before it is approved on the Senate floor. There is no evidence how this bill will affect premiums across all insured groups or whether it will increase the number of Americans with adequate health insurance. As we have found through analysis of the federal AHP legislation, a proposal that purports to provide more affordable and expanded coverage sometimes can fail to do what it claims and even make existing access and cost problems worse. While the sponsors of S. 1955 have made a sincere effort to address shortcomings of the AHP legislation, their solution would make things worse by endangering the quality of health and mental health care for the 68 million Americans in state-regulated group health plans and 16.5 million with individual coverage. We urge your opposition to this legislation. Sincerely, Alliance for Children and Families American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry American Association for Geriatric Psychiatry American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy American Association of Pastoral Counselors American Association of Practicing Psychiatrists American Counseling Association American Group Psychotherapy Association American Nurses Association American Occupational Therapy Association American Psychiatric Nurses Association American Psychoanalytic Association American Psychological Association American Psychotherapy Association Anxiety Disorders Association of America Association for the Advancement of Psychology Senators Frist & Reid April 12, 2006 Page 3 Association for Ambulatory Behavioral Healthcare Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law Children and Adults with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder Clinical Social Work Federation Clinical Social Work Guild 49, OPEIU Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance Eating Disorders Coalition for Research, Policy & Action Federation of Families for Children’s Mental Health NAADAC, The Association for Addiction Professionals National Alliance on Mental Illness National Association for Children’s Behavioral Health National Association for Rural Mental Health National Association of Anorexia Nervosa and Associated Disorders -- ANAD National Association of County Behavioral Health and Developmental Disability Directors National Association of Mental Health Planning & Advisory Councils National Association of Social Workers National Council for Community Behavioral Healthcare National Disability Rights Network National Mental Health Association Suicide Prevention Action Network USA Therapeutic Communities of America Tourette Syndrome Association U.S. Psychiatric Rehabilitation Association May a smile follow you to sleep each night ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,and be ther waiting, when you awaken. Sincerly, Bill Vanderbilt Mental Health Forums http://community.adlandpro.com/forumShow.aspx?ForumID=8212 http://community.adlandpro.com/forumShow.aspx?ForumID=8259 http://community.adlandpro.com/forumShow.aspx?ForumID=11791 Business Opportunities Probuilders has to be the best opportunity on the entire internet. Here is my link. Go check it out for yourself. http://billyvan.probuilderplus.com/

Hello Everyone The following article does little to instill hope into the hearts of those dealing with a mental illness. Hopefully though, it will instill a sense of committment into the hearts who could do something to change this mental health system of ours. Reginald T. Dogan @PensacolaNewsJournal.com If it is true that a society is judged by the way it treats its most vulnerable members, we are falling way short in how we treat our mentally ill. The abysmal treatment of the mentally ill in our nation's jails and prisons -- Escambia County is no exception -- is reprehensible. The unfortunate death last week of Jerry Preyer, a 45-year-old mentally ill Escambia County Jail inmate, should serve notice on the public about mental health and criminal justice systems. It also should galvanize the community to action. Preyer's death comes after a Florida Department of Law Enforcement investigation and subsequent Escambia County judge's ruling that cleared jail officers of criminal acts in the death of another mentally ill inmate, Robert Boggon, who was found dead in a restraint chair on Aug. 29, 1995. Did the Escambia County Jail learn nothing from Boggon's death? Where is the community outrage? Who will step up and bring attention to the growing crisis of the mentally ill in our jails and prisons? We live in a community of generous people, who willingly and ably use their time, talent and energy to help the less fortunate. In the aftermath of Hurricane Ivan, community leaders set up Rebuild Northwest Florida to aid in the recovery. To combat child abuse and provide a sanctuary for abused children, we raised money to build Gulf Coast Kid's House. For abused women, we have FavorHouse. Who will take on the cause of the mentally ill, who are seemingly lost and abandoned in our prisons and jails? Even dogs and cats have laws to protect them from abuse and mistreatment. And there's no shortage of advocates speaking up for the four-legged creatures. The mentally ill desperately need advocates to demand changes and improvements in the ways that they are apprehended, locked up and all too often mistreated. Can we depend on elected officials to pass new laws and regulations? Can we rely on our law enforcement and mental health officials to devise plans and procedures to deal with the growing problem? The National Alliance on Mental Illness estimates that there are 300,000 people suffering from mental illness in state and federal prisons and 70,000 such people in state psychiatric facilities. The organization also estimates that seriously mentally ill inmates now account for 15 percent of the prison population, including people with such diagnoses as borderline personality disorder, delusional disorder or bipolar disorder. In other words, the correctional system has become the biggest psychiatric hospital in the world. The tragic deaths of Preyer and Boggon send the unequivocal message that people who suffer from mental illness deserve community-based treatment, not incarceration and mistreatment in jail. While mental illness is a health issue, it is being viewed increasingly through a law enforcement lens. Until laws are enacted to protect mentally ill inmates, jail officials need special training to deal with them. By legal standards, mentally ill people are not responsible for their actions. By community standards, we have the responsibility to ensure that they get the protection and humane treatment they deserve and need. May a smile follow you to sleep each night,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, and be there waiting,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, when you awaken. Sincerly, Bill Vanderbilt Mental Health And Political Forums Respectively http://community.adlandpro.com/forums/8212/ShowForum.aspx http://community.adlandpro.com/forums/9637/ShowForum.aspx Great New Product And Biz Op. Came to me highly recommended by a very good friend. I am just starting and I will keep you all informed as to progress. It really looks good. Here is my link http://www.aatcm.com/billdaddy

Hi Bill No, you are correct....not much hope here...it just seems as if the whole world is going backwards in every area of life. Yes, our jails and prisons are filling up with people with mental health problems...AND in my opinion,(now don't anyone hit me)I believe that they are creating mental health issues in people that were never afflicted by the "punishment" techniques used during these stays. There are more cruel and inhumane punishments going on in jails and prisons than I care to even think about. Before I ever knew my son had a mental illness, I just assumed he was a drug addict. My whole family believed this. The police, DA's, judges, attorneys all thought the same thing. Until one day in 2002 he was sentenced to an in-house, lock-down 12 month drug treatment program who happened to have some very astute people working for them and one of them recognised that my son, just may have a mental illness...so the testing began, and the medication sampling was done and after awhile, he was more normal than I ever saw him. As I became more and more involved with his recovery, it became more and more obvious to me that he had had this affliction for quite awhile as I started to recall little things in his past that I never gave thought to them having anything to do with him having a mental illness. I just thought it was wacko meth behavior...Of course he never said anything, as I am sure he didn't have a clue either. When he discovered street drugs for awhile he was fine because the street drugs were a form of self medication. We had to learn all of this and I am more than grateful to the team of professionals who finally saw his illness as it really was. But my point being, the law community didn't see it this way, and would just lock him up, taking yet another hopeless drug user off the streets...then he couldn't get his street drugs and would act out with all sorts of weird behaviors so they would punish him. One day they threw him in the hole for over 30 days and from that point on...he was never, ever, the same. It was after that his illness escalated...it was after that the voices got bigger and angrier and louder...No one will ever tell me it didn't have an effect on him. Everytime I hear a story such as this one, I consider Jeff, one of the lucky ones...as they didn't kill him and very well could have. But I am not helpless, like you, I write the letters, I support NAMI, I try to make my voice be heard, and I hope and pray if I shout loud and long enough maybe one more life could be saved. Thank you Bill for your dedication to this subject...I have learned more than you know from your forums. Love and Peace, Julia

Hello Julia You know, my heart really goes out to you. For two reasons really. One, because of all that you have been through with your son. All that you have endured" together" with your son. Also, my heart goes out to you because your heart goes out to so many others. Many people with circumstances such as yours have a tendency to isolate themselves. They hide their child from the world out of fear of being chastised or at least criticized. Sometimes they isolate themselves from the outside world because they feel guilty or ashamed. As if somehow they were responsible for their child being so different. The sadest part of all of this is that these types of behaviour are not at all unwarrented. The truth of the matter is , if you do take your child into the outside world, you most likely will be chastised and criticized. The feelings of guilt and shame are very real too because most likely you have been told by someone that if you were a better parent, your child wouldn't be like this. It is called stigma and it is one of the biggest hurtles preventing many people from receiving or even seeking help. Stigma is the result of either no information or misinformation. So many times I have heard from mothers who were at the grocery store or some place with their " mentally Ill" child and the child acts up in some way that is not familiar to others around at the time. Someone steps forward and makes the statement " all that kid needs is a swift kick in the ass and that would straighten him right out". In my opinion it is the person making this statement who needs a swift kick. Not a kick in the ass though but a kick in the head that comes in the form of knowledge. Educating the general public is a crucial step towards ending the stigma that is so much a part the daily lives of those with a mental health issue. A few years back I was honored with the opportunity to come up with a theme and title for an annual mental health conference at Torrence State Hospital in PA. I was also a keynote speaker at that conference. My theme was stigma. We titled the conference I.T.T.C.E. Integrated treatment through community education.My point was that if we were to ever reach an acceptable level of treatment within our mental health system, we would have to educate those outside of the system. The community, which includes the neighbor down the street,local police and medical personell, local political leaders and members of congress as well. There are treatments available that will help those with a mental illness but what does it matter to those who aren't aware of these treatments.What does it matter if people are afraid to seek these treatments because of the stigma and discrimination attached to mental illness. What does it matter if someone is screaming out for help and nobody hears them. There are 50,000,000 people in the U.S with a mental illness and most of them are not receiving any treatment at all. Some of them are behind bars. Many are homeless but most importantly, all of them could be helped in some way with treatment. You would think that 50,000,000 people screaming at the same time could be heard around the world but they are not. Is it because they are not screaming or, is it because their voices are landing on deaf ears. May a smile follow you to sleep each night,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, and be there waiting,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, when you awaken. Sincerly, Bill Vanderbilt Mental Health And Political Forums Respectively http://community.adlandpro.com/forums/8212/ShowForum.aspx http://community.adlandpro.com/forums/9637/ShowForum.aspx Great New Product And Biz Op. Came to me highly recommended by a very good friend. I am just starting and I will keep you all informed as to progress. It really looks good. Here is my link http://www.aatcm.com/billdaddy