A Little Bit of Snow Can't Silence the NAMI-NYS Advocacy Voice

You Can Still Make Your Voice Heard in Your Community and

Help Us Create A More Mentally Healthy New York State

As many of our readers know, severe weather caused the cancellation of the 2018 NAMI-NYS Legislative Advocacy Day. This was extremely disappointing as we are just a few weeks from the final budget decisions and our voice is needed to advocate for our 2018 Action Agenda and for the proper investments in services to advance mental health recovery. However, just because you were not able to join us in the Capitol, it doesn't mean your voice is silenced. Your participation is needed and we want to give you the tools to make your advocacy voice heard.  There are many opportunities to project your voice. The following is a list of ways to make yourself heard and resources to support your efforts:

ADVOCACY BRIEFING TELECONFERENCE:

NAMI-NYS is scheduling two teleconferences which will mirror the Legislative Advocacy Day orientation. These sessions will review our legislative agenda and provide tips for district meetings and answer any questions you may have. In an attempt to accommodate people's schedules we will be doing one evening call and one lunch time call. The call times will be:

Monday March 12th from 6:30-7:15pm

Thursday March 15th from 12:30-1:15pm

You can participate in the meetings by calling 712-451-1019 Access Code 400510

DISTRICT VISITS: 

NAMI-NYS has long recommended that our members visit their legislators in their districts. Visiting district offices is a great opportunity as you are my likely to meet with your legislator, you generally have more time and it allows you to build a relationship with the legislator and familiarize him/her with the work your affiliate conducts and how you can partner together. 

NAMI-NYS has created a list detailing the district office phone numbers and locations for each member who was scheduled to have a meeting as part of our Legislative Advocacy Day. We urge team leaders to schedule meetings in the next two weeks so we can make our voice heard ahead of the budget. 

Click here to view the list. The materials contained in the participant packets can be found below; we can also mail you packets to give to your legislative offices. Please email Bill Wallace to request a packet and also let him know of any meeting you have scheduled in the district.  

MAKE PHONE CALLS on KEY BUDGET ASKS:

Budget negotiations are already underway and it is imperative that our voice is heard on our key budget asks revolving around housing, insurance parity and prescriber prevails. NAMI-NYS has created a sheet instructing you to call for each issue and what to say on the call. We need to make as many calls as possible in the next week, so please take a few minutes to make your voice heard.

Click here to view our resource sheet for budget calls. 

WE NEED AFFILIATES TO SIGN ON TO OUR PRESCRIBER PREVAILS LETTER

Ensuring that people living with a psychiatric disorder receive the medication which their doctor believes to be most appropriate for their recovery has always been a leading issue for NAMI-NYS. This key part of recovery is once again threatened as Governor Cuomo's executive budget proposal omits prescriber prevails. NAMI-NYS will be sending a letter to the legislative health chairs urging them to restore this in the budget negotiations. The letter will have greater weight if all our affiliates sign on to it. We are looking for affiliate directors and presidents to sign on to the letter. We plan to deliver the letters on Wednesday, March 14th, so we ask that you email Matthew Shapiro to sign on to the letter by the end of the day on Tuesday, March 13th. 

Click here to view the letter. 

PARTICIPATE IN A SURVEY ON NON-MEDICAL SWITCHING

Click here to watch the episode featuring three of our Young Adult Network leaders,  discussing the importance of telling your story and advocacy. 

MAKE YOUR VOICE HEARD!!! #Act4MentalHealth #NAMINYSAdvocacy