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Advocacy

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The Brain Injury Coalition’s Brain Injury Awareness Day has been announced for October 17, 2023, beginning at 10:30 am with a briefing in the main rotunda of the Capitol. A number of key legislators and members of the BI Caucus will speak at the event, including Representative Tim Briggs, Representative Ann Flood, Senator Tim Kearney, and Senator Ryan Aument. Following the briefing, there will be legislative visits, a reception from 1:00 pm – 2:00 pm, and a brain injury panel from 2:00 pm – 3:00 pm.

Additional information about the day is available here.

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Photo by CHUTTERSNAP on Unsplash

Mind Your Brain Foundation recently announced they will join forces with Beechwood NeuroRehab, a brain injury provider who is part of the Woods System of Care that provides lifelong care to individuals with traumatic brain injury (TBI), intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD), and critical mental health needs in Pennsylvania and New Jersey. This collaboration will provide information on policy and advocacy at their conference on November 4, 2023, from 8:30 am – 3:00 pm.

This conference provides an opportunity for survivors, advocates, and providers to gain the skills they need to make a difference for the other 1.7 million people who sustain a traumatic brain injury annually through collaboration, information sharing, and education so that we can collectively become a more powerful voice to improve rehabilitation services to this community.

Please contact Louise Flaig at 215-756-4674 if you need wheelchair accessibility accommodations or if you have any questions relating to this event. Additional information can be accessed at Mind Your Brain Foundation’s website as well as the registration page.

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March to Promote Increased Funding for Mental Health Initiatives

We are just days away from the March on Harrisburg, and we cannot wait to advocate alongside you and our partner stakeholders on Wednesday, September 27, 2023, on the Capitol steps at 10:30 am. The t-shirts will be green, and while we would love to have enough to go around, there is a chance we will not. Everyone is hearing the call, and the number of registrants has grown in the past week! Please consider wearing green if you have it!

Please review the agenda for the day as well as march logistics regarding getting to Harrisburg, parking, and the march route. We have some amazing and inspirational speakers joining us, including Rep. Mike Schlossberg, as we all come together and raise our voices for a united message.

The flyer includes information for registering. Registration is for planning purposes as well as to help us understand how we can better support our CSPs and individuals who may need assistance with transportation. Everyone is encouraged to join us on the day of the event, even if you do not register. We encourage you to register here. You can also follow the Facebook event page for more information.

We look forward to seeing you at the March on Harrisburg on Wednesday, September 27 at 10:30 am. If you have any questions or need to make arrangements to attend, please contact RCPA Policy Director Jim Sharp.

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March to Promote Increased Funding for Mental Health Initiatives

We are just a few weeks away from the March on Harrisburg, and we cannot wait to advocate alongside you and our partner stakeholders on Wednesday, September 27, 2023, on the Capitol steps at 10:30 am.

Please review the agenda for the day as well as march logistics regarding getting to Harrisburg, parking, and the march route. We have some amazing and inspirational speakers joining us as we all come together and raise our voices for a united message.

The flyer includes information for registering. Registration is for planning purposes (i.e., there will be limited number of t-shirts) as well as to help us understand how we can better support our CSPs and individuals who may need assistance with transportation. Everyone is encouraged to join us on the day of the event, even if you do not register. We encourage you to register here. You can also follow the Facebook event page for more information.

Stay tuned for more details about the speakers and comment cards that will be available for you to share with your legislators. We look forward to seeing you at the March on Harrisburg on Wednesday, September 27 at 10:30 am.

If you have any questions or need to arrange to attend, please contact RCPA Policy Director Jim Sharp.

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Message from the National Council for Mental Wellbeing:

This Fall is shaping up to be one of the most consequential federal legislative periods in recent years.

Lawmakers are treating the time between September and December as one of their last and best chances to pass meaningful, bipartisan legislation and secure funding for key behavioral health programs and services before the 2024 election cycle dominates the conversation.

So, it’s the perfect time for us to come together and demand our elected officials prioritize solutions to address the nation’s ongoing mental health and substance use crises.

Register Now!

Register now to join our Virtual Public Policy Institute on Wednesday, October 18. Together, we’ll embark on an afternoon of virtual advocacy where we’ll directly contact elected officials about issues like:

  • The behavioral health workforce shortage;
  • Establishing CCBHCs in federal law;
  • Expanding access to substance use care and treatment; and
  • Investing more in the nation’s crisis care infrastructure.

While great progress has been made by Congress and the Biden-Harris administration in the past few years, more must be done to ensure everyone everywhere has access to comprehensive, high-quality mental health and substance use care.

This is your time to make a difference. With your help, our unified voice will cut through the noise and ensure mental health and substance use programs are front and center during a busy legislative Fall.

We look forward to seeing you.

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At the August 2023 ISAC meeting, Self Advocates United as 1 (SAU1) presented a tribute to Carolyn Morgan, who was an inspiring self-advocate who encouraged many others to speak for themselves. SAU1 has developed a Youth Empowerment Fellowship program in memory of Carolyn, and is seeking support for this program, including financial. Their presentation is now available and can be viewed here. If you would like to support or ask questions about the program, please contact SAU1 directly.

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Message from the National Council for Mental Wellbeing:

Last week we reached out asking you to write to your congressional representatives in support of the 988 Implementation Act. We wanted to pop back into your inbox with a critical opportunity we have to expand the network connecting people to mental health and substance use care across the country.

The 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline has successfully served millions of people. But there is more work to do, and we need your support to do it. Support from you and your representative will go a long way that our crisis care system provides people in every community with someone to respond and somewhere to go if we hope to fulfill the promise of 988.

As a reminder it will only take 2 minutes to show your support. Here is why it’s paramount that your representatives support this legislation, 988 Implementation Act:

  1. Expands behavioral health workforce training programs and provides grant opportunities for local behavioral health centers;
  2. Expands Medicaid coverage for behavioral health services, including short term crisis intervention services;
  3. Increases support for mobile crisis response, ensuring that even those in rural areas have access to timely care;
  4. Creates new capital grants to be used for crisis response program facility renovation, construction, and expansion;
  5. Narrows the IMD exclusion so that services furnished in psychiatric acute care crisis beds administered by CCBHCs and other crisis care settings are eligible for Medicaid coverage; and
  6. Increases awareness of 988 through a national media campaign.

Contact your Congressional Representatives and urge them to support the 988 Implementation Act. By strengthening, and raising awareness for current resources, and building capacity at the state level for these on the ground crisis services, this legislation will make a difference, and save the lives of your friends, neighbors, and community members in crisis. Time is of the essence. Act today, and together we can strengthen the crisis care continuum.

Thank you for your advocacy.

Sincerely,
Rachel Abraham
Federal Policy and Advocacy Coordinator
The National Council for Mental Wellbeing

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Capitol hill building in the morning with colorful cloud , Washington DC.

Message from the National Council for Mental Wellbeing:

This month the National Council for Mental Wellbeing and hundreds of other organizations across the country celebrated the first anniversary of the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline, a new dialing code operated through the existing National Suicide Prevention Lifeline. With the new, easy to remember number, the Lifeline successfully served millions more people than in years prior.

Yet we still have a long way to go to ensure that our crisis care system provides people in every community with someone to respond and somewhere to go.

Recently, Representative Tony Cardenas (D-CA-29) introduced the 988 Implementation Act, bipartisan legislation that seeks to provide federal funding and support for states to enact 988 crisis services and broaden awareness of resources for those in crisis.

What is the 988 Implementation Act? 

  1. Expands behavioral health workforce training programs and provides grant opportunities for local behavioral health centers;
  2. Expands Medicaid coverage for behavioral health services, including short term crisis intervention services;
  3. Increases support for mobile crisis response, ensuring that even those in rural areas have access to timely care;
  4. Creates new capital grants to be used for crisis response program facility renovation, construction, and expansion;
  5. Narrows the IMD exclusion so that services furnished in psychiatric acute care crisis beds administered by CCBHCs and other crisis care settings are eligible for Medicaid coverage; and
  6. Increases awareness of 988 through a national media campaign.

Contact your Congressional Representatives and urge them to support the 988 Implementation Act. By strengthening, and raising awareness for current resources, and building capacity at the state level for on the ground crisis services, this legislation will make a difference, and save lives.

Time is of the essence. Act today, and together we can strengthen the crisis care continuum.

Sincerely,
Rachel Abraham
Federal Policy and Advocacy Coordinator
The National Council for Mental Wellbeing

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Individuals with intellectual disabilities and autism (ID/A), their families, and ID/A service providers held a rally on June 28 at the state Capitol to urge lawmakers to increase funding for services and support in the 2023/24 budget. Providers told those assembled in the Capitol rotunda that nearly 60,000 Pennsylvanians are at risk because there are not enough direct support professionals (DSPs) to care for them. Advocates pressed lawmakers to restore the $170 million in funding to invest into fee schedule rates to support DSPs and services.

“Across the state, we are seeing that there is insufficient staff to meet needs or no staff at all,” said Richard S. Edley, PhD, Rehabilitation & Community Providers Association president and CEO. “DSPs are overworked and depleted and have compromised their own health to serve individuals with ID/A. Program closures have eliminated essential services and also affected the health of individuals served. Underfunding a system where individuals and families are already waiting for or losing needed services simply compounds a dire situation. We need to come together to help those in need.”

View news clips and photos of those who advocated at this event for ID/A services funding below.

WENY (Lilly Broadcasting)
VIDEO: “The Collapse Is Here” Intellectual Disability and Autism Care Providers Issue Dire Warning to Pa. Lawmakers

Penn Watch (Featuring RCPA President/CEO Richard S. Edley, PhD)
“The Collapse is Here”

 

IDA Rally 06-28-23 Amy Lutz, Author and Parent, PAAL with Richard Edley, RCPA
IDA Rally 06-28-23 Crowd at Rally 1
IDA Rally 06-28-23 Crowd at Rally 2
IDA Rally 06-28-23 Carol Ferenz, RCPA with Rep Stephen Kinsey and Gloria Satriale, PAAL
IDA Rally 06-28-23 Sherri Landis, ARC of PA
IDA Rally 06-28-23 Karen Beaston Janeen Latin from UCP and Lynda Bowen
IDA Rally 06 28 23 Emmett IDA Child With Mother Elizabeth Tolis
IDA Rally 06-28-23 Signs from Rally Closeup
Sample Sign from IDA Rally 06-28-23
IDA Rally 06-28-23 Rep Patty Kim with Carol Ferenz, RCPA
IDA Rally 06-28-23 Rep Kinsey Signs Letter Supporting IDA Funds
IDA Rally 06-28-23 Amy Lutz, PAAL, Speaking to Supporters
IDA Rally 06-28-23 Karen Beasley, Parent of Child w/IDA, Addresses Those in Attendance
IDA Rally 06-28-23 Carol Ferenz, RCPA with Rep Stephen Kinsey
IDA Rally 06-28-23 Elizabeth Tolis and Child Emmett with IDA
IDA Rally 06-28-23 Signs from Rally
IDA Rally 06-08-23 Woman Addresses Crowd of Supporters
IDA Rally 06-08-23 All Speakers Were Well Received

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The ID/A Associations are continuing our advocacy for increases to the IDD budget in PA. Join us at the Capitol in Harrisburg on Wednesday, June 28 to advocate for the preservation of desperately needed services for individuals with Intellectual Disability and Autism. People with disabilities, families, and advocates will be going to legislative offices in Harrisburg, dropping off information, and asking legislators to increase funding for ID/A services.

We will begin by meeting at the East Wing entrance to the capitol at 11:00 am. From there, we will be distributing handouts for participants to deliver to various offices. Staff from all the associations will be on hand to provide guidance as needed. After visits and a break for lunch, we will gather at 1:00 pm in the rotunda for a press conference, hearing from families who are in need of supports and services for their family member(s).

This effort is imperative, as there is no longer a risk of the system collapsing. The intellectual disability system is collapsing. Thousands of people are losing services, and more will soon be added to that list due to a proposed budget reduction and a lack of investment into rates. Inaction by the legislature will only further exacerbate this crisis and leave thousands more individuals and families without services. If nothing is done to address the inadequate rates now, more families in Pennsylvania will suffer.

The budget negotiations are ongoing, and we need YOU and everyone you know to help our advocacy efforts. As the Governor and legislature continue to negotiate funding for the budget, they need to hear from constituents about the importance of the ID/A system and why investing into the rates is the only way to ensure that providers can pay their staff higher wages and attract new staff to serve more people.

If you would prefer to visit your local legislative offices, we can provide the handouts to you via email to distribute to your legislators.

Contact Carol Ferenz or Cathy Barrick to register or if you have any questions.

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