CONSUMER AFFAIRS BULLETIN
Volume 4, No. 2 Spring 2000

Consumers/Survivors Attended White House Conference on Mental Health

A number of mental health consumers/survivors and advocates attended the first ever White House Conference on Mental Health - Working For a Healthier America convened this past June. The conference, convened at the White House and at Howard University in Washington, D.C., brought together consumers/survivors, providers, advocacy groups, business leaders, community mental health resources, and local, state, and national elected officials as well as leaders in mental health research, service delivery and insurance coverage.

Mrs. Tipper Gore, wife of the vice president, and the mental health advisor to the president, hosted the event and stated that the conference was to “bring mental health into the 21st century and end the stigma and discrimination that for too long have prevented people from seeking the treatment that can help them live healthy, productive lives.” Joining Mrs. Gore in the main plenary session were President Clinton, Vice President Al Gore, and First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton.

Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administrator Nelba R. Chavez, Ph.D., co-chaired a break-out session on ethnic and cultural issues in mental health service delivery, and Center of Mental Health Services Director Bernard S. Arons, M.D., co-chaired a break-out session on peer support, consumer advocacy, and recovery. Many mental health consumers and advocates attended the event. Gayle Bluebird, a mental health advocate from Florida, offered, “June 7, 1999, is a day I will never forget. I will have pictures under portraits of previous presidents and first ladies, memories of the decor, the elegance, the formality, the food, and people from all parts of the country in our mental health system who were invited to share the experience. I was truly honored to be invited. I was also proud to be among approximately 20 individuals who call themselves consumers/survivors wearing buttons stating, “Nothing About Us Without Us.” Pre-planning for the conference included the writing of a signed statement regarding our views and about what issues are important.” The consumer/survivor signed statement urged “those at the White House Conference on Mental Health to share the vision of a healing-focused mental health system that offers a wide menu of services which address the needs of the whole person in an environment of freedom, choice and equality.”

Another consumer/survivor participant said that the break-out sessions held in classrooms at Howard University offered a venue to speak up. Discussions centered around involuntary commitment and seclusion and restraint issues. Senator Joseph I. Lieberman (Conn.) and Attorney General Designate Bill Lann Lee attended this particular session.

At the conference President Clinton described several Federal initiatives designed to help Americans with mental illness, including a new campaign to fight stigma and dispel myths, the implementation of full parity for mental health coverage with general medical coverage in the Federal Employee Health Benefits Plan (the Nation’s largest employment-sponsored health plan), and a new effort to reach out to children and improve school safety.

Consumer Affairs Bulletin
Volume 4, No. 2 Spring 2000