The President's Page
June 2019
Hello NAMI North Texas Members and Friends of NAMI!
I hope you were able to make it to the NAMI North Texas NAMIWalks event in Frisco on May 4th! We certainly had a large attendance and the feedback I heard from people was terrific. I would be remiss if I didn’t remind you that there is still time to donate! We haven’t reached our stretch goal yet and I would love to see that happen! We had the largest number of walkers that we’ve ever had for this walk and the largest number of teams too! Let’s see if we can pull together to bring in the highest amount of dollars raised! Remember, every dollar raised goes to providing services to the people who need them at the time they need them WHETHER OR NOT THEY CAN PAY AT THAT TIME. If you received help from NAMI at some point in time, it’s only because someone donated the funds for the training needed and class materials that were used in order to provide that help.
I’m sure that you all have heard by now that the legislative session has come to an end. The last day of session was May 27th. One of the big successes for mental health was the passage of a bill for a mental health consortium to take advantage of the expertise and capacity of certain health-related institutions of higher education to address urgent mental health challenges and improve the mental health care system in Texas. This legislation was initially in Senate Bill 10 filed by Senator Nelson. Due to an objection and procedural problem there was a crisis and we were concerned that we might lose this much needed piece of legislation. Fortunately, however, most the content of it was amended to Senate Bill 11 which had been filed by Senator Taylor along with some other mental health related legislation.
The goal of the legislation is to enhance the state's ability to address mental health care needs through collaboration of the applicable health-related institutions of higher education. The consortium will be composed of the specified health-related institutions of higher education, the Health and Human Services Commission, the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board, three nonprofit organizations that focus on mental health care designated by the applicable health-related institutions of higher education, and any other entity that the executive committee of the consortium considers necessary.
The consortium will establish a network of comprehensive child psychiatry access centers and will require such a center to be located at an applicable health-related institution of higher education that is part of the consortium. The bill requires such a center to provide consultation services and training opportunities for pediatricians and primary care providers operating in the center's geographic region to better care for children and youth with behavioral health needs.
It also authorizes a person to provide mental health care services to a child younger than 18 years of age through a program established under the bill's provisions regarding access to care only if the person obtains the written consent of the parent or legal guardian of the child. The consortium must develop and post on its website a model form for a parent or legal guardian to provide consent under this section. These provisions do not apply to services provided by a school counselor in accordance with Education Code provisions relating to developmental guidance and counseling programs, the general duties of a school counselor, or counseling regarding postsecondary education.
That was not the only bill of interest that passed the session but it is one that I knew you would be eager to learn about. More information will be coming about what changes you can expect to see as a result of changes that occurred this session.
I hope that some of you are planning to attend the NAMI National Convention that will happen in June. This year, it will happen in beautiful Seattle, Washington! If you haven’t been before, I strongly suggest going! I always have learned a lot and had a lot of fun doing it when attending this conference!
Another event that is coming up is the 2019 CIT International Conference. That also is taking place in Seattle, Washington this year. If you decide you’d like to attend that, you need to plan on it for August. That conference brings together law enforcement, mental health providers, advocacy groups and others committed to building and enhancing CIT programs in their community. This three-day conference offers over 90 workshops on implementing and sustaining a CIT program; CIT in urban, rural, and frontier communities; creating partnerships to serve children, adolescents and adults; jail and prison diversion; crisis response system solutions; and much more.
NAMI’s Scholarship Opportunity
NAMI will grant multiple scholarships to attend this conference. Recipients traveling from outside the region will receive an award for the cost of the conference registration and $1,000 to be put toward travel and hotel. Recipients who are from the region (from areas that do not require air travel, such as Washington or Oregon) will receive an award for the cost of the conference registration and $500 to put toward travel and hotel. Scholarship funds will be dispersed to the endorsing NAMI State Organization or NAMI Affiliate, who will then distribute the funds to the scholarship recipient.
Those who receive scholarships will be required to:
That’s all of the news for now. I do hope that you had a good Memorial Day, remembering those who are no longer with us. Stay dry and, until next month, enjoy your summer!
Sherry
Sherry Cusumano, RN, LCDC, MS, President of NAMI North Texas
Administrative Director of Community Education and Clinical Development
Medical City Green Oaks Hospital
7808 Clodus Fields Dr.
Dallas, TX 75251
I hope you were able to make it to the NAMI North Texas NAMIWalks event in Frisco on May 4th! We certainly had a large attendance and the feedback I heard from people was terrific. I would be remiss if I didn’t remind you that there is still time to donate! We haven’t reached our stretch goal yet and I would love to see that happen! We had the largest number of walkers that we’ve ever had for this walk and the largest number of teams too! Let’s see if we can pull together to bring in the highest amount of dollars raised! Remember, every dollar raised goes to providing services to the people who need them at the time they need them WHETHER OR NOT THEY CAN PAY AT THAT TIME. If you received help from NAMI at some point in time, it’s only because someone donated the funds for the training needed and class materials that were used in order to provide that help.
I’m sure that you all have heard by now that the legislative session has come to an end. The last day of session was May 27th. One of the big successes for mental health was the passage of a bill for a mental health consortium to take advantage of the expertise and capacity of certain health-related institutions of higher education to address urgent mental health challenges and improve the mental health care system in Texas. This legislation was initially in Senate Bill 10 filed by Senator Nelson. Due to an objection and procedural problem there was a crisis and we were concerned that we might lose this much needed piece of legislation. Fortunately, however, most the content of it was amended to Senate Bill 11 which had been filed by Senator Taylor along with some other mental health related legislation.
The goal of the legislation is to enhance the state's ability to address mental health care needs through collaboration of the applicable health-related institutions of higher education. The consortium will be composed of the specified health-related institutions of higher education, the Health and Human Services Commission, the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board, three nonprofit organizations that focus on mental health care designated by the applicable health-related institutions of higher education, and any other entity that the executive committee of the consortium considers necessary.
The consortium will establish a network of comprehensive child psychiatry access centers and will require such a center to be located at an applicable health-related institution of higher education that is part of the consortium. The bill requires such a center to provide consultation services and training opportunities for pediatricians and primary care providers operating in the center's geographic region to better care for children and youth with behavioral health needs.
It also authorizes a person to provide mental health care services to a child younger than 18 years of age through a program established under the bill's provisions regarding access to care only if the person obtains the written consent of the parent or legal guardian of the child. The consortium must develop and post on its website a model form for a parent or legal guardian to provide consent under this section. These provisions do not apply to services provided by a school counselor in accordance with Education Code provisions relating to developmental guidance and counseling programs, the general duties of a school counselor, or counseling regarding postsecondary education.
That was not the only bill of interest that passed the session but it is one that I knew you would be eager to learn about. More information will be coming about what changes you can expect to see as a result of changes that occurred this session.
I hope that some of you are planning to attend the NAMI National Convention that will happen in June. This year, it will happen in beautiful Seattle, Washington! If you haven’t been before, I strongly suggest going! I always have learned a lot and had a lot of fun doing it when attending this conference!
Another event that is coming up is the 2019 CIT International Conference. That also is taking place in Seattle, Washington this year. If you decide you’d like to attend that, you need to plan on it for August. That conference brings together law enforcement, mental health providers, advocacy groups and others committed to building and enhancing CIT programs in their community. This three-day conference offers over 90 workshops on implementing and sustaining a CIT program; CIT in urban, rural, and frontier communities; creating partnerships to serve children, adolescents and adults; jail and prison diversion; crisis response system solutions; and much more.
NAMI’s Scholarship Opportunity
NAMI will grant multiple scholarships to attend this conference. Recipients traveling from outside the region will receive an award for the cost of the conference registration and $1,000 to be put toward travel and hotel. Recipients who are from the region (from areas that do not require air travel, such as Washington or Oregon) will receive an award for the cost of the conference registration and $500 to put toward travel and hotel. Scholarship funds will be dispersed to the endorsing NAMI State Organization or NAMI Affiliate, who will then distribute the funds to the scholarship recipient.
Those who receive scholarships will be required to:
- Attend the 2019 CIT International Conference;
- Commit three (3) hours of their time at the conference to be available at the NAMI booth in the exhibit hall;
- Attend the special NAMI-focused reception at the conference; and
- Commit to participating in a call with NAMI staff to share their conference experience and discuss how NAMI can strategically engage around CIT in the future.
- Members of NAMI;
- Involved in their local CIT program OR working to create a CIT program in their community; and
- Endorsed by the executive director or board president of their NAMI State Organization or NAMI Affiliate.
That’s all of the news for now. I do hope that you had a good Memorial Day, remembering those who are no longer with us. Stay dry and, until next month, enjoy your summer!
Sherry
Sherry Cusumano, RN, LCDC, MS, President of NAMI North Texas
Administrative Director of Community Education and Clinical Development
Medical City Green Oaks Hospital
7808 Clodus Fields Dr.
Dallas, TX 75251