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Testimony

Sylvia Axelrod
Executive Director, NAMI New Jersey

Testimony to Senate Health and Human Services and Senior Citizens
Hearing September 26, 2005

September 26 , 2005

My name is Sylvia Axelrod. I am the Executive Director of NAMI NJ (the National Alliance on Mental Illness of NJ), a statewide education, support and advocacy program dedicated to improving the quality of life of individuals with a serious mental illness and their families.

I am here today to speak on behalf of the many family members who are constantly wary of losing their loved ones to untimely death, incarceration and estrangement as a result of untreated mental illness. We see involuntary commitment to outpatient treatment as a much needed option and therefore support S2760.

My testimony specifically addresses the need to include in this bill a provision that addresses the involvement of those family members who provide care and support for a loved one who is being assessed by a screening center when involuntary commitment to treatment seems necessary.

Over 60% of persons diagnosed with a serious mental illness, including those discharged from psychiatric hospitals, receive residential care not from a paid provider but their families. A paid residential provider is presumed to be part of the treatment planning process in order to ensure the delivery of quality service and good coordination of care.

When family members provide residential care they are not included in treatment planning. They are often not even informed about aspects of the treatment plan that are crucial for a family caregiver to know if they are to understand and support their loved ones treatment plans and goals.

Family members may not even be given the opportunity to provide relevant information to treatment providers concerning the behaviors and reactions they observe that are clear warning signs of an increased likelihood of their loved one becoming a danger to themselves or others.

This legislation should ensure that it is an obligation of the screening center to obtain relevant information from family members of persons being assessed for commitment to involuntary treatment. This is consistent with best treatment practices that consider family involvement and support essential to promoting recovery.

This legislation should make it mandatory to involve family members in the development of the treatment plan if the family will be providing the residential care or other significant support for a person involuntarily committed to an outpatient setting. Any decision to involuntarily commit a person to an outpatient setting that includes living with his/her family should not be approved by the court unless it is clear that the family providing residential care was involved in the development of the treatment plan along with the outpatient treatment providers.

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