MENTAL

HEALTH
ADVOCACY
TOOLKIT:
NAMI
Your Guide to Advocacy
Sue Ram, Occupational Therapy Doctorate Student

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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduction.4
Advocacy 101. 9
Engage.....18
Federal..22
State...30
Conclusion..33
Resources.34

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I alone cannot change the
world, but I can cast a stone
across the waters to
CREATE many ripples.
Mother Teresa

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 Introduction
Our goal at NAMI is to ensure
that people with mental
illnesses are able to receive the
compassionate and optimal
care by making strides toward
empowerment, awareness, and
engagement.

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Who We Are
NAMI, the National Alliance on Mental Illness,
is the nations largest grassroots mental health
organization dedicated to building better lives
for the millions of Americans affected by
mental illness. What started as a small group of
families gathered around a kitchen table in
1979 has blossomed into the nation's leading
voice on mental health. Today, we are an
association of hundreds of local affiliates, state
organizations and volunteers who work in your
community to raise awareness and provide
support and education that was not previously
available to those in need.

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What You Can Do
Participate
Register and raise funds for your nearest NAMI walk or other
NAMI events

Advocate
Participate in events such as the NAMI National Convention or
write letters to legislators

Volunteer
Seek out your local NAMI chapter for volunteer opportunities or
help out at a support group or local event

Join
Become a member of NAMI by registering online in order to
receive the latest news and events

Donate
NAMI is the nations largest grassroots mental health advocacy
organization, donate on the website or participate in events to
raise money to keep NAMI able to help others in need, or donate
in memory of a loved one who was impacted by mental illness

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Mental Health Advocacy and Purpose

NAMI wants to work with you because

you are a valuable resource because
your voice and your story makes a
positive impact on policymakers
By sharing your story about how mental illness has
affected either you or a loved one, you can help elected
officials make resources available to all and treatments
accessible.

This Advocacy Toolkit has been created for a large

audience and is a great resource for any individual who is
interested in advocating for mental health. This toolkit will
educate, engage, and empower you to make your voice
heard where it matters most. Please use this toolkit to
guide you in the process of making a difference.

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"Recovery is based upon the
empowerment of the
survivor and the creation of
new connections. Recovery
can take place only within
the context of relationships;
it cannot occur in isolation."
Judith Lewis Herman M.D.

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 ADVOCACY 101
Types of Advocacy
PERSONAL
Represent and speak up for your loved ones and yourself by becoming
informed on current issues so that you are able to make informed
decisions that can help you live a happy and healthy life.

COMMUNITY
Represent the rights of your community and their interests. Join a local
NAMI advocacy group or help in creating one to bring the community
together. Work together to build a strong community bond and raise
awareness together

MEDIA
Increase public awareness by making infographics, flyers, or posting on
social media about topics and changes in legislature or in the news that
you care about. Follow NAMIs social media pages to receive regular
updates.

LEGISLATIVE
Reach out to elected officials at the local, state, or federal level by sending
letters, emails, or by calling by telephone. Inform them about your story
and educate them on what you need them to support us on.

POLICY
Speak out on policy changes in laws, rules, and other regulations. This can
be by supporting your view on a topic on a federal level or even a new rule
at your workplace.

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Do you know others who might be or are
passionate about mental health issues?
Family members (e.g. parents, siblings, grandparents)
Friends
Members of other community organizations you are
involved with
Work and school colleagues
Parents and teachers at your childs school
Professors and university students (especially those
in public policy, psychology, and public health
programs)
Healthcare professionals
Members of the media
Ask them if they are willing to be a part of your advocacy efforts.

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 YOU AND ADVOCACY
Why should you do it?

Are you or a loved one affected by mental illness?

Are you unable to work or live fully on a daily basis
because of mental illness?
Are you affected by high costs of medication and
other treatment?
Do you want to find better treatments at a lower
cost?
Do you want to see an end to negative stigma
surrounding mental illness?
Have you lost someone close to you because of
mental illness?
Do you believe there should be more resources
available to all communities?

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 FEDERAL: If you want to address your concerns at
the federal level, you should contact your
representative in the U.S. Congress and your two U.S.
senators. You can also reach out to the president of
the United States, who heads the executive branch of
the federal government.

STATE: If you want to address your concerns at the

state level, you should contact your state legislators.
Every state (except Nebraska) has a bicameral
legislature with both a House and a Senate. The
governor of each state heads the executive branch.

LOCAL: You can notify your local elected officials if

you want to address a concern at the community or
county level.

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 Set Goals
It can be challenging to figure out how exactly to start advocating for
something. It is even more challenging to pass bills into law. You do not
have to do everything on your own. Form a group of others who have the
same passion for advocacy that you do and work together to take your
cause further. Without elected officials knowing your story, they have no
way to know what daily challenges those with mental illness face.

Once you know the focus of your advocacy work, outline goals and list
steps.

Reach out to state-based patient advocacy and provider groups,

volunteer to work with them on your selected issues.
Determine which members of the state legislature care about access
to medications and treatment interventions and form relationships
with them.
Find comparable legislation that may have been enacted in other
states and meet with members of the legislature who may be
interested in introducing a bill that is similar.
Research statistics on mental illness specific to your state, such as
how many people have it, what populations, who is at risk, and what
the cost is
Reach out to media outlets to cover issues with access to care for
people with mental illnesses.
Tell your personal story, be brave.
Work with members of nonprofit organizations to gold briefings with
the state legislature on your issue.

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 Do Your Homework
Do your homework and research before contacting your elected officials or
before meeting with them (or their staff) in person. Here are some ideas to
get you on the right track:

Who are your elected officials? This information is

made public and can be found by a simple internet
search
What political party do they belong to? Are they
Democrats, Republicans, or Independents?
How do they feel about certain issues and where do
they stand on mental health-related topics?
Have they supported bills in the past that help those
with mental illnesses?
Is mental health one of their priorities?
How does your issue affect people who your elected
officials represent?
Do they know the statistics on mental illness in their
city or state?

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 Prepare Your Position
You will need to prepare yourself to discuss issues with your elected
officials. They will want as much information from you as you can provide.
This will allow them to make informed decisions when the time comes to
pass or reject a bill.

What issue(s) do you care about and want your

elected officials to address?
Why do you care about the issue? Do you have a
personal story?
Why should they care and how does it affect others?
Is there data and evidence to support your issue?
Are there other advocates and organizations who
feel the same way as you do on the issue?
Will it cost money? How much? Where will it come
from?

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 How Will You Advocate?
Personal Community Media Legislative Policy
Ask about your
family history

Write a letter to

the editor
Contact your

elected officials
in support of
legislation
Encourage
family, friends,

and neighbors
to take care of
themselves
Stay up-to-date

on mental
health-related
legislation at
state and
federal levels
Work with your
local

government
agency to make
resources
accessible
Stay up-to-date
on news stories

and use social

media to inform
and educate
others

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 NAMI fights to ensure that
people who are not
experiencing recovery, but
instead cope with
hardships such as
homelessness, substance
abuse and incarceration,
receive every support
possible to put them on
the path to recovery.

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Engage
Engaging in advocacy does not
have to be difficult!

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Publication Letters
Elected officials want to hear from you. Next will be tips and sample
letters to aide in learning how to effectively communicate with them,
while also achieving your foals of advocating,

Letters to the Editor versus Op-Eds

A letter to the editor is similar to an op-ed, but they are used for
different reasons. For example, a letter to the editor is a short letter that
is usually in response to a story in the news, typically about 200 words
or 2 paragraphs. These are intended to respond to an issue and anyone
who has interest in the selected topic.

Op-eds are longer and are based on your opinions on broader issues
and can be sometimes up to 800 words or 5 paragraphs. Op-eds are
typically used to highlight an issue and anyone who has knowledge on
the topic can write an op-ed.

Following, are two examples:

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Federal
Advocacy on a federal level
requires our understanding
of the legislative, executive,
and judicial branches of
government.

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Constitution
The Founding Fathers, the framers of the Constitution,
wanted to form a government that did not allow one
person to have too much control. With this in mind they
wrote the Constitution to provide for a separation of
powers, or three separate branches of government.
Each has its own responsibilities and at the same time
they work together to make the country run smoothly
and to assure that the rights of citizens are not ignored
or disallowed. This is done through checks and
balances. A branch may use its powers to check the
powers of the other two in order to maintain a balance
of power among the three branches of government.

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Legislative (Makes Laws)
Congress is composed of two parts: The Senate and
the House of Representatives.

Senate
The Senate has 100 elected senators total; 2 senators
per state. Each senator serves a 6-year term.

House of Representatives
The House has 435 voting representatives; the number
of representatives from each state is based on the
state's population. Each representative serves a 2-year
term and may be re-elected.

Executive - Carries Out Laws

The executive branch is composed of the President,
Vice President and Cabinet members.

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President
The president is the head of state, head of the U.S.
government and the commander-in-chief of the U.S.
military.

Vice President
The vice president not only supports the president, but
also acts as the presiding officer of the senate.

Cabinet
The Cabinet members are nominated by the president
and must be approved by the Senate (with at least 51
votes). They serve as the president's advisors and
heads of various departments and agencies.

Judicial - Evaluates Laws

The judicial branch of government is made up of the
court system.

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Supreme Court
The Supreme Court is the highest court in the country.
The 9 justices are nominated by the president and must
be approved by the Senate (with at least 51 votes).

Other Federal Courts

There are lower Federal courts but they were not
created by the Constitution. Congress established them
around the country to handle federal business as the
country grew, using power granted from the
Constitution.

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NAMI Legislative Agenda (General)

Mental health reform. Its time for Congress to pass

comprehensive mental health care reform. We
particularly need changes in Medicaid, suicide
prevention, support for early-identification of mental
health problems, research on first episode psychosis
and changes in the criminal justice system.

First-episode psychosis. Expanded access to treatment

of first-episode psychosis is one of NAMIs top
priorities. We need to increase Medicaid funding for
FEP programs and services and the federal
government needs to provide technical assistance to
states in implementing them so they are widely
available.

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 Criminal justice reform. Criminal justice is also at the
top of the list. NAMI is working toward nationwide
expansion of police crisis intervention teams (CIT) as
well as jail diversion programs, better mental health
care in prisons and sensible e-entry programs to
provide needed treatment and support in
communities. We are also working to ensure
treatment courts are available to our veterans so they
receive care, not punishment for mental health
conditions.

Increased federal funding. Resources are needed in so

many areas. NAMI supports increased federal funding
of medical research by the National Institute of Mental
Health, block grant dollars for mental health services
and supportive housing and programs for homeless
persons.

Protect Medicaid funding. NAMI is also vigilant in

seeking to protect federal funding of Medicaid. That
includes opposition to state spending caps or block
grants to states that inevitably serve to limit mental
health care.

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 Protect Medicare Part D. One size does not fit all and
NAMI continues to remain vigilant in protecting access
to psychiatric medications under the Medicare Part D
programaround which a major victory was won last
year.

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State
State advocacy also
is comprised of understanding
the 3 branches of government
and allow you to reach out closer
to home.

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Step 1:
Find out who your elected officials are. It is
critical to know who has been elected in your
state and city. Information on who to contact is
available through the following webpage:
https://www.usa.gov/elected-officials
Step 2:
Find your local NAMI! Your local NAMI can let you
know what topics are really important to reach
out to your elected officials about
Step 3:
Do some internet research, if possible, in order to
see where your officials stand on mental health
legislation.
Step 4:
Tell your story. Write letters to officials and send
emails. Tell them how you or a loved one has been
affected by mental illness. They are more likely to
pass a bill when there is a real-life story attached
to your reasoning.

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 There is no health without
mental health- David Satcher

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 Conclusion
Thank you for helping us at the National
Alliance on Mental Illness on speaking
out on behalf of the millions who are
affected by mental illness each day.

As you have learned in this toolkit, we

want you to be the best advocate you can
be, whether on a personal level or a
federal level. We all have the capacity to
change the world and we hope this
toolkit will allow you to take those first
steps necessary in the journey to end
stigma and to provide access to those
who need it.

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Internet Resources
NAMI Advocacy: http://www.nami.org/Get-
Involved/Take-Action-on-Advocacy-Issues
Find Representatives:
http://www.house.gov/representatives/find/
NAMI Public Policy: http://www.nami.org/Learn-
More/Public-Policy
Advocacy Terms:
http://www.parentprojectmd.org/site/PageServe
r?pagename=Advocate_101_glossary
Stigma-Free Pledge:
http://www.nami.org/stigmafree

Thank you again for utilizing this toolkit. If you wish to reproduce any portion of
this, please contact me at dram@mail.usf.edu for permission. Feel free to share with
others in order to educate about advocacy.

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