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Petition text:
U.S. House of Representatives: Vote against The Helping Families in Mental Health Crisis Act (H.R. 2646)
The Helping Families in Mental Health Crisis Act (H.R. 2646), introduced by Representative Tim Murphy (R-PA), is a sweeping bill that promises “reform,” but would actually return the nation’s state mental health systems to many of the failed policies of the past.
- Many provisions of the bill would significantly curtail the civil rights of people with psychiatric diagnoses, including an increase in forced treatment and restrictions on the federal protection and advocacy system.
- The bill is inconsistent with scientific understanding of the cause and treatment of mental health issues. It ignores the significant role of toxic stress and trauma, precludes many interventions that have been proven effective, and does not make allowances for cultural differences known to affect diagnosis, treatment and help-seeking behavior.
- The bill uses language that dismisses the possibility of recovery, and effectively promotes a return to harmful institutional services over evidence-based practices in the community.
- The bill does not approach mental health as a public health problem. It explicitly restricts funding for primary prevention programs and would prevent the federal mental health authority from working to promote wellness.
- The bill ignores the progress made over the past 20 years. It promotes a narrow, professionally focused system of care, in stark contrast to current thinking in healthcare, which is moving rapidly to implement patient-centered care, shared decision-making, and self-management of chronic conditions.
We urge you to stop this move to return to the failed policies of the past by voting against H.R. 2646!
We don’t need to go backwards in our treatment of mental health.
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Please stop the regressive bill from passing.
thank you
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Please vote against this act!
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Please educate yourselves about adverse childhood experiences and their link to later life health and well-being, or rather, lack of. The idea that mental illness is a medical condition has done a great disservice to too many of us, and turns a blind eye to the personal, political and social issues that result in extreme distress, including living in non-consensual realities, use of substances, high use of anti-psychotics/depressants, and more.
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Please work on a revision of this bill.
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We urgently need to unite in our opposition to both Murphy Bills. They would turn back the progress our movement of persons with lived experience has made in the last 40 years. The bills would increase institutionalization at the expense of community care, they would reduce the funding for consumer-run programs such as state networking grants and the TACs, dismantle SAMHSA, and they would decrease confidentiality.
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Both Murphy bills may have positive intentions; however, they are fear-based attempts to address social inequity and violence in our culture by singling out people that those in positions of power fear because we are different from them. Our society needs to address the needs and gifts of all of us, not just the “movers and shakers” in politics and commerce. It is sad that they do this by appealing to the fears and concerns of families and other voters. People with diverse experiences vote too, and we must make it clear that we will not support politicians who attempt to attack our civil rights.
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These bills perpetuate a provably failed ‘system’ that does not consider the great strides that have been made in understanding other, more humane and nuanced ways of dealing with the complexities of living in confusing, and too often, very painful world.
Those of us that have gone through this and have emerged on the other side as ‘certified sane’ have enormous insights that must be tapped.
These bills do just the opposite.
When individuals who are in the midst of great confusion and trauma are just labeled sick — (which is practically required to get any help at all) — it turns us into things to be judged and profited from, and we all have to pay a heavy price for that dehumanization.
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I do believe recovery IS possible…I am proof. I have gone through 30+ years of documented mental illness, seeing the mental health field starting to come out of the middle ages…and yet a person with a degree and one who has published a book and has some statistics, has the opportunity with this bill to shove through the almost humanizing and individual value that mental health was beginning to become…back into the darkness from which it came.
Why not focus on the problem…Why not speak with people with mental illness and “LISTEN” to what is being said…instead of standing over us and talking to each other like we are not even there. WE ALL need to have “that talk”. Please, Please, do not vote for this bill
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After taking his recently prescribed adderall (for Mania!!!) my nephew died last week in a car accident. He was speeding to the point of psychosis. The system is SO broken!
Please let’s try try to go forward instead of backward. This bill is NOT the way forward.
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We are SO very sorry for your loss, Michelle. These terrible tragedies need to end. Thanks for lending your voice to the struggle.
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If everyone in America had adequate food, shelter, health care and opportunity for gainful employment this would all be a mute point. These crises have all been created by OUR choices in how we run OUR society here. OUR leaders do NOT understand what it means to be without grocery money, fill out 18 pages of forms for applying for assistance, give up your beloved pets and send family members out of their community/out of state because of homelessness, to not seek medical care because you can not afford it, THEY don’t know what it means to not be able to afford to be alive. This is too common in a country that has so much wealth there are fantasy sports leagues!!! WAKE UP
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Bam. You couldn’t be more right. Let’s pay attention to the social determinants of health – food, shelter, education, employment and accessible, trauma-informed, voluntary community supports.
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Representative Murphy, please do not sigh the Murphy Bill into law. Ken Denberg. Thank you
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We urge you to stop this move to return to the failed policies of the past by voting against H.R. 2646! In all conditions, including Mental Health issues, there is always hope for recovery. Seek treatments that heal and work and those that do not create side effects that bring disaster.
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This Murphy bill needs to be trashed and real change put in place#realmhchange
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When you look at something you have to look at what has been done to get all the facts otherwise you are not doing your job , and to ignore the work tat has been done in this field is just wrong ! it takes a long time to deal with a problem of this size but it can be done ! I really do believe this has to be looked at again and again and think what you are dealing with ! You are dealing with human lives and that that to me is Important
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We Shall Prevail, All the Best: Peace & Blessings.
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This bill HR 2646 Mental Health Crisis Act is attempting to remove all the safeguards against unjust Psychiatric practices that it’s taken years to effect. And it will do the opposite of what it says,
– it will increase force treatment.
– it will LIMIT federal protection and advocacy
– it will increase institutionalization, not reduce it like it say.
– it will weaken Health Insurance Privacy Protection.
It will take us back to stoneage Psychiatric Abuse that we have fought so hard to reduce and make accountable.
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If you had a very bad day would you want your neighbor to be able to call the police and have you hauled away for an “evaluation” which always ends up with you heavily drugged and behind locked doors.
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We do not need to go backwards with the so called Murphy bill, we have worked hard enough to get where we are now and they want us to turn around forget it !! I thought these so called people on the hill worked for the people of the great old USA !!
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I don’t like this Murphy bill. It is just another way for the big drug companies to market their drugs. This bill violates people basic civil rights.
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Stop the archaic policies of old! This is nothing but a giant step backwards in caring for our nations mental health
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Please stop the Murphy bill. Stop blaming people with a mental illness for the violence. People with a mental illness are more likely to be victims of violence rather than perpetrators. I understand the fear people have due to the mass shootings but blaming people with mental illness is not the way to go.
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It’s about love not scapegoating and killing the vulnerable through the spirit of pharmakeia-then making a profit while doing those horrendous acts
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It’s about love people-not the serving the spirit of pharmakeia (witchcraft) labeling, drugging, and maybe killing our most vulnerable. This is not healing-it’s the total opposite.
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As a mother of a young man with schizophrenia I am horrified by this bill. It scapegoats the very people who need help and services. We should augment Money Follows the Person and Open Dialogue (Finland). We do not need to go in this regressive direction feeding on people’s fears.
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Alice, please please please write to your Congressperson if you’re in the US. They really need to hear from family members like you, as all they are hearing is the “pro-Murphy” side.
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