CONTENTS OF THIS ISSUE
Spring 2021 Issue |
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NAMI Update
By Kathy Harkey, MAPP, BSP, BSMDS
Executive Director
Like other organizations, NAMI Virginia has weathered the storm of the unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic over the past year. First and foremost, in all we do, is our fiduciary duties of care to our affiliates and Virginians affected by mental illness. This includes making well-informed decisions and providing oversight on the best methods for delivery of support groups, programs, information, events, resources, and other communications. We are a resilient group and very familiar with adaptability and change and, once again, the interrelated elements of our organizational structure have provided us with the strength and resources needed to meet the COVID-19 challenge.
Part of meeting this challenge included restructuring the way we deliver programs, which prior to the pandemic, were all delivered in-person. After a great deal of research, meetings, policy revisions, and adjustments to programs, within a few short weeks of COVID-19 shutdowns, NAMI Virginia launched our programs virtually using various platforms. NAMI Virginia’s perseverance and commitment to Virginians with mental health needs drove our determination to quickly deliver programs and resources through a virtual platform to eliminate any lapse in the much needed services that we provide. The creativity displayed in serving our mission during COVID-19 through online platforms, has had the added benefit of expanding our reach with NAMI Virginia programs now reaching individuals in the furthest corners of Virginia.
Today, NAMI Virginia is also providing program hybrid delivery options and, before you know it, we will be adding full in-person delivery back into the mix. NAMI Virginia’s hybrid option means that in addition to program delivery through the modern-day virtual delivery realm, we are now offering programs as a mixture of in-person and virtual sessions.
NAMI Virginia knows that the effects of COVID-19 will not last forever. While cautionary steps are always a good thing, stay-at-home orders will be lifted, Virginians will go back to work outside of their homes, and people will once again be able to intermingle. NAMI Virginia looks forward to this day and is fully prepared to restore a full in-person option for all of our programs.
While NAMI Virginia was getting our feet under us in switching programs from all in-person to all virtual, the coronavirus caused the state budget to go topsy turvy and the Commonwealth of Virginia began restructuring funding to address the pandemic. New mental health funds that had been approved during the 2020 regular General Assembly session were sadly un-allotted. Although NAMI Virginia understood the Commonwealth's need to step back and review the budget to address unexpected expenses that cropped up as a result of the pandemic, mental health cases and concerns were on the rise. The need for NAMI Virginia’s unique focus on mental health funding and support had never been clearer.
A Legislative Special Session was held in Virginia in 2020 making it one roller coaster of an Advocacy year. To assure mental health received the funding and attention it deserved, NAMI Virginia’s advocacy efforts moved into overdrive! We did not run in place. We moved forward at a steady pace advocating for quality mental healthcare and funding, a right of all Virginians. Not long after the 2020 Special Session ended, the 2021 General Assembly began. A number of noteworthy bills passed in the 2021 legislative session. Just to name a few:
- $3.8 million was restored in fiscal year 2022 to fully fund pilot projects to address census pressures on state psychiatric hospitals.
- $1.6 million is provided in fiscal year 2022 to address the severe shortage of behavioral health practitioners in the Commonwealth.
- $765,428 was restored to provide critical clinical staffing at the Commonwealth Center for Children and Adolescents.
- $4.4 million was restored in fiscal year 2022 to increase the Auxiliary Grant (AG) rate, a state supplement that provides maintenance and care to aged, blind, and disabled adults residing in assisted living facilities (ALF), adult foster care homes, or supportive housing settings, by 10 percent, or $142, on July 1, 2021.
- $30.2 million in fiscal year 2022 remains budgeted for the System Transformation, Performance and Excellence in Virginia, or STEP-VA, to address Accountability, Access, Quality, and Consistency across all Community Services Boards (CSBs) and to enable CSBs statewide to deliver, at a minimum, nine standard services plus care coordination.
- $20 million in fiscal year 2021 and $34 million in fiscal year 2022 remains budgeted for permanent supportive housing.
- $80,000 is allotted for fiscal year 2021 and $691,692 for fiscal year 2022 to fund additional administrative costs for the new Marcus Alert Mobile Crisis System which passed during the 2020 Special Session.
NAMI Virginia understands that a strong mental health system is vital to helping children and adults recover or manage their mental illness effectively. Adequate funding and policies provide the range of treatments, services, and supports that help people with mental illness live successfully, including crisis response and stabilization, supportive housing, peer support, case management, medication, and more.
NAMI Virginia and our affiliates throughout the great Commonwealth remains the Gold Standard for mental health supports, programs, and advocacy. Thanks to the dedicated work of NAMI Virginia staff, affiliates, and members working together, we will continue to lead the charge moving forward!
In closing, NAMIWalks Virginia 2021 will be held on Saturday, October 9. NAMIWalks is the largest grassroots mental health education and fundraising effort in America. Funds raised through NAMIWalks support NAMI Virginia and our fourteen affiliates, and support critical mental health educational programs, peer-led support groups, and advocacy efforts in communities across the Commonwealth. For more information on how you can get walk, sponsor or get involved with NAMIWalks Virginia, visit our walk website: https://namiwalks.org/virginia
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September 24-25, 2021
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Norfolk The Main
Norfolk, VA
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