NAMI News

With over 2,500 persons in attendance, the National Alliance of the Mentally Ill (NAMI) today presented the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (LDS) with its Campaign to End Discrimination's "Religious Advocacy Award" for requiring parity for mental illnesses in the health insurance provided to church employees and their families.

The National Alliance for the Mentally Ill (NAMI), the nation's largest grassroots advocacy organization for persons with severe mental illnesses and their families, today unveiled model legislation at its national convention aimed at establishing "a baseline of care" in the nation's mental health system and replicating effective programs shown to be critical to recovery.

Continuing the national dialogue beginning with the historic White House Conference on Mental Health, more than 2,500 national newsmakers, policymakers, best-selling authors, consumer and family activists, and leading medical experts in neuroscience, psychiatry, and research will convene next week in Chicago for the 20th anniversary convention of the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill (NAMI).

The Supreme Court's decision in Olmstead v. L.C. provides an incremental victory for persons suffering from mental illness by affirming the presumption for treatment in community settings under Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).

A week after the White House Conference on Mental Health, Brian Kaplan, 39, began pedaling from Rehoboth Beach, Delaware as part of a personal odyssey to both commemorate his impending 40th birthday and support a cause that is close to his heart: NAMI's support for families who are coping with the challenges of severe mental illness.

Today, NAMI applauded the President of the United States and Mrs. Tipper Gore, Mental Health Advisor to the President, for their leadership in convening the first White House Conference on Mental Health

The June 7, 1999 White House Conference on Mental Health has generated considerable media coverage of issues related to mental illness.

The National Alliance for the Mentally Ill (NAMI) has called on President Clinton to take executive action to require private contractors doing business with the federal government to guarantee equal coverage of mental illnesses in health insurance plans they provide their own employees.

Millions of Americans are cheering today at the news that the White House plans to require health insurance coverage for severe mental illnesses comparable to that for physical ailments for federal employees and their families.

Dawson's Desktop, the interactive Internet version of Warner Brothers' popular television drama "Dawson's Creek" has linked with the Web site of the National Alliance for the Mentally (NAMI)-the nation's largest grassroots organization dedicated to helping people with severe mental illness-to educate teenagers and young adults about biologically-based brain disorders.