Advocating For Blue Ribbon Solutions For The Mentally Ill Since 1999!

KEEP THE PROMISE COALITION

CREATING AWARENESS OF CONNECTICUT'S MENTAL HEALTH CRISIS

WHO WE ARE

LEGISLATIVE PRIORITIES

WHO WE ARE

ADVOCATING FOR BLUE RIBBON SOLUTIONS SINCE 1999!

	The Keep the Promise Coalition is dedicated to advocating for the “Blue Ribbon Solutions” necessary to maintain and expand critical mental health services for adults and children and housing options to meet their needs. We hope you join us in building the bridge to support, respect and recovery.

The KEEP THE PROMISE Coalition was founded in 1999 when several consumers, family members, providers and advocates convened to discuss the mental health crisis in Connecticut. In the three years following the closure of two large state hospitals, the demand for adult mental health services had increased by 20% while funding for basic mental health services rose less than 1% after inflation.

As a result, the service system was stretched to the breaking point and could not meet client needs. Persons with psychiatric disabilities were unnecessarily institutionalized in hospitals, jails and nursing homes or living in shelters with few, if any, support services. Similarly, the Connecticut children’s mental health system did not address the needs of the clients and families it was suppose to serve. Roughly 90% of Connecticut’s children in need of behavioral health services were in expensive residential settings or institutions rather than community placements and hundreds were placed out of state. The needs of the families were often disregarded and they were offered what was available not what was appropriate. Connecticut was spending money on crisis, not recovery.

In July of 2000, the Governor’s Blue Ribbon Commission on Mental Health issued a report documenting the crisis in the state’s mental health systems and outlining recommendations to restore their integrity. It recognized that implementing the Blue Ribbon Commission’s recommendations would require an ongoing investment of funds throughout the children and adult mental health systems to repair the damage caused by years of underfunding basic services, and to develop and implement innovative consumer and family driven models that emphasize prevention, early intervention, and recovery.

The KEEP THE PROMISE Coalition actively supported implementation of the Blue Ribbon Solutions and advocated for appropriate policies and funding for the full range of services necessary to restore the integrity of Connecticut’s mental health system. The Governor and Legislators responded by proposing and enacting a number of significant initiatives to improve the state’s mental health system.

Despite these efforts, Connecticut’s mental health systems cannot address the critical needs of the individuals and families who require services and housing. Unnecessary incarceration and institutionalization continue and resources are not available to provide person and family focused age appropriate, flexible services. In short, the systems are still in desperate need of repair. Building a consumer and family-driven, comprehensive community based mental health system will require ongoing sustained state investments.

CHAIRS OF KEEP THE PROMISE COALITION


	Jan VanTassel, Esq. - Jan VanTassel, who has been CLRP’s Executive Director since 1998, has been a public interest attorney for nearly thirty years. A 1977 graduate of Suffolk University Law School in Boston, she spent a year as a VISTA volunteer in Idaho before moving to Connecticut to work with legal services doing policy advocacy work at the State Capitol. She had a three year hiatus in New Mexico, where she worked at the Institute of Public Law, and spent six very long years managing the Alternate Care Unit (community services) of DSS, before she was able to return to legal services as the Executive Director of the Legal Assistance Resource Center of Connecticut. While at LARCC, Jan founded the Connecticut Alliance for Basic Human Needs and was a leading activist on public benefits, elder and disability issues. Jan is President of the Connecticut Women’s Education and Legal Fund as well as the ADA Coalition of Connecticut, and serves on the Board of the United Labor Agency and the Advisory Board of the Office of Victim Services and is a member of the CT Bar Association’s House of Delegates. Jan also has a master’s degree in History from Tufts University and has had several articles published.

	Alicia Woodsby, MSW – Alicia is the Public Policy Director for the National Alliance on Mental Illness in CT. She works closely with the NAMI-CT Board of Directors , its Public Policy Committee, and statewide membership to advocate for people with psychiatric disabilities and their families. Alicia publicly represents the policy initiatives of NAMI-CT, and serves as the primary liaison for public policy issues on state coalitions and with the national branch of NAMI. She provides public policy and and advocacy training throughout the state and nationally, and manages statewide education and outreach programs. Alicia sits on the state's Behavioral Health Partnership Oversight Council, the NAMI National State Policy Advisory Group, the Reaching Home Campaign Steering Committee, and is a member of the Board of Directors for the North Central Regional Mental Health Board. She was recently appointed co-chair to the state's new Medical Inefficiency Committee. She came to the organization with a Master of Social Work degree in Policy Practice, and a focused area of study in Mental Health and Substance Abuse. In her graduate career, Alicia did work for the Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services in the area of policy and project planning, and also spent time working in the non-profit arena with female low-income minority youth in Hartford. In her undergraduate career, Alicia graduated Magna Cum Laude from the University of Connecticut with a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology.


Last Updated on April 05, 2010
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