A coalition of mental health advocacy groups has launched an initiative aimed at making legislators more aware of mental health issues.
“The goal is to have at least one person in every legislator’s district, and to have them be able to share what it’s like to live with a mental illness and to explain how their lives are affected by different state policies,” said Wyandotte County advocate Mark Wiebe.
The initiative, called “Kansas Voices for Mental Health,” is a project of the National Alliance on Mental Illness-Kansas and the Kansas Mental Health Coalition.
A northwest Kansas session will be from 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Oct. 5 in Hays.
“These are not going to be issue meetings, they’re going to be here’s-how-to-get-your-story-out meetings,” said NAMI-Kansas Executive Director Rick Cagan.
Photo by Dave Ranney
People interested in in the sessions can contact Cagan at either (785) 233-0755 or [email protected].
“All of the locations and dates are dependent on getting enough subscribers,” Cagan said. “There’s an application process. We want to make sure we’re getting the right people there. If we get enough people to sign up, we’ll let them know the exact locations.”
Information also is available on the NAMI-Kansas and coalition websites.
Similar sessions took place last year.
“This is an ongoing effort,” Cagan said. “It’s all about building capacity.”