Sample letter to your U.S. Representative or U.S. Senators

(Date)

Honorable (Name of Your Representative or Each of Your Sentors)
(Address)
(Address)

Dear (Representative or Senator) (Name):

I am writing to express my shock that President Bush’s proposed Fiscal Year 2003 budget eliminates funding for the national mental health Consumer and Consumer/Supporter Technical Assistance Centers, currently funded by the Center for Mental Health Services (CMHS) of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA).

These five centers provide information and technical assistance to people who have mental illnesses. This attack in the budget is part of a strategy to disempower not only individuals but the mental health consumer movement as a whole.

The Congressional Justification for the proposed budget reads: "In FY 2002 and FY 2003, several programs that have been a part of the Center’s portfolio will be terminated early or funded for their last year. These include the Consumer and Consumer/supporter Technical Assistance Centers (not funded in FY 2002 and 2003) . . . Community Action Grants (no new in FY 2003), and Mental Health Treatment in Non-Mental Health Settings (not funded in FY 2003). New programs in FY 2003 are considered a priority for the reinvestment of funds." (Emphasis added.)

The Bush administration is ignoring a growing body of evidence indicating the critical importance of supporting mental health consumer-run self-help services. The value of self-help and peer support was recognized by both the Surgeon General in the 1999 report Mental Health: A Report of the Surgeon General, and in a report published by the Center for Mental Health Services, entitled Consumer/Survivor-Operated Self-Help Programs: A Technical Report.

I urge you to contact Secretary Tommy G. Thompson (Department of Health and Human Services) and ask him to remove the damaging language, quoted above, from the Congressional Justification of the President’s proposed budget.

Later in the year, when Congress begins to deliberate on its budget for HHS and related agencies, we will ask for your help in restoring the funding for these services and the accompanying report language recognizing the importance of the work they do. Thank you very much for your assistance.

Sincerely,


(Your Name)
(Your Address)
(Your Phone Number)

Return to Federal Budget Action Alert page or return to the Mental Health Association of SE PA's home page.