Bill Text: CA ACR163 | 2013-2014 | Regular Session | Chaptered
Bill Title: Bebe Moore Campbell National Minority Mental Health
Spectrum: Moderate Partisan Bill (Democrat 56-18)
Status: (Passed) 2014-09-09 - Chaptered by Secretary of State - Res. Chapter 161, Statutes of 2014. [ACR163 Detail]
Download: California-2013-ACR163-Chaptered.html
BILL NUMBER: ACR 163 CHAPTERED
BILL TEXT
RESOLUTION CHAPTER 161
FILED WITH SECRETARY OF STATE SEPTEMBER 9, 2014
ADOPTED IN SENATE AUGUST 18, 2014
ADOPTED IN ASSEMBLY AUGUST 19, 2014
AMENDED IN SENATE AUGUST 13, 2014
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY JULY 3, 2014
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Ridley-Thomas
(Coauthors: Assembly Members Achadjian, Alejo, Allen, Ammiano,
Atkins, Bloom, Bocanegra, Bonilla, Bonta, Bradford, Brown, Buchanan,
Ian Calderon, Campos, Chau, Chávez, Chesbro, Conway, Cooley,
Dababneh, Dahle, Daly, Dickinson, Eggman, Fong, Frazier, Garcia,
Gatto, Gomez, Gonzalez, Gordon, Gorell, Gray, Grove, Hagman, Hall,
Harkey, Roger Hernández, Holden, Jones, Jones-Sawyer, Levine, Linder,
Logue, Lowenthal, Maienschein, Medina, Melendez, Mullin, Muratsuchi,
Nazarian, Nestande, Olsen, Pan, Patterson, Perea, John A. Pérez, V.
Manuel Pérez, Quirk, Quirk-Silva, Rendon, Rodriguez, Salas, Skinner,
Stone, Ting, Wagner, Waldron, Weber, Wieckowski, Wilk, Williams, and
Yamada)
JUNE 17, 2014
Relative to Bebe Moore Campbell National Minority Mental Health
Awareness Month.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
ACR 163, Ridley-Thomas. Bebe Moore Campbell National Minority
Mental Health Awareness Month.
This measure would recognize July 2014 as Bebe Moore Campbell
National Minority Mental Health Awareness Month in California.
WHEREAS, Mental illness is one of the leading causes of
disabilities in the United States, affecting one out of every four
families and victimizing both persons with the illness and those
persons who care for and love the persons afflicted; and
WHEREAS, Serious mental illness costs Americans approximately
$193.2 billion in lost earnings per year; and
WHEREAS, The National Institute of Mental Health has reported that
many people suffer from more than one mental disorder at a given
time and 45 percent of those with any mental disorder meet criteria
for two or more disorders, including diabetes, cardiovascular
disease, HIV/AIDS, and cancer, and the severity of the mental
disorder strongly relates to comorbidity; and
WHEREAS, 57 million Americans have a mental disorder in any given
year, with fewer than 40 percent of adults living with a mental
illness, and a little more than one-half of youth 8 to 15 years of
age, inclusive, with a mental illness receiving mental health
services in the last year; and
WHEREAS, According to the 1999 Surgeon General's Report on Mental
Illness, adult Caucasians who suffer from depression or an anxiety
disorder are more likely to receive treatment than adult African
Americans with the same disorders even though the disorders occur in
both groups at about the same rate, when taking into account
socioeconomic factors; and
WHEREAS, Although mental illness impacts all people, African
Americans receive less care, poorer quality of care, and often lack
access to culturally competent care, thereby resulting in mental
health care disparities; and
WHEREAS, According to the California Reducing Disparities Project
report, "Pathways into the Black Population for Eliminating Mental
Health Disparities," the African American population reveals alarming
statistics related to mental health, including high rates of serious
psychological distress, depression, suicide attempts, dual
diagnoses, and many other mental health concerns, and that
cooccurring conditions with physical health problems, including high
rates of heart disease, cancer, stroke, infant mortality, violence,
substance abuse, and intergenerational unresolved trauma, provide a
complex set of issues that places the population in a crisis state;
and
WHEREAS, According to the same California Reducing Disparities
Project report, in relationship to the African American population,
the mental health system has offered inaccurate diagnoses,
disproportionate findings of severe illness, greater usage of
involuntary commitments, and a woeful inadequacy of service
integration, and the complexity of these factors has created an
intense stigma in the African American community that disparages
mental illness as "crazy," a condition and a status that are viewed
as personally caused and difficult to resolve; and
WHEREAS, The African American population has rejected the label
"crazy" and continues to work within its communities using strategies
and interventions that it knows work to help its people overcome
physical, social, emotional, and psychological limitations and
challenges; and
WHEREAS, According to the California Reducing Disparities Project
report, "Community-Defined Solutions for Latino Mental Health Care
Disparities," participants see negative perceptions about mental
health care as a significant factor contributing to limited or
nonexistent access to care, and the most common concerns are stigma,
culture, masculinity, exposure to violence, and lack of information
and awareness, among many others; and
WHEREAS, According to the same California Reducing Disparities
Project report, a substantial proportion of the Latino participants
believe that limited access and underutilization of mental health
services in the Latino community are primarily due to gaps in
culturally and linguistically appropriate services, in conjunction
with a shortage of bilingual and bicultural mental health workers, an
absence of educational programs for Latino youth, and a system of
care that is too rigid; and
WHEREAS, According to the California Reducing Disparities Project
report, "Native Vision: A Focus on Improving Behavioral Health
Wellness for California Native Americans," most American Indians and
Alaska Natives living in California are expected to learn to cope in
both Western and Native American worlds on a daily basis, Native
Americans within California have shared concerns about loss of
culture, alcohol and drug abuse, and depression and suicide as
contributing factors to mental health disparities, and the
disconnection of culture and traditional values has fragmented Native
American communities, families, and individuals; and
WHEREAS, According to the same California Reducing Disparities
Project report, being misdiagnosed and given severe mental health
diagnoses can be stigmatizing and can affect the person's
self-esteem, which, in turn, can discourage the person from seeking
help through Native American practices and cultural identity through
community involvement; and
WHEREAS, According to the same California Reducing Disparities
Project report, lack of cultural identity can impede the mental
health healing process. Western mental health service delivery
focuses on the individual, rather than taking into consideration the
Native American community as a whole, and a holistic approach is
needed for individual, family, and community wellness; and
WHEREAS, According to the California Reducing Disparities Project
report, "In Our Own Words," which details disparities in the Asian
American and Pacific Islander (API) population, API community members
report high rates of mental health conditions, but have difficulty
accessing services due to cultural and linguistic barriers. Language,
in particular, presents a substantial challenge as many API
community members have limited English proficiency and interpreters,
when available, often lack the expertise in mental health terminology
and cultural knowledge to effectively communicate with the patient;
and
WHEREAS, According to the same California Reducing Disparities
Project report, stigma and misconceptions about mental health
concerns are also significant barriers to API persons seeking mental
health services, especially because many API languages lack a
vocabulary for mental health concerns that is not derogatory, mental
health care that is truly culturally competent for API persons is
often unavailable, and standard Western methods of assessing and
treating mental health clients may not be appropriate; and
WHEREAS, According to the California Reducing Disparities Project
report, "First, Do No Harm: Reducing Disparities for Lesbian, Gay,
Bisexual, Transgender, Queer and Questioning (LGBTQ) Populations in
California," coming out as LGBTQ for members of African American,
Latino, Native American, and API populations may require them to
choose between the safety of their families and cultural environment
and their LGBTQ identities. Their unique needs and status are often
rendered invisible, in any community with which they choose to
associate, and too often they find themselves having to choose; and
WHEREAS, According to the same California Reducing Disparities
Project report, LGBTQ participants from these populations indicated
dissatisfaction with how mental health care providers had met their
needs regarding their intersecting identities and their racial or
ethnic concerns, and also reported being rejected by mental health
care providers because of their sexual orientation; and
WHEREAS, According to the same California Reducing Disparities
Project report, Latino, Native American, and API participants
reported higher rates of having seriously considered suicide compared
to Caucasian participants. When compared to other groups, African
American participants reported almost twice as many suicide attempts
that needed treatment by a doctor or nurse; and
WHEREAS, The three major brain diseases, schizophrenia, bipolar
disorder, and depression, adversely affect the economy, contribute to
the rise in incarceration rates, and erode the quality of life for
patients and their loved ones; and
WHEREAS, Nearly two-thirds of all people with a diagnosable mental
illness do not receive mental health treatment due to stigma, lack
of community-based resources, inadequate diagnosis, or no diagnosis;
and
WHEREAS, Communities of color are in need of culturally competent
mental health resources and the training of all health care providers
to serve multiethnic patients; and
WHEREAS, Advocates for traditional mental health organizations
must be encouraged to incorporate and integrate minority mental
health education and outreach within their respective portfolios; and
WHEREAS, An estimated 70 percent of all youth in the juvenile
justice system have at least one mental health condition, and at
least 20 percent live with severe mental illness that is usually
undiagnosed, misdiagnosed, untreated, or ineffectively treated, thus
leaving those incarcerated in vulnerable conditions; and
WHEREAS, Minority mental health patients are often among the
so-called "working poor" who face additional challenges because they
are underinsured or uninsured, which often leads to late diagnosis or
no diagnosis of mental illness; and
WHEREAS, The faith, customs, values, and traditions of a variety
of ethnic groups should be taken into consideration when attempting
to treat and diagnose mental illnesses; and
WHEREAS, African Americans and Hispanic Americans used mental
health services at about one-half the rate of Caucasians in the past
year, and Asian Americans used mental health services at about
one-third the rate of Caucasians; and
WHEREAS, African Americans are misdiagnosed at a higher rate than
persons of other ethnic groups within the mental health delivery
system, and greater effort must be made to accurately assess the
mental health of African Americans; and
WHEREAS, There is a need to improve public awareness of mental
illness and to strengthen local and national awareness of brain
diseases in order to assist with advocacy for persons of color with
mental illness, so that they may receive adequate and appropriate
treatment that will result in their becoming fully functioning
members of society; and
WHEREAS, Community mobilization of resources is needed to
advocate, educate, and train mental health care providers to help
remove barriers to the treatment of mental disorders; and
WHEREAS, Access to mental health treatment and services is of
paramount importance; and
WHEREAS, There is a need to encourage primary care physicians to
offer screenings, to partner with mental health care providers, to
seek the appropriate referrals to specialists, and to encourage
timely and accurate diagnoses of mental disorders; and
WHEREAS, The Legislature wishes to enhance public awareness of
mental illness, especially within minority communities; and
WHEREAS, The late Bebe Moore Campbell, a mother, grandmother,
wife, friend, advocate, celebrated writer and journalist, radio
commentator, community activist, cofounder of the National Alliance
on Mental Illness Urban Los Angeles, University of Pittsburgh trustee
and educator, and recipient of numerous awards and honors, was
recognized for her tireless advocacy and fight to bring awareness and
attention to mental illness among minorities with the release of her
New York Times best-selling novel, "72 Hour Hold," and her children'
s book, "Sometimes My Mommy Gets Angry," both of which bring
awareness to the plight of those with brain disorders; and
WHEREAS, Bebe Moore Campbell, through her dedication and
commitment, sought to move communities to support mental wellness
through effective treatment options, to provide open access to mental
health treatment and services, and to improve community outreach and
support for the many loved ones who are unable to speak for
themselves; and
WHEREAS, July is an appropriate month to recognize as Bebe Moore
Campbell National Minority Mental Health Awareness Month; now,
therefore, be it
Resolved by the Assembly of the State of California, the Senate
thereof concurring, That the Legislature of the State of California
hereby recognizes July 2014 as Bebe Moore Campbell National Minority
Mental Health Awareness Month in California to enhance public
awareness of mental illness among minorities; and be it further
Resolved, That the Chief Clerk of the Assembly transmit copies of
this resolution to the author for appropriate distribution.
