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PUBLIC TESTIMONY
Testimony by Ann Casper, Member of the Public
7:55:37
ยท
179 sec
Ann Casper, a self-described "failed mental health patient," shares her experiences with the mental health system in New York City and advocates for improvements in clubhouse accountability and mental health services. She discusses the challenges she faced in navigating Medicare plans and proposes several recommendations for enhancing mental health support in the city.
- Suggests creating a clubhouse accountability act and a citywide ombudsman to oversee clubhouses
- Recommends better training for clubhouse staff in trauma-informed care and understanding mental health microaggressions
- Proposes implementing Enhanced Crisis Intervention Training (ECIT) for police officers who choose to work with people with mental health issues
- Advocates for gradual change in transitioning to non-police response for mental health calls, while acknowledging the current efforts of the NYPD
Ann Casper
7:55:37
Chair Schulman and Chair Lee, thank you very much.
7:55:40
And you saved the best for last, so very good.
7:55:44
I'm Ann Casper.
7:55:45
I am a failed mental health patient in New York City.
7:55:48
I came in last year, a year and a half ago on Medicare.
7:55:53
I've been on Medicare since 02/2008.
7:55:56
I didn't have health insurance for twenty years.
7:55:58
As adjunct faculty, my health insurance was a preexisting condition, so I'm used to living without much.
7:56:06
But I came to New York City and I couldn't figure out your system.
7:56:10
I spent seven months looking for Medicare plans and calling, and I thought Fountain House would help.
7:56:16
So I went to Fountain House, became a clubhouse member.
7:56:18
Seven months didn't help me.
7:56:21
I would like to ask for a clubhouse accountability act.
7:56:24
I think we need clubhouse.
7:56:25
It's wonderful.
7:56:26
I helped start in Portland, Oregon 18 Years ago.
7:56:29
But we need some accountability here.
7:56:31
So I would ask for a citywide ombudsman.
7:56:34
If you're going to spend millions on clubhouses, we need somebody to call to keep those clubhouses accountable and outside of the clubhouse to be better.
7:56:42
Staff actually don't understand.
7:56:44
They hire a lot of young people who don't know the traumas we've been through because those of us who've been in mental health systems for years and years have been through a lot of traumas.
7:56:53
I've been in it since the eighties.
7:56:55
They need to be trained on what traumas we have.
7:56:57
They need training in trauma informed care and also they have to understand the mental health microaggressions that they do unknowingly to us because they don't understand.
7:57:06
If they're writing notes and they have no mental health training, where are those notes going?
7:57:11
Also for teen space, I think about it.
7:57:14
The health information technology, if the teenager goes to teen space today, gets something written up and teen space gets talk space, the parent company gets sold to somebody else, thirty, forty years, what's going to happen to those notes?
7:57:27
I have a lot more to say, but as a failed mental health patient, I don't know.
7:57:30
I've got to move on to a different role.
7:57:32
Thank you.
Linda Lee
7:57:33
No.
7:57:33
You are not a failed mental health patient.
Ann Casper
7:57:35
Anyway, I did want to say too, in Portland, Oregon, we started the ECIT, Enhanced Crisis Intervention Training, and I think that could work in New York City.
7:57:45
It's a group of police who actually choose to work with people with mental health issues.
7:57:49
We should be heard with peer support.
7:57:52
Actually, CCIT came into Portland to help me get peers hired on Portland Street Response.
7:57:58
I thank New York City for helping out with that.
7:58:01
We need peers there.
7:58:03
But also, until then, gradual change is best, and it's going to take time to change over to non police response.
7:58:10
I want to thank the New York Public Police Department for what they do every day.
7:58:16
50%, at least 50% of their calls are mental health, and they're doing well every day.
7:58:21
We need to look at the positives as well.
7:58:23
And they don't they didn't go to that job to become social workers.
7:58:27
They wanna get the quote unquote bad people.
7:58:30
So let's let them do what they do and we do the best and thank you for listening and and have a good dinner.
7:58:35
Thank you very much.
Lawrence Norman
7:58:36
Yes.