NAMI Comments on the Virginia Tech Tragedy

NAMI National has been interviewed by all of the major media outlets since this event on April 16th at Virginia Technical Institute brought the subject of mental health into public focus. A special  Virginia Tech Information & Resources page has been set up to offer tools for expressions of condolences, services, and policy discussion. NAMI has issued this list of talking points in relation to this event:

• NAMI extends sympathy to all the families who lost loved ones in the terrible tragedy at Virginia Tech. This includes the family of the young man responsible for the deaths. We represent individuals and families whose lives also have been altered by mental illness.
  
• The U.S. Surgeon General has reported that the likelihood of violence by people with mental illness is low. It is an exception-violence means that something has gone very wrong.
  
• In 2002, a Presidential Commission report indicated that America's mental healthcare system is in shambles. NAMI's 2006 Grading the States report gave the system an average grade of "D".  This healthcare crisis must be addressed.
  
• Treatment works, if one can get it. The best way to ensure that people get the treatment they need is to invest in an adequate mental healthcare system. We need mental health screening, specific ways to keep people engaged in treatment and other support s that promote recovery.
  
• Peer leadership and support networks need to be an essential part of the system. People who live with mental illnesses must have opportunities for peer education in managing conditions.
  
• NAMI supports individual civil rights; however, in some cases, state laws serve as barriers to treatment for the people who need it most-those who are too ill to recognize the need  States with overly protective laws like Virginia, should amend laws to allow court-ordered inpatient or outpatient treatment without proof of imminent dangerousness.  At the same time, protections against civil rights abuses must be preserved. Changes in the law must not set the clock back 40 years.
  
• If gun control legislation is considered, it must be carefully crafted. It should reduce acts of violence-not create a new climate of prejudice and discrimination that discourages treatment. The best predictor of violence is past violence, not mental illness. For example, court protective orders for domestic violence are a more direct concern than court-ordered treatment.