National Alliance of Mental Illness Holds Annual Regional Conference

The changes in the way mental health care will be delivered with the passage of health legislation in Washington and with state budgets continuously slashing their budgets was among the topics discussed at the tenth annual National Alliance of Mental Illness conference held Friday and Saturday at a hotel near the airport.

About three hundred people attended the conference and listened to about a dozen speakers discuss advocacy, building relationships with lawmakers and confronting challenges in the mental health system were some of the other topics discussed.

Michael Fitzpatrick, the National Director of NAMI said there were some real challenges and opportunities in the mental health in America. "I think the passage of health care reform, the passage of parity law in 2008, coupled with the recession which is playing havoc with state budgets is going to create an environment where things are going to change dramatically," he said.