There are 400 infants and toddlers in New Jersey with developmental delays waiting months for treatment that could prepare them for school — down time their developing brains do not have to spare.

That backlog could be eliminated by including $4.4 million to the proposed state budget to hire more speech, occupational and physical therapists at more competitive wages through the state’s Early Intervention program, which served 17,000 last year, said Cathy Chin, executive director for the Alliance for the Betterment of Citizens with Disabilities.

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Mental health parity means insurance plans cover mental health conditions, substance use disorders, and physical health issues equally. What does parity mean in practice, and what laws and rules are in place to enforce it? This presentation by Advocacy & Public Policy Director Matt Camarda will explore the history of mental health parity and how advocacy is needed to keep pushing for stronger parity laws and enforcement. This event will be followed by listening sessions on May 29th and 30th.

NAMI New Jersey wants to hear about your experiences with the mental health system. This survey will provide us with crucial information about the gaps in our system and help us develop and refine our public policy goals moving forward. It’s a chance to share your story – what’s working and what needs fixing.

Please share with your networks and anyone whose experience would inform our advocacy toward a better system. However mental illness and mental health impact you, we need your feedback.

Doreen Rearden loved seeing her teenage daughters bond with her aging father after he moved into a converted bedroom in their Montclair home. But both he and her family were looking for more privacy and separation. That’s when Doreen and her husband, Joe, first began thinking about building an accessory dwelling unit in their backyard.

“Living with a parent, it’s kind of like going back to your childhood,” Doreen Rearden said. “The idea of having something detached that gives the parent independence while still staying together as a unit — that’s really attractive to us.”

Also known as ADUs, “granny flats” or “in-law apartments,” accessory dwelling units can take many forms within, attached to or separate from an existing property — they could be a small structure in the backyard or a unit in the basement or above a garage.

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“We should not be criminalizing people that … can’t move forward because of things that have happened to them in their lives,” said Hutsell, 47, who became homeless after suffering domestic abuse. Hutsell now lives in transitional housing in Atlantic County.

Hutsell was one of several people who spoke at a news conference at the Rescue Mission of Trenton in response to oral arguments heard Monday by the U.S. Supreme Court in a case that has sweeping implications for how cities across the country address homelessness. The Supreme Court will decide whether it constitutes cruel and unusual punishment to fine, ticket or jail people for sleeping outside on public property if they have nowhere else to go. A ruling in favor of the plaintiffs, the city of Grants Pass, Oregon, would make it easier for communities to clear out tent encampments, even if no available housing or shelter exists.

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In New Jersey, families of children with severe disabilities have two main options for their care: a group home system that many see as unsafe and understaffed − or paying for care at home.

But there's a catch: Thanks to state rules, they won't be able to pay their home aides nearly as much as group-home agencies can pay their staff.

That's unfair, disability advocates say, and forces families into institutionalized care. It's a discrepancy the community − and Gov. Phil Murphy's own disability watchdog − are urging the state to rectify as budget negotiations continue.

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The American Civil Liberties Union of New Jersey and Garden State Equality sent letters to 16 school districts across New Jersey this week urging them to reinstate a policy they say protects transgender youth.

The groups say without this policy — known as policy 5756 — not only are districts open to legal liability, but students and families may believe their schools are not safe and welcoming environments. The policy outlines responsibilities districts have to protect LGBTQ students under state and federal law.

“School administrators must do everything they can to protect trans kids. As LGBTQ+ rights face renewed threats across the country, New Jersey has a responsibility to lead by example and ensure that students in our state feel safe, supported, and respected,” ACLU-NJ staff attorney Elyla Huertas said in a statement.

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On a spring afternoon in Tucson, Ariz., about a half dozen children and teens hung out in the sunny common room of Pima County’s Crisis Response Center. Beyond the pastel-painted room stretched a long, wide hall where partitions separated individual beds, many left unmade with rumpled sheets. Wearing scrubs, the kids sat in rocking chairs, watched TV, talked and laughed. A pair of teen girls played a card game.

Outside the large windows was a walled patio where they could play cornhole or have water balloon fights in the open air. Chalk drawings depicting stars and flowers covered the patio walls.

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Mental illness costs the U.S. economy $282 billion annually, which is equivalent to the average economic recession, according to a new study co-authored by Yale economist Aleh Tsyvinski.

The first-of-its-kind study integrates psychiatric scholarship with economic modeling to better understand the macroeconomic effects of mental illness in the United States.

The study was prepared as a working paper of the National Bureau of Research, a private nonprofit U.S. organization that includes researchers from leading U.S. universities, economics professional organizations, and the business and labor communities.

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New York’s mental health court system will soon see an extra $33 million investment for treatment services, as part of the newly minted $237 billion budget.

“[I] just took a tour of former cells, holding centers, that are now going to be turned into rooms of healing where we can address people and help them get on a healthy path towards recovery,” Gov. Kathy Hochul said at the Midtown Community Justice Center on Wednesday.

The governor has made mental health one of the cornerstones of her state budgets — announcing a multi-year, $1 billion plan in 2023.

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