Advocacy E-News May 22, 2018
April 11, 2016
KIDS’ SUICIDE-RELATED HOSPITAL VISITS RISE SHARPLY
From 2008 to 2015, the proportion of emergency room and hospital encounters for suicide-related diagnoses almost tripled. Seeking help for depression, or for suicidal thoughts, is actually a good thing, much better than not seeking help, but the increase is part of a disturbing trend of rising distress among adolescents.
KNOW THE EARLY WARNING SIGNS ABOUT TEEN SUICIDE
Lawmakers are considering a variety of approaches to stem an epidemic that makes suicide the third leading cause of death among New Jersey’s young people. State Sen. Richard Codey (D-Livingston) is backing a plan that would enhance schools’ capacity to provide mental health services, as well as create a statewide Teen Suicide and Depression Task Force to study prevention methods and come back to legislators within a year with a well-developed strategy.
HIGHER TAXES FOR NJ WITH NO REVENUE SURGE TO PAY FOR PROGRAMS
Budget updates from Treasurer Elizabeth Maher Muoio and the nonpartisan Office of Legislative Services reached the same conclusion: There was no “April surprise” of big income tax gains that could pay for schools, pensions and other Murphy priorities. The revenue forecast presents lawmakers with a stark set of choices as they enter the critical phase of developing a budget for the year beginning July 1.
NEW JERSEY’S STATEWIDE VETERANS DIVERSION PROGRAM
We owe veterans who return home with conditions that bring them into the criminal justice system the assistance they need to resume their lives as productive citizens. Our nation does a good job of treating soldiers’ physical wounds, but we are terrible at treating their psychological scars. In New Jersey, after Dec. 1, 2017, veterans arrested for certain crimes can be diverted from the criminal justice system for appropriate case management and mental health services.
FIND YOUR LOCAL NAMI
