Policy Center

NAMI Chicago’s policy priorities are developed from the voice and needs of our community, and advance a vision of a well city and community that supports people’s mental health. We envision a world where everyone has meaningful and equitable access to mental health treatment, and communities have abundant services and resources that promote wellness and recovery.

NAMI Chicago’s four policy priority areas for 2024 are:

QUALITY TREATMENT & SUPPORT

NAMI Chicago believes that everyone should be able to get the right mental health services they want at the right time. We advocate for improved availability, accessibility, quality, safety, and dignity in mental health treatment and the other mental health supports that people seek. We advocate for a strong workforce that is capable of meeting the community’s needs.

EQUITY

NAMI Chicago believes that anti-racism is at the core of advocating for our community’s mental health. We advocate to transform systems that harm marginalized groups, such as the crisis response system and court system. We emphasize policies that support the wellbeing of those groups, such as expanding care and cultural responsivity in BIPOC communities, diversifying the mental health workforce, and addressing trauma.

PREVENTION

NAMI Chicago believes that people deserve mental health support before symptoms are at their worst. We advocate for early screening and education, and to improve the care available to children and young adults. We fight to keep people out of the crisis and court systems through improving community mental health care and increasing connection to longer-term support.

COMMUNITY CONDITIONS

NAMI Chicago believes that advocating for mental wellness includes fighting for housing, economic opportunity, and human rights. We support and elevate these campaigns and offer mental health expertise to partners in these fields.

Policy News

5/31/2024 - $13 million for college mental health services! And other legislative wins.

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5/20/2024 - Last Week to Impact Mental Health Funding

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5/02/2024 - Final Weeks to Support Mental Health

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4/08/2024 - Join Us for a Virtual Rally!

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3/14/2024 - Take Action for Mental Health Supports!

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11/2/2022 - Build your Advocacy Skills with NAMI Chicago

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10/18/2022 - A Place to Go: Visioning Mental Health "Urgent Care" in Chicago and Illinois

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9/15/2022 - What Should Happen When You're Having a Mental Health Crisis?

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9/6/2022 - Last Chance: Share your perspective with NAMI Chicago!

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8/29/2022 - Share Your Voice - Help Shape NAMI Chicago's Policy Priorities

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8/10/2022 - Action Alert - You Can Shape NAMI Chicago's Advocacy Priorities

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7/28/2022 - Register Today! Advocacy Conversations on Mental Health

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7/21/2022 - Share your perspective with NAMI Chicago!

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6/02/2022 - In Celebration Of The Mental Health Inpatient Facility Access Act!

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4/19/2022 - NAMI Smarts Action Alert 04.19.2022 - Legislative Wins

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3/16/2022 - Campus Mental Health Advocacy Day, March 16

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3/09/2022 - Tell Your Legislators to Fund Campus Mental Health

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2/28/2022 - Join NAMI Chicago for a Virtual Advocacy Day to Support Campus Mental Health on March 16th

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2/22/2022 - Submit a Witness Slip to Support NAMI Chicago's Legislative Priorities

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1/26/2022 - Submit a Witness Slip to Support Local Mental Health Funding

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1/12/2022 - Illinois Legislative Session Preview

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11/4/2021: Join NAMI November 15-19 to Reimagine the Crisis System

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9/15/2021: Share Your Story to Improve Mental Health in Illinois

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7/26/2021: Celebrate This Year's State Legislative Wins

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7/16/2021: Resilience and Recovery: Creating Opportunity for Healing in the Court System

Read NAMI Chicago’s report on transforming the experiences of people with mental health conditions in the criminal court system.

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7/14/2021: Improve the Medicaid program by sharing your experience. Email yourmedicaidstory@legalcouncil.org to learn more.

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6/11/2021: Advocacy Engagement Opportunities

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1/28/2021: National Mental Health Advocates Develop Vision for Mental Health and Substance Use Care in the US

This vision provides a platform to create a paradigm shift in the way mental health, substance use, and well-being are prioritized by policymakers.

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1/18/2021: Growing need to support Illinois children’s mental health

Before the pandemic, only a fraction of children who needed mental health treatment were able to access care. Now, it is likely even more difficult.

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11/5/2020: Building a Mental Health Crisis System in Chicago

A comprehensive system to support our City's mental health must have several "levels of care" or intervention alternatives. It's not just about building out a better crisis system.

We advocate with the following core principles:

Lived experience: We elevate people’s lived experience to influence decision-making in policy and other systems. We treat people as people, regardless of diagnosis, history, or symptoms, and we push others to do the same.
Advancing the sector: We strive to be continually learning. We push our community and systems to think bigger, embrace innovation and best practice, and reject the status quo.
Education: We see education as a core component of systemic change, and always seek opportunities to share knowledge with decision-makers and our community.
Mental illness and mental wellness: We fight to improve mental wellness on a community level, while still prioritizing advocacy for people with serious mental illness, following our organization’s history and vision.

Policy Campaigns

Our policy priorities pave the way for NAMI Chicago’s work on numerous policy and advocacy campaigns. Below are just a few of our key issues in 2024.

Mental Health in the Crisis System

Improving mental health crisis care so that every person having a mental health emergency can get the most appropriate, safe, and timely support, as well as connection to follow-up care in the community.

Mental Health in the Court System

Improving how people with mental health needs are treated in the ‘justice’ system, including in the courts, jails, prisons, and state psychiatric hospitals, as well as supporting re-entry into the community.

Campus Mental Health

Expanding prevention and early intervention services, education and supports for college students on Illinois’ 2- and 4- year campuses.

Child and Family Mental Health

Increasing prevention and early intervention services, education and supports for children and youth, wraparound supports for their families, and expanding perinatal mental health care.

Health Insurance

Transforming Medicaid and private health insurance to increase access, affordability, and quality of mental health care. This includes advocating for enforcement of Illinois’ and federal parity laws.

Behavioral Health Workforce

Promoting policies that reduce barriers to care, emphasize quality in all settings, increase training and certification capacity to enable more people to enter careers in mental health and substance use treatment, emphasize diversifying the workforce, and making it easier for people with lived experience to enter the field.

Other Campaigns We Prioritize

Trauma and Community Violence:

Supporting initiatives to reduce community violence, including supporting gun control efforts, and expanding programs to treat the trauma of those affected by violence.

Safe and Affordable Housing:

Supporting campaigns that expand housing options in our community, including supportive housing for people with complex needs, homelessness prevention, affordability, and fair housing.

Societal Inequity:

Supporting advocacy campaigns of all kinds to address inequities in opportunity and quality of life, dismantle structural racism, and support those who are marginalized.

Healthy Communities:

Supporting efforts to increase equitable access to healthy activities that support people’s wellbeing, like improving access to healthy food and exercise as well as promoting clean, safe, and beautiful communities.

If your organization would like to partner with NAMI Chicago on our policy and advocacy efforts, please contact Lily Rocha, Associate Vice President of Policy, at lilyr@namichicago.org. Sign up for policy updates here.

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