News July 2013 Vol. 19 No. 7

1917 Winnebago St, Madison WI 53704 608-249-7477 copia@sbcglobal.net

cornucopia-arts-inc.org

Cornucopia is an arts and wellness center run for and by people with mental health issues and their allies.

Through peership we promote growth and dignity by helping members develop

strengths and talents which build personal, professional, and community life skills.

Thinking of beginning or returning to work? How to balance mental health and career goals? Careers & Recovery can help! Although each of us develops our own Career Path, taking the journey with Peers who understand can help us conquer fears and overcome obstacles and share our successes! Designed by & for mental health peers/consumers - Set long & short-term goals - Develop positive self image - Find strengths, skills, interests - How work affects benefits - Develop a strong network - Cope with stress and triggers - Interviewing skills - Strategies for success at work Facilitated by Certified Peer Specialists with training & lived experience balancing mental health & career

Marni Roiniotis, CPS Karen Herro, BSN, RN, CPS Knowledgeable guest speakers answer your questions A chance to check in and share support Exercises & discussions help you define and focus on your strengths, skills and goals Starts in July at Cornucopia 1917 Winnebago Street Madison

$125 per person includes materials Ask your DVR counselor for assistance.

Funds may be available through other programs. Grassroots Empowerment Project may be able

to provide full or partial scholarships. To register, apply for a scholarship

or for more information, contact:608-515-6907 800-770-2002 marnicps@gmail.com

FoodShare application assistance Free, personalized, confidential help applying for FoodShare benefits (QUEST card).

Mondays 1:00-5:00 South Madison Library 2222 S Park St 877-366-3635

Wednesdays 3:00-6:00 (until Aug 21) Madison Public Library Hawthorne branch 2707 E Washington Av 877-366-3635

Life

Life is real

Life is short

Life can be mysterious

every day you wake up

- Candice Williams

Cornucopia staff/volunteers Liz Campbell, Kirstin Christianson, Jane Downing, Johnny Hearty, Karen Herro, Danuta Jakimowicz,

Kevin Kelly, Christine Kopish, Terri Nicewander, Kim Owens, Christina Vandenhouten

Accountant Kurt Haney Executive director Gregory Smith

Board of directors Pres. William Parke-Sutherland, V.P. Karen Herro, Sec. Tracy Miller, Treas. Steven J Thomas,

Elizabeth Campbell, Kevin Fosler, Danuta Jakimowicz, Matthew Strickland, Christina Vandenhouten

With support from Volunteer program sponsored in part by

Overture Center For the Arts.

Overture Center engages people

of every economic status, race, and culture,

and from every area of the community, in the arts.

Sponsor of clay at Cornucopia

918 Williamson St Madison

info@midwestclayproject.com

Sponsor for this season’s

Cornucopia gardeners

4062 Cty Rd A, Stoughton 53589

608-873-8329 www.theflowerfactorynursery.com

And the federal

Community Mental Health Block Grant,

administered by Wisconsin Devision of

Mental Health & Substance Abuse Services.

In 2014-15 the Wisc. State Budget includes $1.3 million

to open Three Regional Peer Run Respites

- each with a Warmline

WE HAVE WORK TO DO TO GET READY

LEARN FROM OTHER STATES

13 other states have peer-run respites. As we devel-

op our own peer-run respites in WI, we can use the

knowledge and experience of leaders from peer-run

respites in other states. To set the stage for our own

planning and development, GEP will host three edu-

cational conference calls. Each session will feature a

guest speaker from a peer-run respite who will share

their information and experience with us and re-

spond to our questions. We invite consumers, peers

and allies of peer-run respites to join us in learning

more about peer-run respites.

JULY 8 7:00 -8:30pm Jayme Lynch

Georgia Peer Support & Wellness Center in Decatur GA

JULY 10 2:00 -3:30 Gloria van den Burg

Alyssum Inc in Rochester VT

JULY 11 10:00 -11:30am Sera Davidow

AFIYA in Northampton MA

Conference Number for ALL Calls: 1 866 740 1260

Pass Code: 2065094#

GUIDELINES:

Because we anticipate many callers, we limit

introductions to the moderator and guest speaker.

Please call from a quiet environment,

and MUTE your phone unless you are asking a question.

During the question and answer period,

callers will need to take turns and wait to be recognized.

Hope You Can Make Some or All of the Calls!

“Nothing About Us Without Us”

Grassroots Empowerment Project Announces PEER DEVELOPMENT OF PEER-RUN RESPITES

These learning teleconferences will be followed by in-person Listening Sessions around Wisconsin to hear from you.

Eau Claire, Green Bay, Milwaukee, La Crosse, Washburn, Stevens Point, Madison: At Cornucopia, August 13th Tuesday 10:00 to 2:00

Watch for details next month.

Save the Date

United We Stand Wisconsin Presents

Empowerment Days 2013 August 27-29 Concourse Hotel, Madison Registration Fee: $30 Scholarships available for cost of hotel and food only

Start making your travel arrangements! Carpool assistance & driver incentives

Watch for the registration brochure, coming soon

Fair Use In accordance with Title 17 USC Section 107, this material is distributed without profit to those

who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes.

Disability Pride Festival! Forward to possibility Saturday July 27 12:00 to 5:00 Brittingham Park, 401 S Brittingham Place, Madison

Discover new perspectives on experiences we all share. Challenge stereotypes about disabled people and our lives.

We are part of a talented, accomplished and vibrant community. Come together at Madison’s first Disability Pride Festival

to share talents, skills, arts, energy, and pride in being who we are. Build on a long tradition of disability pride celebrations around the world.

Accessible by public transit & wheelchair. ASL interpreted. Share this event with your friends and RSVP on our Facebook or Google Plus event pages.

To volunteer, contribute, or if you have questions, call 608-335-1180. Planning meeting Wednesday July 17 6:15 at Access To Independence

3810 Milwaukee St Www.DisabilityPrideMadison.com

The New York state SAFE Act, as of March 16, made it

mandatory that physicians, psychologists, registered nurses and

licensed clinical social workers report patients who are “likely to

engage in conduct that would result in serious harm to self or

others.”

“I’m really concerned that people will become fearful

about coming to services or maybe won’t access services ... or

they may be less forthcoming with clinicians,” said Sherrie Gil-

lette, director of community services at Clinton County Mental

Heath and Addiction Services.

According to the SAFE Act’s reporting stipulations,

a person’s behavior must justify the need for immediate action to

ensure the safety of the public and can include threats or attempts

at suicide or serious self-inflicted bodily harm or homicidal or

violent behavior toward others.

Mental-health professionals are required to use

“reasonable professional judgment” when deciding whether to

report someone. “It would mean a judgment call every single

time,” Gillette said.

Mental-health agencies eye new gun law

By FELICIA KRIEG June 18 Press-Republican, Plattasburgh NY

On April 1, attorney Jacqueline Kelleher of Platts-

burgh NY submitted a formal inquiry to the Office of Mental

Health regarding SAFE Act reporting. “There’s a lack of due

process” in the law, she said. People aren’t notified that they’re

being reported and aren’t given a chance to respond to the situ-

ation, Kelleher said. “I think there’s not a problem with gun

control, but it should be done fairly.”

The [federal] Health Insurance Portability and Ac-

countability Act (HIPAA) allows for informational disclosures

to be made without the patient’s consent if they are required by

law, the Office of Mental Health said. But it doesn’t seem that

straightforward, Trout said. “Attorneys have advised us that

the law doesn’t adequately address HIPAA.” BHSN will not

release any clinical information unless the patient consents to

it, he said.

In an emergency room or a psychiatric unit, it’s not

unusual for mental-health patients to say they want to hurt

themselves, Gillette said. That is often the reason people are

admitted into the hospital in the first place, Schmidt-Twiss

said. So, a “fair percentage” of mental-health patients at CVPH

are reported to Gillette, she said.

Privacy issues in mental health care still elusive June 19 By Elana Gordon newsworks.org

In the health arena, laws exist to ensure that person-

al health information is kept confidential. A mainstay of this

is the federal Health Insurance Portability and Accountabil-

ity Act, known as HIPAA. According to Nadine Kaslow,

chief psychologist at Emery University School of Medicine

and president-elect of the American Psychological Associa-

tion, "HIPAA is vague ... under what conditions you can

share. You need to think about on the one hand protecting

the patient privacy, and on the other, ensuring the patient

gets the highest quality of care.”

For example, when is it all right for a therapist to

share information with others, such as a family member,

without breaching patient confidentiality? While that's justi-

fied in some emergencies, patient advocates want to be sure

that such information doesn't get in the wrong hands, and

that the stigma of mental illness doesn't prevent people from

getting care.

A bigger challenge, according to Dr. Arther Evans, com-

missioner for the Philadelphia Department of Behavioral Health

and Intellectual Disability Services, is that many practitioners

don't have a clear understanding of these privacy laws -- and even

misinterpret them.

"One example of that is that a family member calls up

and says, 'Is my father there?' or brother or sister, and the provider

says, 'I can't tell you anything,'" Evans said. "But [they] could say,

for example, 'I can't answer that question now, but if you give me

some information I will see if I can help you.' And so that gives

the person the opportunity to go back and engage in their treat-

ment."

Complicating the matter even more is that state and local

privacy laws may vary. Health reform rases the stakes on privacy

issues, with more people gaining access to mental health services

and dong so in different ways. These complexities make it hard

for consensus around one common approach.

Health Care Provider Records Fees

July 1, 2013 – June 30, 2014

Patient record fees are available at page 61 of

Wisconsin Administrative Register No. 690.

Under Wis. Stat. §146.83, the adjusted dollar amounts

that a health care provider may charge for providing

copies of a patient’s health care records are as follows:

Paper Copies

First 25 pages $1.04

Pages 26 to 50 $0.77

Pages 51 to 100 $0.52

Pages 101 and above $0.31

Microfiche or Microfilm (per page) $1.55

Print of an X−ray (per image) $10.32

If the requestor is not the patient or

a person authorized by the patient Certification of Copies $8.26

Retrieval Fee $20.65

Actual Shipping Costs and Any Applicable Taxes

For fee related questions: Please contact the Bureau of

Fiscal Services at 608−266−8217

For statute interpretation questions: Please contact the

Office of Legal Counsel at 608−266−0885

How The Federal Government Plans to

End Homelessness in Canada huffingtonpost.ca 04/26/2013

Housing First programs have been shown

across the Unites States to effectively end homeless-

ness by providing immediate access to housing and

then providing treatment and support services. Previ-

ously, individuals had to meet milestones (such as so-

briety and mental health counseling) just to be eligible

for housing.

In Canada, the largest randomized controlled

trial of its kind in the world on homelessness compared

Housing First to services as usual involving 2,255 par-

ticipants who were homeless across five Canadian cit-

ies (the At Home/Chez Soi study). The one-year results

indicate that HF is significantly more effective than

services as usual in providing stable housing for people

who had been homeless for years and who have com-

plex clinical needs.

For every two government dollars invested in

the HF program, one dollar was saved. Savings were

even greater for those who used services the most, three

dollars saved for every two dollars spent.

Housing First moves people rapidly from shel-

ters or the streets into stable housing and provides evi-

dence-based clinical and social supports to address so-

cial, mental health, health, addiction, educational, em-

ployment and other issues.

Providing services using a team approach and

coordinating housing, clinical, and social supports re-

duces fragmentation of services and improves collabo-

ration.

Priced Out in 2012 The Housing Crisis for People with Disabilities

c2013 Technical Assistance Collaborative Inc

www.tacinc.org/knowledge-resources/priced-out-findings

Supplemental Security Income (SSI) is the federal

program that assists people with significant and long-term

disabilities who have virtually no assets and – in most in-

stances – no other source of income.

Because of the huge disparity between SSI pay-ments and rental housing costs, the most vulnerable non-elderly adults in our nation are often forced to choose be-tween homelessness or placement in a segregated and re-strictive institutional setting, such as an Adult Care Home, nursing home, or other congregate setting. People with disabilities ‘housed’ in institutional settings disappear from the public eye. SSI recipients who manage to rent a lower cost

unit are likely to be living in seriously substandard hous-

ing, in a dangerous neighborhood, or using all of their

income to pay their landlord each month. People in these

circumstances are at great risk of homelessness and con-

stantly struggle to meet other basic needs, such as food,

transportation, and clothing.

The average annual income of a single individual

receiving SSI payments was $8,714 – equal to 19% of the

national median income for a one-person household and

almost 22% below the 2012 federal poverty level. [In Wis-

consin in 2012, 75 thousand SSI recipients received

monthly payments of $781, 20% of median income.

1-bedroom apartment rent was 75% of SSI payment, effi-

ciency apartment 63% of SSI.]

SSI supplements funded by 21 states provided

additional income to people with disabilities who were

living independently in the community and receiving fed-

eral SSI. [Wisconsin supplement was $83.78.] Even with

this additional income, SSI recipients were still unable to

afford the rents charged for modestly priced units across

those 21 states.

(Continued next page)

Permanent Supportive Housing

Permanent supportive housing combines afforda-

ble housing (Housing Choice Voucher, public housing,

etc.) with services and supports financed by Medicaid or

state-funded programs.

Olmstead and Chronic Homelessness In June 1999, the U.S. Supreme Court issued its decision in Olmstead vs. L.C. – an ADA action brought against the State of Georgia by two women with SSI-level incomes who remained confined to a state psychiatric institution even though they wanted to move back to the community, and their doctors had determined they could live in the community with appropriate services and sup-ports. Since the Olmstead decision legal advocates, as well as the U.S. Department of Justice, have initiated success-ful Olmstead litigation or ADA investigations in a number of states. Olmstead Settlement Agreements negotiated in

recent years call for creation of 30,000-40,000 new perma-

nent supportive housing opportunities. The extreme

housing affordability gap for the lowest-income people

with disabilities is a significant barrier to implementing

these agreements – and for states trying to avoid ADA

litigation.

Shortage of ELI Housing

From the early 1970s until the mid-1990s, HUD’s annual budget funded 4.3 million subsidized housing resources for households with ELI-level incomes, includ-ing SSI recipients. Over the past 20 years, the supply of HUD subsidized housing has only increased to 4.6 mil-lion. Instead of focusing on needs of the poorest Ameri-cans, growth in the affordable housing sector has primar-ily benefited households above 30% of Area Median In-come, through federal programs such as HOME and the Low Income Housing Tax Credit program.

Cuts in Supportive Housing Between 1995 and 2011, new units created by HUD’s Section 811 Supportive Housing – which assists people with disabilities to leave institutional settings – declined 80 percent. New supportive housing units creat-ed each year through HUD’s Homeless Assistance pro-grams declined 50% over the past decade. This has contributed to the increase in the num-

ber of younger people with disabilities who live in nurs-

ing homes and other segregated facilities, and people

with disabilities who are homeless or at-risk of homeless-

ness. The situation has made it impossible for families to

make long-term plans for their adult children with disa-

bilities who still live at home with aging parents. Efforts

to expand community-based services and supports

through Medicaid and the DHHS Money Follows the Per-

son Demonstration program, are also affected by the lack

of decent, safe and accessible housing affordable to people

with SSI-level incomes.

Policy Recommendations

by Consortium for Citizens with Disabilities Housing

Task Force and Technical Assistance Collaborative

Federal rental assistance – meaning a permanent

subsidy that helps renters pay no more than 30% of their

income for housing – is the key to solving the housing cri-

sis documented in Priced Out studies over the past 14

years. Federal rent subsidy programs currently reach only

1 of 4 eligible households. This translates into long waiting

lists at Public Housing Agencies (PHAs) and a critical

shortage of permanent supportive housing opportunities

for the most vulnerable people with disabilities who have

SSI-level incomes.

Providing housing assistance to people with the

most significant and long-term disabilities is more cost

effective than funding restrictive institutional settings or

allowing people to remain homeless.

Expand the New Section 811 Project Rental Assistance

Demonstration TAC and CCD call on Congress to pro-

vide sufficient funding over the next five years to expand

HUD’s innovative Section 811 PRA approach to all 50

states and DC.

Fund the Goals and Strategies in the Federal Opening

Doors Plan In 2010, the U.S. Interagency Council pub-

lished Opening Doors, the first ever federal strategic plan to

prevent and end homelessness. HUD’s Homeless Assis-

tance programs and the HUD-Veterans Affairs Supportive

Housing (HUD-VASH) program are critically important to

achieving the goals in Opening Doors. Provide Funding for Full Utilization of HUD’s Main-

stream Housing Programs Limits on federal discretionary

spending are seriously eroding the number of households

that can be assisted. Public Housing Authorities don’t

have enough capital funding to make essential repairs.

PHA administrative funding has also been cut.

Expand Housing Opportunities for SSI Recipients through the National Housing Trust Fund The National Housing Trust Fund (NHTF) was authorized by Congress in 2008 as the first permanent federal housing program that is not subject to annual discretionary appropriations, and targeted to ELI households. Because of this income targeting, the NHTF could benefit people with disabilities who rely on SSI payments, and would be the ideal pro-gram to use with the Section 811 PRA Demonstration pro-gram.

(From previous page)

Membership $36 $24 for rest of 2013 608-249-7477 copia@sbcglobal.net

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Sunday

12:00-3:00

Women-only space

Monday

10:30 Bonsai wire sculpture

with Kevin

12:00 Poetry writing

with Kaitlyn

July 29 5:15 Board Meeting

Tuesday Open

Wednesday

2:00 Yoga

Cornucopia Inc

1917 Winnebago St

Madison WI 53704

Return service requested

Nonprofit Org US Postage

PAID Madison WI

Permit No. 1005

Thursday

10:30 Clay

with Danuta

1:30 Drawing

with Terri

Friday

1:00 Paint ceramic

figurines

with Liz

Come in and cool off! Bring a friend!

July 2013 Open Mon-Fri 10-3:00