Advocates descend on Albany to oppose Kendra’s Law expansion - NEWS10 ABC

ALBANY, N.Y. (NEWS10) — After New York State Senator Diane Savino proposed an expansion on Kendra’s Law, a group of mental health and criminal justice advocates descended upon Albany to listen to experts about why they are opposing any expansion.

Under Kendra’s Law, courts in New York State can determine treatment for people with a severe mental illness, sometimes involuntarily. “Kendra’s court order should be seen as a system failure. Every time an order goes out we should say how did we fail to engage this person,” says Harvey Rosenthal, CEO of the New York Association of Psychiatric Rehabilitation Services.

Rosenthal believes Kendra’s Law is the wrong approach to addressing severe mental illness in New York State saying, “too often the court orders are forcing people into the same services that failed them the first time. That doesn’t make any sense. Let’s get these new models up and make them available to people.”

One of the new models Rosenthal talks about is having peers respond to mental health crises, rather than police. Christina Sparrock says when she was having a mental health crisis, police responded for a welfare check to her apartment. When police arrived and began pounding on her door, she felt threatened rather than helped which she says can often stigmatize people not to seek treatment.

“When a peer comes, it’s more like a friendship, buddy buddy,” Sparrock says “they listen to me. They validate my experiences. They make me feel like I’m heard and valued. And I like that relationship because it makes me feel like I’m a human being.”

Brian Stettin, who conceived the law says:

In January of 1999, Kendra Webdale was waiting for a train in Manhattan when 29-year old Andrew Goldstein pushed Webdale into the path of the oncoming train. Webdale died immediately. Goldstein had a history with mental illness.

In Governor Kathy Hochul’s executive budget, Kendra’s Law could potentially be extended and expanded for another five years until 2027. The law has a sunset clause in it which requires law makers to extend or eliminate the law every five years.

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source: https://www.news10.com/news/advocates-descend-on-albany-to-oppose-kendras-law-expansion/

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