Long Island, NY - November 7, 2017 - Senator John E. Brooks was honored by NAMI (National Alliance on Mental Illness) Queens/Nassau for his mental health advocacy at their Legislative Conversation on November 2 in Manhasset. Senator Brooks is the ranking minority member on the NYS Senate Committee for Mental Health and Developmental Disabilities, and convenes workshops of his Mental Health Community Task Force.
The Senator will be sponsoring a free Public Education forum for the general public on Friday night, December 8th on “What is Mental Illness? - How families and others can support those struggling with mental illness”. The program, sponsored in partnership with NAMI will be held at the Brookside School, Bellmore-Merrick CHS District Administration Building at 1260 Meadowbrook Road in North Merrick, NY from 7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.
Senator Brooks recently spoke passionately about the need for fair and adequate funding at a mental health budget committee. “With one-in-four adults living with a mental illness in any given year, we are far beyond the point for mental health discussions to be shrouded in shame or fear. Mental health is just one aspect of every person’s overall health and well-being and it deserves diagnosis, respectful treatment, education and funding the same way as society addresses other illnesses such as cancer, diabetes or heart conditions.”