Submitted by David E. Geiger, MEE, PE (retired)
(Sent to me by Janet Hays, Director of Healing Minds NOLA)
Dear David E. Geiger,
Thank you for participating in our February 4th discussion on Housing & Homelessness: Ending Street Suffering. The response was overwhelming, and excitement is growing!
Interest is pouring in from people all across America who are hearing about Hope Street Coalition, a new initiative addressing the intersection of homelessness, mental illness, and addiction. Hope Street seeks to help people deteriorating in plain sight through advocacy and raising awareness of suffering on the streets.
Healing Minds NOLA is honored to have been chosen to host the launch of Hope Street Coalition with guests Paul Webster, former Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Advisor; Dr. Drew Pinsky, physician & popular media figure; and Dr. Elinore McCance-Katz, First Assistant Secretary under HHS for Mental Health & Substance Use and the Director of the Substance Use and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA).
Hope Street Coalition will partner with anyone, and any organization, ready to change the status quo. Together, through advocacy, the Coalition will put an end to the shameful abandonment of people living with chronic untreated serious mental illnesses and substance use disorders to our streets, prisons, jails, and morgues. Goals include:
Reduce the amount of unsheltered homelessness,
Increase the amount of treatment beds and units,
Remove obstacles to treatment,
Encourage the participation of families and loved ones, and
Stop treating those with illnesses as criminals.
Hope Street will work to immediately address the antiquated discriminatory and harmful rule - known as the "IMD Exclusion" (click on this) - that has fueled the decades long decline of long-term psychiatric bed capacity. By uniting our voices, we can remove this policy barrier that has led to so much suffering.
Be sure to connect at http://hopestreetcoalition.org to stay engaged. A new strategy will be unveiled soon!
Janet Hays, Director - Healing Minds NOLA
HealingMindsNOLA@gmail.com
(504) 274 6091
To read more articles, access David Geiger’s blog at www.davidegeiger.com
To read Goodreads reviews of In the Matter of Edwin Potter go to www.davidegeiger.com
IMOEP is available at Amazon, Goodreads, Barnes & Noble, and www.davidegeiger.com
See also In the Matter of Edwin Potter by David Geiger | News Feature - YouTube
David Geiger is a retired, licensed, and awarded electrical engineer who spent 7 years in psychiatric hospitals and over 40 years since 1979 in the courts