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���������� Note: ���������� announced that, in keeping recommendations of our Board and staff’s last strategic plan, we will be rebranding ourselves as the Alliance for Rights and Recovery to exemplify our plans  to extend our promotion of the values of our mission and movement throughout ���������� and the nation. Towards these ends, we are will be engaged in close collaborations with longtime friends and partners in the consumer/survivor, peer support, psychiatric rehabilitation independent living, criminal justice reform and related movements and across the recovery and peer service technical assistance sector. This week’s issue of the Mental Health Weekly featured the article below on our rebrand, ,which will be launched on October 9^th with a new website, logo and the like and with a joyous evening celebration at the evening’s Annual Conference program. Stay tuned for more details!

A ���������� Name Change Reflects Broader National Focus, Emphasis on Recovery
By Valerie Canady | Mental Health Weekly | September 25, 2023

Citing a mission to enhance its state and national impact with a continued focus on recovery, social justice and human rights, the ���������� Association of Psychiatric Rehabilitation Services (����������) this month announced it is rebranding itself as the Alliance for Rights and Recovery. The name change becomes official on Oct. 9.

The rebranding represents the first new name for ���������� since 1981, when it was initially formed and referred to as the ���������� Association of Psychosocial Rehabilitation Services, followed by the ���������� Association of Psychiatric Rehabilitation Services nearly 10 years later. (The name of the national organization, Psychiatric Rehabilitation Association, will remain the same.)

The statewide coalition of individuals who use and/or provide recovery-oriented community based mental health services, is renowned for its promotion of the recovery and rights of people with psychiatric disabilities and full community inclusion.

The CEO of ���������� said the organization’s rebranding was “a natural development,” Harvey Rosenthal told MHW. “This wasn’t something planned out. It’s a response to what the people need and what the times call for.”

���������� is also well known for its strong partnership with individuals; coalitions, such as the National Coalition for Mental Health Recovery; providers; peers and national organizations. “We’re going to be expanding the work we do on a national basis,” said Rosenthal. The organization’s five main identifiers are:

• Grassroots advocacy;
• Technical assistance recovery, rehabilitation and self-determination;
• Communications, conferences, webinars, and a daily e-news service;
• ���������� state member services; and
• Peer-service innovation, including “peer bridger” and INSET (Intensive, Sustained Engagement Teams) a voluntary, peer-led, outreach and support model for people who otherwise would be placed on outpatient commitment orders.

(See MH advocates denounce NYC mayor’s plan to hospitalize homeless with SMI; MHW, Dec. 12, 2022; ).

Invited to the Table

Over the years, ���������� has been invited to meet with members of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, the ���������� from page 1 U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the U.S. Department of Justice. ���������� has also been asked to speak at numbers of conferences and webinars.

As the ���������� Association of Psychosocial Rehabilitation Services during the 1980s, the association had its origins in the state’s clubhouse communities. Clubhouses during the 1990s were known for promoting hope, dignity, a sense of belonging and community, and connecting people with jobs and housing, explained Rosenthal.

Since then, it has evolved. “Our mission remains very strong; we’re providing rights and recovery, inclusivity and psychiatric rehab peer [support],” he said. The organization continues to address criminal justice reform and coercion.

“People have responded with great enthusiasm,” he noted. Meanwhile, ���������� is not looking to be a membership organization on a national basis, he said. The organization’s base in ���������� state will remain.

Leadership Role

����������’ rebranding to become the Alliance for Rights and Recovery means the organization has taken on a leadership role, said Luke Sikinyi, director of public policy and public engagement at ����������. The organization is the “go-to” when it comes to rights and recovery, he said. “A lot of groups are looking to have an organization like ours,” Sikinyi told MHW. “We’re focusing on individuals getting into recovery services and the rights of the individuals.”

Sikinyi added, “As the Alliance for Rights and Recovery rolls out its new name, it’s important to have a voice at the table as we transition to a more robust mental health system and have the voices of the people represented. We want to give more voice to a lot of people at national tables.”

The Alliance for Rights and Recovery will continue to work on policies that will support alternative options to forced treatment, for example, said Sikinyi. “We want services that are voluntary and person-centered,” he stated.

“People welcome our voice,” added Sikinyi, referring to state and national peer, provider, advocacy and family communities, as well as state and national government and the media. The rebranding of ���������� has never been needed more, he said.

Sikinyi added, “People are much likelier to enter recovery when they are in charge of choosing the services and supports they need.”

Addressing Concerns

Rosenthal explained more about the ongoing work ���������� is doing to address advocacy concerns in California and ����������, for example, where the expanded use of coercion is present in both inpatient and outpatient facilities.

“Hospitals are adding beds, not reducing them,” he said. “We’re seeing a lot of false associations with violence.” Since the passage of Kendra’s Law — a ���������� state law concerning involuntary outpatient commitment, also known as assisted outpatient treatment — in November 1999, “we’ve been fighting forced treatment in the state and nationally,” said Rosenthal.

The fight against Kendra’s Law had been heard not just in ����������, but nationally and in other countries, such as Spain and Denmark. “It’s a voice that needs to be heard in all these settings,” he said.

���������� recently testified against assisted outpatient treatment in Massachusetts and did the same previously in New Mexico, said Rosenthal. “We go where we’re called and where we think we can help,” he said.

During the early 1990s, ���������� created its peer-bridger model. “We’ve created a highly acclaimed and replicated peer-led model aimed at helping people to successfully transition from institutions, including state and local hospitals and adult homes, into communities of choice,” Rosenthal noted.

The organization is expanding and at the right time, he noted. “We’re fortunate in ���������� to have doubled our staff over the last year or two,” he said. “We’ve added administrative staff making us better prepared for this expansion. We’re poised to do this work and our aim is to not get ahead of ourselves.”

“One of our goals is to bring together expert consultants to promote peer support, recovery, rehabilitation, and practices to local, state and federal governments, providers, peers and families, as well as hospitals and managed care plans, said Rosenthal. He noted that one of the most valuable things the organization can do is support a national technical assistance center that would include “decades of wisdom,” and to also contract with other states and other entities to package it.

The work that ���������� has done in ����������, in the areas of rehabilitation programs, criminal justice reform and peer-support advocacy across disability groups is what they aim to do nationally, he said. “We’ve always been deeply committed to our community,” said Rosenthal. “We are the community.”

���������� also intends to make the announcement about its new name at its upcoming 41st annual conference, “Promoting Rights Across the Nation, Recovery Across the Lifespan,” Sept. 26–28 in Callicoon, ����������.

On Oct. 9, ���������� will identify itself as the Alliance for Rights and Recovery (formerly ����������) in all communications, materials, its newly redesigned website and an enhanced internet presence.