The Mental Health bills for the Deaf, Deafblind and Hard of Hearing (DDBHOH) communities that the National Association of Social Workers and dedicated community members have been working on for a long time, will be ready for co-sponsors on Tuesday! It is important that you contact your State Rep and ask them to co-sponsor. Rep Howrylak and Rep Phelps are sponsors and they need support.

A few facts:

• The DDBHOH population is 2-5 times more likely to suffer from a mental illness, often due to trauma, abuse, and language deprivation.
  
• There are as many as 40,000 Deaf and over 1 million Hard of Hearing people in Michigan, yet there are only a handful of competent mental health professional known as providing direct, culturally and linguistically appropriate services to this population.
  
• The only available substance abuse services in Michigan only provide interpreters 3 days out of the week, leaving Deaf clients isolated the rest of the week when hearing people are getting treatment.