NJAMHAA-70th-anniversary-publication

7 1958 - Synanon, the rst self-directed therapeutic community, was founded. 1964 - Methadone therapy was introduced 1961 - The American Medical Association and American Bar Association called for community-based treatment programs. - Congress created the Commission on Mental Illness and Mental Health. 1960 - Telehealth was used for the rst time. 1963 - President John F. Kennedy passed the Mental Retardation Facilities and Community Mental Health Centers Construction Act. Building a Bridge to a Better Future - Better psychotropic drugs allowed more patients to leave mental hospitals. - E. Morton Jellinek, founder of alcoholism-focused research centers, published The Disease Concept of Alcoholism. - The concept of treatment communities was introduced, expanding some Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) tenets into residential communities. - Methadone maintenance was recognized as a viable treatment concept. - Outpatient clinics opened across the country. The 1960s voice, which many can attest to from their years of involvement with NJAMHAA. For example: “NJAMHAA was always at the forefront of keeping services alive and always looking ahead because things changed all the time. But, the core was always the same: What NJAMHAA pushed for on behalf of clients never changed,” said Jerome Johnson, MSW, LSW, who joined NJAMHAA in 1985 when he was President and CEO of Family Service Association, which merged with Center for Family Services in 2018. Johnson also served on the NJAMHAA Board from 2003 through 2010. Philip Wilson, LCSW, former CEO of West Bergen Mental Healthcare and a former NJAMHAA Board member, recalled NJAMHAA’s successful advocacy push for funding to increase salaries in the late 1980s. The association is also known for building camaraderie and support among members, which Wilson saw as one of the main benefits of membership, along with advocacy. “No one under- stands what we go through better than a group of peers. We have more advocacy power as a group,” he said. Joe Masciandaro, MA, who learned about NJAMHAA in 1977 when he applied for his current role of President and CEO of CarePlus New Jersey, formerly known as the Mid-Bergen Community Mental Health Center, shared that one of NJAMHAA’s major victories was the doubling of per-capita funding from $1 to $2 in the 1980s. Masciandaro served on the NJAMHAA Board from the late 1970s, “NJAMHAA was always at the forefront of keeping services alive and always looking ahead because things changed all the time. But, the core was always the same: What NJAMHAA pushed for on behalf of clients never changed.” - Jerome Johnson, Former NJAMHAA Board Member