CONSUMER AFFAIRS BULLETIN
Volume 3, No. 2 Summer 1998

Walk the Walk

Walk with us - For all of us was the theme of the first ever mental health walk held in Washington, D.C. on May 2 sponsored by SAMHSA and CMHS in partnership with the nation’s leading mental health groups.

The Saturday morning mile-long walk in the Nation’s Capital brought together an estimated 5,000 consumers/survivors, families, advocates and providers to Walk the Walk: for lives touched by mental illness to heighten public awareness and understanding of mental illness.

Many consumers/survivors traveled to Washington from all regions of the country in buses, cars, trains and planes. Damp weather did not dampen the spirits of the attendees. People with a broad range of perspectives on mental health issues gathered together to make their voices heard.This included a demonstration focused on forced treatment, involuntary medications and restraints and seclusion. Participants had the opportunity to take a step toward dispelling misconceptions about mental illness, a step toward gaining self respect for people with mental illness, and a step toward celebrating mental health.

A short presentation prior to the walk included comments by the President of the District of Columbia Mental Health Consumers’ League Regina Morgan Duvall. Ms. Duvall told the audience, "Thanks be to a power greater than me, I have come to understand that stigma is a phenomenon outside of me to be reckoned with by me as nothing less, but certainly nothing more. I have come to realize that when my diagnosis first became a major part of my life, it was a trauma as significant to my mind and body as an earthquake far off the Richter scale in intensity, and more disruptive to my life than the fiercest tornado or hurricane ever know to woman/mankind. At the same time, I came to terms with the fact that I was then and am now a survivor with the ability to rise to the occasion."

Another speaker, Ms. Senora Simpson, spoke of the experience of being a family member who loves someone with mental illness. "Because of the stigma associated with this illness, there is an automatic roadblock to reaching out for help; I often felt alone," she said. "There is a tendency for people who do not fully understand what mental illness is to simply ignore the pain you are feeling...We must change how the public perceives mental illness - and it is up to us to educate them... We must encourage acceptance of those with mental illness and demand better health care from medical professionals. The lives of our loved ones depend on it."

Taking the lead in Walk the Walk were U.S. Assistant Secretary for Health and Surgeon General David Satcher, SAMHSA Administrator Nelba Chavez, Ph.D., CMHS Director Bernard Arons, M.D., Co-Chairs Ellen Peña, wife of Secretary of Energy Federico Peña, Patricia Kempthorne, wife of Senator Dirk Kempthorne of Idaho, and actor Rod Steiger, among others. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Donna Shalala, Tipper Gore, Mental health Policy Advisor to the President, and Rosalynn Carter, Chair of the Carter Center Mental Health Task Force, served as honorary co-chairs of the event.

"The consumer and family self-help movements have been critical in advancing positive changes in mental health care because of consumer activists like Ms. Duvall" said Dr. Satcher. An example of self-help in practice was the Peer Support Respite Center that was staffed by consumer/survivor volunteers exclusively. A number of consumer/survivor Walk participants came to the respite center to take a break in a safe and comfortable space and speak with their peers. It was, in effect, a mobile drop-in center that demonstrated that consumers/survivors can, indeed, practice self-help anywhere at anytime.

SAMHSA Administrator Dr. Chavez proclaimed, " We are on the road to success. We walked a mile in celebration, but we still have miles to go, and much work to be done."

The togetherness of the supporters of Walk the Walk evidenced itself in an educational tent set up adjacent to the starting line. Some of the organizations that supported the walk included: the American Counseling Association; American Mental Health Counselors Association; American Psychiatric Association; American Psychological Association; American Psychiatric Nurses Association; Anxiety Disorders Association of America; Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law; Congressional and Cabinet Spouses Mental Health Task Force; Federation of Families for Children’s Mental Health; International Association of Psychosocial Rehabilitation Services; Madness: User Voices in Public Mental Health; National Alliance for the Mentally Ill; National Association of Psychiatric Treatment Centers for Children; National Association of Social Workers; National Association of State Mental Health Program Directors; National Council for Community Behavioral Healthcare; National Depressive and Manic-Depressive Association; National Institute of Mental Health; National Mental Health Association; and National Mental Health Consumers’ Self-Help Clearinghouse.

"Mental health problems affect all ages and all ethnic and income groups," said CMHS Director Bernard S. Arons, M.D. "Individuals with a mental health problem can and often do include our friends, neighbors, co-workers, families and loved ones. Today’s Walk the Walk is a highly important step in our efforts to educate all Americans on accomplishments and future initiatives in mental health care."

Consumer Affairs Bulletin
Volume 3, No. 2, Summer 1998