NAMI Consumer Council Honors Advocates for People Living with Mental Illness

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Jun 30, 2012, 06:24 ET

WASHINGTON, June 30, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Consumer Council of the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) honored Marc Jacques of Texas and Howard Trachtman of Massachusetts with awards at NAMI's national convention in Seattle, June 27-30.

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Jacques received the Ken Steele Award, recognizing his efforts to empower individuals living with mental illness and improve their lives. He has fought to overcome the stigma associated with mental illness for over 25 years and has become a powerful advocate for the inclusion of recovery principles and language in state policies and service definitions.

Trachtman received the Gloria Huntley Award, recognizing his efforts to eliminate the use of restraints and seclusion in the treatment of individuals living with mental illness. He has chaired the Council's Restraint and Seclusion Committee for 10 years.

The Consumer Council is an advisory body to the NAMI Board of Directors, consisting of individuals who have or have had a mental illness. Each state and the District of Columbia are represented on the Council.

The Ken Steele Award is named in honor of a national consumer leader who wrote The Day the Voices Stopped: A Memoir of Madness and Hope, about his battle with schizophrenia and advocacy career. He died in 2000.

The Gloria Huntley Award honors a woman who died after being constantly restrained at Central State Hospital in Virginia in 1996. Her death led to Congressional hearings and legislation and regulatory reforms.

About NAMI
NAMI is the nation's largest grassroots mental health organization dedicated to building better lives for the millions of Americans affected by mental illness. NAMI advocates for access to services, treatment, supports and research and is steadfast in its commitment to raising awareness and building a community of hope.

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SOURCE National Alliance on Mental Illness