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Advocating for Patients and the Profession

The congressional visits culminated two days of briefings on mental health issues by congressional staff and mental health advocates and training sessions for APA members on communicating effectively on Capitol Hill (see facing page).

The APA members attending the three-day program represented 45 states and the District of Columbia. Many of them were new participants and excited about meeting their senators and representatives.

"These appointments also play an important role in our grass-roots advocacy because members of Congress pay attention to what constituents say," noted Nicholas Meyers, director of the APA Department of Government Relations.

APA members attending a reception after their visits also heard from several influential members of Congress, including Sen. Gordon Smith (R-Ore.), who chairs the Senate Special Committee on Aging and is a member of the Senate Committee on Finance. Smith gave the keynote address at the APAPAC reception and received its Distinguished Leadership Award. Smith was the principal sponsor of the Garrett Lee Smith Memorial Act, which APA supported and President Bush signed into law last year. The goal of the law is to reduce suicide among youth.

Rep. Rush Holt (D-N.J.) talks with former APA presidents Marcia Goin, M.D., and Richard Harding, M.D., at the Advocacy Day reception.

Rep. Susan Davis (D-Calif.) meets with California members Captane Thomson, M.D., the legislative representative for the Central California Psychiatric Society; Tom Noyes, M.D., chair of the Committee on Government Relations; and William Callahan, M.D., a member of the APAPAC board.

APA member Robert Keisling, M.D. (far left), of Washington, D.C., has the attention of Rep. Ted Strickland (D-Ohio), Rep. Tim Ryan (D-Ohio), and Benjamin Liptzin, M.D., a member of the APAPAC board.

Assembly Speaker James Nininger, M.D. (left), and John Wernert, M.D., chair of the APAPAC board, pose with Sen. Gordon Smith (R-Ore.), the recipient of APA's 2005 Distinguished Leadership Award. Smith was honored for "his outstanding legislative service and personal leadership on behalf of persons with mental illness."

Rep. Patrick Kennedy (D-R.I.) listens to Mickey Silver, M.D., a constituent and a member of APA's Committee on Government Relations.

Clifford Moy, M.D. (left), an APA member from Texas, joins Rep. Michael Burgess, M.D. (R-Tex.), after Burgess presented the keynote address at the APA Advocacy Day program. Photo: Maureen Keating

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