Public Advocacy

Public policy: Public policy is created and established through constitutions, legislative acts and judicial decisions.

Public Policy Committee

The Public Policy Committee is a committee of the Pennsylvania Mental Health Consumers' Association (PMHCA) Board of Directors and reports directly to the Board. Its mission is to develop recommendations for the organization's development of public policy positions and response to public policy issues.

This includes educating and assisting the Community Support Program (CSP), the Coalition of Satisfaction Teams Across Pennsylvania (CSTAP), the Pennsylvania Peer Support Coalition and other organizations, to respond to various government proposals and actions.

The committee also recommends to the Board educational, media contact and media campaigns that tie into public policy issues.

The Public Policy Committee stays informed on relevant matters and brings proposals for change to public policy to the Board for action.

The committee gathers input on issues from the membership directly, from conference caucuses and other member communications, as well as from statewide consumer coalitions (e.g., CSTAP, Peer Coalition, Drop-in Center Coalition) and statewide or regional committees (e.g., OMHSAS Advisory, Stakeholders Planning Team, Governor's Advisory Committee, Regional CSP, etc.).