Caring for those with Mental Illnesses


Resolution Adopted by the CCAR

CARING FOR THOSE WITH MENTAL ILLNESSES

Adopted by the 108th Annual Convention of the

Central Conference of American Rabbis

June, 1997

WHEREAS, the CCAR is deeply concerned for the physical, emotional and spiritual

well-being of every person in our society, and

WHEREAS, the millions of people who suffer from mental illness carry the added burden

of being shunned, avoided, and stigmatized by many of their fellow citizens, and

WHEREAS, the direct cost to society for the treatment of mental illness and substance

abuse comes to hundreds of billions of dollars, and

WHEREAS, acts of chesed including caring for the disabled are basic tenants of

Judaism, as well as essential elements of any society, and

WHEREAS, the mitzvah of hachnasat orchim, welcoming others into

our lives, calls on us to be particularly sensitive to the outcast and the scorned, and

WHEREAS, mental illness affects not only the individual but entire extended families,

and

WHEREAS, the religious community has a clear responsibility to help create aware and

sensitivity in responding to mental illness and the mentally ill, and to help reduce the

stigma which persons with mental illness and their loved ones experience, and

WHEREAS, most private health insurance policies discriminate against persons who

suffer from severe mental illnesses by imposing lower lifetime limits, lower annual caps,

higher deductibles, higher co-pays and other limits on coverage that are not imposed for

other diseases of the body,

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, that the CCAR

  • call upon its members to work with their congregations, chaplaincies, and other

    constituencies to inform them of the necessity for greater sensitivity with respect to the

    mentally ill and their needs, and to help reduce the stigma of mental illness, and

  • call upon its members to participate in communal efforts aimed at providing a more

    positive attitude toward those suffering from mental illness, and

  • call upon its members to work with persons afflicted with mental illness and their

    families so that they may feel welcome within our synagogues, as Abraham made

    strangers feel welcome in his home, and

  • call upon its members to visit patients, when appropriate and professionally advisable, in

    psychiatric hospitals and other mental health care facilities, and to join groups that seek

    to provide housing and employment for de-institutionalized persons, and

  • agree to work with the Union of American Hebrew Congregations to establish a Joint

    Commission on Mental Illness, and

  • commend the work of the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill (NAMI) in Washington,

    and the work of Pathways to Promise: Interfaith Ministries and Prolonged Mental

    Illnesses, in St. Louis, and encourages our colleagues to be in touch with them, and

  • Call upon its members to support and advocate for federal and state legislation that

    protects against all forms of discrimination by health insurance carriers in the coverage

    of severe mental illnesses relative to other diseases of the body.

    • ✕