SAMPLE LETTER TO YOUR U.S. REPRESENTATIVE

(Date)

Dear (the name of your U.S. Representative):

I am writing to urge you to co-sponsor the Mental Illness Consumer-Run Services
Support Act, which is soon to be introduced by Rep. Jim Greenwood (R-PA) and
Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D-OH). You may have already received a letter (or you soon
will receive such a letter) from Rep. Greenwood and Rep. Kaptur asking you to
co-sponsor this bill and another bill they are introducing, the Medicaid
Intensive Community Mental Health Treatment Act.

As one of your constituents who has been a recipient of mental health services,
I am writing to add my voice to theirs.

As I have worked toward recovery, I have found the self-help and peer-support
movement of people who have psychiatric disabilities extremely helpful. The
Mental Illness Consumer-Run Services Support Act addresses the extremely vital
role that peer-support services play in the recovery process. It would
authorize a modest grant program to foster the development of mental heath
consumer-run services to help people handle and overcome mental illnesses by
setting up 10 regional technical assistance centers that would aid in their
development.

(Here you may want to add something about how peer-support services have
personally contributed to your recovery.)

	This is the first-ever legislation dealing specifically with the concept of
self-help, a critical tool in the recovery of people who have mental illnesses.
Please add your support to this growing recovery movement by becoming a co-
sponsor of the Mental Illness Consumer-Run Services Act.

Thank you very much. 

Sincerely,


(Your Name) (Your Address) (Your Phone Number)