HUMAN AFFAIRS COMMITTEE JUNE 13, 2016 a Meeting of the Human Affairs Committee Was Held on Monday, June 13, 2016, at 7:00 P.M. in the Aldermanic Chamber
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HUMAN AFFAIRS COMMITTEE JUNE 13, 2016 A meeting of the Human Affairs Committee was held on Monday, June 13, 2016, at 7:00 p.m. in the Aldermanic Chamber. Alderman Lori Wilshire, Chair, presided. Members of Committee present: Alderman-at-Large Lori Wilshire Alderman June Caron Alderman Tom Lopez Alderman Don LeBrun Alderwoman Mary Ann Melizzi-Golja Also in Attendance: Alderman-at-Large Mike O’Brien Alderman-at-Large Brian McCarthy PUBLIC COMMENT - None COMMUNICATIONS - None Chairman Wilshire We are honored this evening to have Chief Justice Broderick to discuss Change Direction New Hampshire and before I get into any of it, I’m going to invite him up. We appreciate you being here this evening Chief Justice Broderick Thank you very much. I’m delighted. I know you have a busy schedule so I won’t take long but I appreciate the opportunity. For those of you who I do not know, my name is John Broderick and I was on our Supreme Court for 15 years. I left the court and went to the Law School University and now I’m in my own business. What brings me here tonight is something that I think should concern everybody in this State and that’s mental health. The campaign I’m here on is called “Change Direction New Hampshire”. The woman whose genius it is is a child psychologist from Maryland. Here name is Barbara Van Dahlen. In 2008 she started a program called “Give an Hour” where she asked people like herself around the country to donate at least an hour of their time for free to provide one on one counseling to a Veteran or a family member of a Veteran. Because of her work which has a huge impact, she was recognized by Time Magazine in 2012 as one of the 100 most influential people on the planet. It’s not a bad list to be on by the way. I was asked to call her last fall by the head of behavioral health at Concord Hospital and I spoke to her and I said Barbara what are you trying to do. She said John what I’m trying to do is make the five most common signs of mental illness as well known and as widely known as the signs of a heart attack or a stroke. When she said that to me, I thought that’s an ingenious idea. She said John you and I know the signs of a heart attack and a stroke and we didn’t go to medical school. She’s right. Why do we know this? I do know this because most of us know that lots have been said. She said John this campaign is important when I give you these statistics. Half of all mental illness in the United States arises by age 14. By age 14. Two-thirds of all mental illness arises by age 24 and the mentally ill are the last to know they have mental illness. The leading cause of disability in the United States and Canada is mental illness. It’s a pretty well-kept secret in America. She said last year John more people died of suicide in America than died on America’s highways. I think we’ve all seen reports that up to 22 Veterans of the arms forces in America commit suicide every day. Human Affairs Committee – 6-13-16 Page 2 Because of my own family’s journey through mental health and my son who was afflicted with mental illness at age 13, he didn’t know it and we didn’t see it. So when she told me that, she was talking to me. I realize what I had known and that I couldn’t be the only ignorant parent in New Hampshire. So I said how can I help? She said why don’t you get a Steering Committee together. I said let me see what I can do and I did that. In short order not because of me but because of the issue. So I reached out to the Attorney General, the head of Safety, the head of Corrections, the head of HHS, then Nick Compass now Jeff Myers. I reached out to hospitals and citizenry and business leaders. Everyone said I’ll be on the committee. She came up here in November. Congresswoman Annie Kuster was in town and I asked Annie to meet with her. She did and she called me later and she said I love that woman. She’s doing something really important. I said I love her too. The Steering Committee met in January and we said we need to raise some money. I said so how much do you think we need? I had no idea. So I said $150,000 that seems like a lot of money. They said why don’t you try to raise that. In about 35 days, I raised it and not because of me but because of the issue. I want to hospitals one of which is in Nashua. We had a kick off for this event this public service, nonpolitical public information campaign. On a Monday morning on May 23rd at the State House in the House Chamber, they were not in session and I thought that’s pretty bold we might not fill a third of those seats. We filled every seat in the room. The Catholic Bishop came, the Episcopal Bishop with whom I met was out of State. He sent a representative. The woman who Chairs the New Hampshire Council of Churches was there, Senator Shaheen, Congressman Guinta, Annie Kuster, Governor Hassan, Senator Ayotte who is a big fan of this program by the way was unable to be there. Not because she wouldn’t have been. I’ve never seen anything like it. What I realized when I spoke that morning and listened to others speak is that mental health stories affect almost everyone. It may be true in this room too. She said to the audience that day how many raise your hand if you’ve not been affected in any way by mental health or mental illness of somebody you love or somebody you knew. Not one hand went up. I asked her later is that common and she said no one ever raises their hand. Everyone has a story. Then I started reaching out to newspapers to help us cover it. Every newspaper I spoke to, they had stories. Since this was launched and since my own family’s journey through the valley of mental illness was well chronicled but not completed by the way, people have shared their own stories with me that I know they don’t share anywhere else because they’re ashamed of it. We’ve all been taught to be ashamed of mental health problems. That’s how we function. So what’s this campaign about? This campaign very simply is not about politics, not about partisanship. It’s hard to find anything today. Maggie Hassan and Kelly Ayotte could agree on. They both agree on this by the way. That’s the acid test. It’s about informing parents, children, teachers, coaches, extended families, civic leaders. What are the five most common signs of emotional suffering? What are they? Because half of them arise a lot of people under 14. My own son who had mental health issues said to me when he saw the crowd here, he said Dad if I had seen that card when I was 15, I would have said my god that’s my problem. But when I was 15 they were advertising Ivory Snow products on television and Purell Shampoo. That’s it. You never talked about mental health in polite company. We still don’t. It’s the only illness from my childhood that’s still treated like it’s not an illness – like it’s a character flaw. It’s something to be ashamed of. You know that’s true. We all know that’s true. In 1957 I was a child. I remember 1957. It was a good year. My parents were both living and I had no responsibility. It was terrific. In 1957 the only person that said the word “breasts” publicly was Hugh Heffner a Playboy magazine founded in 1954. Nobody else said that. In 1957 I had a good friend whose mother was sick. I came in from playing. I was in the kitchen with my mother, just the two of us, and I said: Mom, what’s wrong with Jimmy’s mother? She looked very pained and she leaned down to me and she whispered with just the two of us in my kitchen. She said she has cancer. She whispered the word “cancer”. Some years later, somebody had the courage to put the words “breast and cancer” next to each other to get a megaphone and a color and look at what has happened in breast cancer. I can’t look at the color pink without thinking of it. Last year 250,000 or so women were diagnosed with breast cancer which is a quarter of a million too many but the outcomes they can look forward to are dramatically different than if we had remained silent. When Aids fight in the United States in the ‘80s and everyone said maybe these are bad people why is this happening. Then Magic Johnson of the Los Angeles Lakers said I have HIV. Human Affairs Committee – 6-13-16 Page 3 Suddenly Magic has HIV.