Sen. Bob Hertzberg honored for supporting programs for inmates with mental illness

July 03--State Sen. Bob Hertzberg has received an award from an advocacy group for pushing $3 million in additional funding in the recently adopted California budget to help prevent mentally ill inmates from returning to prison.

The award was presented to Hertzberg, D-Van Nuys, on Wednesday by the Urban Los Angeles Chapter of the National Alliance on Mental Illness.

"This money will go toward paying for programs to help jailed persons living with mental illness," Hertzberg said. "It can be used to provide treatment and training for people suffering from mental illness."

NAMI presented the award to Hertzberg and to Sen. Holly Mitchell, D-Los Angeles and Assemblymembers Rocky Chavez, R-Oceanside, and Rob Bonta, D-Alameda.

The organization said the award was in honor of Bebe Moore Campbell, an author founded NAMI Urban Los Angeles and who wrote three New York Times bestsellers, including "Sometimes My Mommy Gets Angry." Campbell died of brain cancer in 2006.

"By honoring the legacy of Bebe Moore Campbelland recognizing (Hertzberg)for reducing mental health care disparities, NAMI California recommits our organization to ensuring that mental health care is accessible to all and the stigma surrounding mental illness is eliminated," Jessica Cruz, executive director of the National Alliance on Mental Illness, said in a statement.

___

(c)2015 the Daily News (Los Angeles)

Visit the Daily News (Los Angeles) at www.dailynews.com

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.