On Sunday, May 18 over a thousand people gathered in the Village of Huntington to participate in the Second Annual Long Island Festival and Walk for Mental Health. The event, coordinated by the Mental Health Association of Suffolk County, Inc. calls attention to the plight of individuals diagnosed with mental illness and psychiatric disabilities, and their families who reside on Long Island. The event also provides the public with valuable information and resources about the many mental services and programs that are available in both Nassau and Suffolk Counties.

One special aspect of the Long Island Festival and Walk for Mental Health is that it brings together a diverse group of Long Islanders. Among the thousands who walk down Main Street in Huntington are individuals diagnosed with mental illnesses, their families who provide care and nurturance, professionals who provide treatment, government planners and decision makers and mental health advocates.

Among the crowd walking through Huntington on May 18 were Tom and Donna O'Clair from Schenectady, NY. The O'Clairs' made the four-hour drive from Schenectady to Huntington to address the crowd on the need for state legislation that would grant insurance parity for people diagnosed with mental illness and chemical dependency, similar to insurance coverage for medical conditions. Insurance companies are currently allowed to discriminate against people with mental illness and chemical dependencies.

This often happens in the form of limiting the number of treatment services a subscriber can receive. In the case of the O'Clairs, the limit was 20 outpatient visits a year and 30 inpatient days for their 12-year-old son, Timothy. Seven weeks before his 13th birthday, Timothy O'Clair took his life. The youngest of three children, Timothy hung himself in his bedroom closet on March 16, 2001.

For years, Tom and Donna O'Clair struggled with the limitations of their private insurance policy that severely limited coverage for the treatment of Timothy's illness. Timothy was diagnosed with depression, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and oppositional defiance disorder. "If Timothy had diabetes, a heart condition or cancer, our health insurance policy would have provided unlimited coverage," said Tom O'Clair. "Instead, simply by the nature of Timothy's illness, our health insurance coverage was limited,"

The bill currently introduced in New York State is called "Timothy's Law," and with a record 32 senators and nearly 50 Assembly members joining in sponsorship of Timothy's Law, this year's movement to end mental health and chemical dependency insurance discrimination in New York State has made more progress than any efforts in years past.

Please call or write your local representatives in Albany and urge them to support "Timothy's Law." Even though you might not have participated in the Long Island Walk for Mental Health you can walk alongside your neighbors on Long Island who struggle every day with the impact of mental illness and chemical dependency.

For more information about "Timothy's Law" and to learn more about the efforts being championed by Tom and Donna O'Clair, visit www.timothyslaw.org.