Office of Consumer Affairs
CONSUMER ADVISORY BOARD
MISSION STATEMENT
TO VOICE AN INFORMED PERSPECTIVE ON POLICY AND PLANNING ISSUES THAT
IMPACTS
THE RECOVERY, RESILIENCY, AND RIGHTS OF PERSONS WITH MENTAL ILLNESS
In 1986, Congress passed the Protection and Advocacy for Mentally Ill Individuals Act, requiring that protection and advocacy agencies establish consumer advisory boards consisting of at least 50 percent mental health consumers or family members. Consumer advisory boards, however, need not be limited to protection and advocacy agencies. In 2003, the President’s New Freedom Commission on Mental Health report emphasized the importance of having consumers lead the design, implementation, and evaluation of mental health service systems. These key benchmarks were important to the consumer movement, but there is still more work to be done. In this effort, the Consumer Advisory Board has been a voice for mental health consumers in Tennessee since 1994.
The Consumer Advisory Board serves two roles:
1. Advise the Office of Consumer Affairs director
- Gathers input from consumers statewide on issues of concern
- Provides input to OCA with an annual report
- Develops policy position papers on consumer issues
2. Represents consumers on the Departmental Planning and Policy Council and each of the seven regional councils.
- Identifies and reports to the councils issues of concern to consumers
- Makes recommendations on actions to be taken to address issues
- Insures increased consumer participation on the Planning Councils
