About Us
In 2001, the Mental Health Association in NJ (MHANJ) and Collaborative Support Services of NJ (CSPNJ) formed the Consumer Advocacy Partnership, along with Coalition of Mental health Consumer Organizations (COMHCO) and the Consumer Provider Association (CPANJ), in order to work together to identify important system issues that impact the lives of mental health consumers and to create opportunities for consumers to effect systems change. The partnership has an impressive history of advocacy accomplishments and actively builds consumer leadership by training consumers and preparing them to be involved in advocacy efforts statewide.
The Consumer Advocacy Partnership has formed a group of consumers from geographically diverse regions who meet regularly in Trenton that serve as the Consumer Public Policy Committee whose goal is to identify issues most critical for consumers in New Jersey and to develop a consumer platform based on their firsthand knowledge of those issues. In order to solicit viewpoints of consumers, the partnership gathers information on specific, timely issues from consumers who want to become involved in systems advocacy, as well as other policy makers who are interested in furthering the consumer movement in New Jersey.