Toni Hoy recently received the 2016 National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) Outstanding Member award at the 2016 NAMI National Convention, where she discussed the importance of mental health in the U.S.
Hoy -- along with mental health leaders Patrick Kennedy and Rick Raemisch -- is committed to transforming the ethical and moral problems they see happening in the mental health industry.
Kennedy argued for the brain to be evaluated along with the rest of the human body during check-ups, and Raemisch argued to end solitary confinement. Hoy is an advocate for stopping people from trading custody of their children as payment for receiving mental health treatment.
Hoy has drafted as well as helped to pass the Custody Relinquishment Prevention Act. She believes that children should not have to decide between having sound mental health in isolation or suffering from mental illness while staying with their families -- children should have both.
Hoy’s inspiration is drawn from NAMI Barrington President Maryrose Peters. Peters first told Hoy about the difference that just one person can make in the battle to improve how the U.S. handles mental health.
Hoy used the opportunity of her award to encourage others to change the wrongs they see in the world.
“Advocates are born when an issue bothers them at a fundamental level,” she said. “They fight when they can’t accept the status quo and when they believe others shouldn’t either.”
