Advocacy
Advocacy Makes a Difference!
NAMI Maryland is a strong voice on mental illness, carrying out ongoing advocacy for a public policy agenda to improve mental health services throughout the state, reduce the stigma associated with mental illness, and support effective treatment and recovery programs.
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NAMI Maryland is dedicated to providing education, support, and advocacy for individuals with mental illness, their families, and the wider community. Click to read our public policy priorities for 2025.
NAMI Maryland advocates for the public and private resources needed to ensure the availability, accessibility, and quality of comprehensive mental health treatment, prevention, and recovery services throughout the state of Maryland. Read our full Public Policy Platform here.
NAMI Maryland took steps forward in funding for mental health services, inpatient treatment advocacy, worked to end fail-first barriers to care, and more in 2025. Read our full summary now.
2026 Public Policy Priorities
of NAMI Maryland
These priorities, along with the NAMI and NAMI Maryland Policy Platforms, guide our advocacy all year long. Though Advocacy Day may be more visible, NAMI Maryland engages with legislators and participates in more than 80 different task forces, partnerships, and committees throughout the year.
Early intervention and treatment are essential. Since 50% of all mental illness begins by age 14, and 75% by age 24, it is critical that we promote greater awareness and early identification of mental health conditions in youth. Crisis services for children are unavailable in many parts of the state, and most children in the care of Juvenile Services have a mental illness.
Early Intervention
Access to Treatment
Mental health conditions are common and affect more than 781,000 people in our state. Yet, an estimated 252,000 adults in Maryland did not receive needed mental health care in the last year and more than 1 million people in Maryland live in a community that does not have enough mental health professionals. When people don’t receive the mental health care they need and deserve, their conditions often worsen and have significant impacts on the individual, their family, and their community.
One in four individuals with a serious mental illness will be arrested during their lives. NAMI Maryland advocates for help, not handcuffs and believes that mental health emergencies deserve a mental health response. The criminalization of mental illness must stop, and diverting justice involved individuals to a health care setting is critical to supporting this work.
Diversion
Address Racial Health Disparities
People with mental illness deserve to be treated with respect and dignity within their community and be provided supports that enable them to be successful in managing their mental health. NAMI advocates for inclusion and community supports that help people focus on their health and fights against discriminatory policies. In underserved areas of the state, racial health disparities make accessing mental health services nearly impossible, resulting in worse health outcomes for people with chronic conditions, substance use, and mental health disorders.
Become an Advocate:
Grassroots advocacy is simple; you don’t have to know about policies or politics. It’s about using your voice to influence policy makers and make a difference. Turn your passion and your lived experience into a positive voice for mental health with the NAMI Smarts for Advocacy grassroots advocacy training.
NAMI works with policymakers to advance priority issues and ensure that the voice of people affected by mental illness is considered in policymaking. Read NAMI’s recent letters to federal leaders, submitted
comments and testimony, and other resources.
