Sal Rosselli Receives Jim Preis Memorial Award for Mental Health Advocacy

Sal Rosselli Receives Prestigious Award for Mental Health Advocacy

The annual Mental Health Advocacy Services event, held in October 2024, celebrated the contributions of mental health advocates in the Los Angeles area. This year, Sal Rosselli, the president emeritus of the National Union of Healthcare Workers (NUHW), was honored with the Jim Preis Memorial Award.

Rosselli, while accepting the award, acknowledged the efforts of over 5,000 NUHW members engaged in mental health care. These professionals, including therapists, social workers, psychiatric nurses, addiction medicine counselors, and psychologists at Kaiser Permanente, have been advocating for improved patient care for over a decade.

"I am incredibly inspired by their solidarity, commitment to their patients, and willingness to fight for what is right," Rosselli stated in his acceptance speech. "I believe the path to parity involves organizing mental health professionals to leverage their collective power because I have seen how powerful they are when united."

The award ceremony took place just two days before the start of an indefinite strike against Kaiser in Southern California. Rosselli used his platform to inform attendees about the strike, encouraging them to contribute to their hardship fund and support the workers on the picket lines.

"Kaiser still believes it's acceptable to provide defined benefit pensions to all 180,000 of its California employees, except for its mental health workforce in Southern California," Rosselli emphasized. "This is not acceptable. This will be one of the largest strikes in our union's history and among the largest mental health strikes ever."

Mental Health Advocacy Services consists of attorneys and legal advocates dedicated to ensuring that low-income individuals with mental health issues have access to justice, fair housing, and community support services. The award is named after Jim Preis, the long-time executive director and an advocate for mental health rights, who passed away in 2018.

The post Honran a Sal Rosselli honored for his leadership in NUHW in fighting for mental health parity appeared first on NUHW.

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