Report: Help Needed on Dual Mental Health Disorder in New Jersey

A former Camden County woman appointed co-chairwoman of a task force charged with studying dual diagnosis mental health problems tells the Courier Post there have been almost no changes in the way patients diagnosed with two mental health disorders is handled in New Jersey since at least 2008.

Donna Icovino, formerly of Cherry Hill, says the task force made recommendations for reform a month after it was formed in 2008.

Her son, Michael, is diagnosed with autism and bipolar disorder, was put in Ancora Psychiatric Hospital at the age of 18 because there was nowhere else for him to go, according to the report.

After protesting his admission to the center, she was eventually able to get him admitted to Bancroft in Haddonfield, where he had flourished when he was 14, according to the report.

He is now 29 and is doing well in a group home in Cherry Hill, according to the report.

The deputy director of the New Jersey Council on Developmental Disabilities recognizes the need for treatment to help young adults with two mental disorders make the transition to adulthood, according to the report.

Shirla Simpson says the Division of Developmental Disabilities has been working on the problem, but has not been able to move fast enough, according to the report.