Onward: The Mental Health Association’s response to my post

From Susan Rogers, of the Mental Health Association of Southeastern PA:

I just saw your post about SB 226, which the Mental Health Association of Southeastern Pennsylvania will be testifying against at the Oct. 2 hearing. You may want to direct the readers of your blog to this Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law Web link . It includes position statements from a number of advocacy organizations opposing involuntary outpatient commitment (IOC) — which SB 226 calls assisted outpatient treatment:

Also, this Web site belongs to an advocacy organization in New York State. They have firsthand experience with Kendra’s law:

I would also like to quote from an article in Psychiatric Services by Michael Allen, J.D., and Vicki Fox Smith (“Opening Pandora’s Box: The Practical and Legal Dangers of Involuntary Outpatient Commitment,” March 2001): “We have the technology to provide essential services and supports, even to the hardest-to-reach people, but we have failed to fund the effort to do so. Outpatient commitment appears to be a short-sighted solution that may over time also undermine long-term treatment alliances. We believe efforts are far better directed toward fundamentally improving our public mental health system.”

In short, forced treatment doesn’t work and SB 226, if enacted, would drain vital resources from the system – resources that should be used to improve and expand much-needed services and supports.

I really suggest everyone visit the links Susan referred to. The second one, in particular, has a list of myths and facts that puts many of the issues surrounding this subject in some perspective. Plus I love that format, because I’m always like, “Oh my god — I totally believed that!” Fun.

liz | 12:25 PM | Uncategorized