Damn — I can’t believe I got scooped by Philebrity on a mental health issue. Snap! But the truth is, this is a good thing. Yes, we will find a way to fuck it up, but it’s a start. Tomorrow we’ll talk more about it. But it’s unquestionably a positive development.
Philadelphia opens Mental Health Court
liz | 4:19 PM | criminal justice system
Liz Spikol was born in Philadelphia sometime in the 20th century. She started writing about her experience as a person with mental illness in 1999, while employed at Philadelphia Weekly as the paper’s managing editor. Aside from serving as that paper’s web editor, music editor, staff writer, senior editor, executive editor and a host of other random roles that she couldn’t make up her mind about, she has also worked as a Spanish teacher, as a Certified Peer Specialist during Philly’s system-wide transformation and as a communications specialist for a prison reform organization. Currently, she works at the Mental Health Association of Southeastern Pennsylvania and writes book reviews for PW. This blog — named one of the Top 10 Bipolar Blogs of 2007 and 2008 by PsychCentral — is about medications, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, OCD, PTSD, SAD (and many other acronyms), mad pride, Big Pharma, celebrities, hospitals, stigma and the recovery movement. And other stuff.
Well that settles it, not moving back to Philly. MH Courts are just another form of forced drugging. Why not use parole and probation which are set up to do the same thing but do it better?
Good news but the devil is in the details. It has been noted that mental health courts are never alike. Some focus on incentives while others use sanctions. Some lead to services and housing while others don’t. Let’s hope that Philly’s mental health court relies on the former rather then the latter.
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