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Dec 07, 2016, 04:39 PM
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Member Since: Jun 2007
Location: Washington DC metro area
Posts: 15,865
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In rare bipartisan success, Congress passes major mental health bill - CSMonitor.com
Quote:
"This represents the first significant reform of our mental health delivery system in perhaps 20 to 25 years and I believe it will provide families with the tools they need to protect loved ones who are suffering from mental illness and who may be refusing to follow their doctor's orders," said Sen. John Cornyn (R) of Texas, a champion of the bill. "So this is a very significant bipartisan development."
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• Directs states to only fund evidence-based mental health initiatives with a proven track record;
• Removes barriers to individuals accessing mental-health care and services;
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“It’s a landmark piece of legislation for severe mental illness,” says John Snook, executive director of the Treatment Advocacy Center.
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“These are some of the key things we know work for people who have a severe mental illness,” says Mr. Snook, speaking of both ACT and Assisted Outpatient Treatment, a form of court-ordered treatment for those with serious illness who won’t voluntarily comply. “This is the first time we’ve seen the federal government say we want those programs funded and encouraged.”
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“The final bill has a better set of provisions around privacy,” says Jennifer Mathis, director of policy and legal advocacy for the Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law, which advocates for the civil rights of the mentally ill and which fought the measure that would have reduced protections under the Health Information Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA).
Ms. Mathis says she was concerned about many of the provisions in the original bill, which she saw as heavily pushing a model of involuntary treatment and institutionalization and reducing the legal rights of the mentally ill, rather than expanding access to services.
“We were really looking at this largely from a damage-control perspective,” says Mathis. “We never felt any of these bills were going to be the key steps that were needed to really shift mental health services in significantly better directions.”
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Is this bill good for "consumers" or created out of fears of the violent mentally ill, to provide more forced treatment? Any informed thoughts?
__________________
Now if thou would'st
When all have given him o'er
From death to life
Thou might'st him yet recover
-- Michael Drayton 1562 - 1631
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