Forced Treatment Doesn't Work: National Experts Urge New Mexico to Reject 'Kendra's Law'
Posted on: Monday, 6 February 2006, 18:00 CST
News Advisory:
Forced Treatment Doesn't Work: National Experts Urge New Mexico to Reject 'Kendra's Law'
WHEN: Wednesday, Feb. 8 at 1 p.m.
WHERE: The Rotunda of the Roundhouse in Santa Fe, N.M.
WHAT: National experts will share new research data indicating that court-ordered "outpatient commitment" (as proposed by HB 174/ SB 335) fails to promote public safety, undermines confidence in the community mental health system, and yields no better results than voluntary mental health services. The threat of arrest and hospitalization may result in fewer people with mental health disorders seeking help in the first place.
WHO:
-- Harvey Rosenthal, executive director of the New York Association of Psychiatric Rehabilitation Services and a member of the New York State Office of Mental Health's Kendra's Law Quality Improvement Panel.
Rosenthal will explain why New York's legislature was so troubled about the state's outpatient commitment law that it refused to make it permanent, insisted on extending its oversight role, required the state mental health agency to produce regular data reports and demanded an independent evaluation of the program's true impact. He will also highlight how modest funding for voluntary mental health services yields better outcomes, for individuals and for society.
-- Michael Allen, senior staff attorney, Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law, Washington, D.C.
Allen has appeared before national television and radio audiences to discuss the ineffectiveness of commitment laws, and has written extensively about these issues. The Bazelon Center is a national civil rights law firm that has provided technical assistance to states seeking to implement the kind of recovery-based mental health reforms called for by President Bush's New Freedom Commission on Mental Health.
Contact:
-- James Jackson, 505-261-7145
-- Peter Cubra, 505-256-7690
-- Harvey Rosenthal, executive director, New York Assoc. of Psychiatric Rehabilitation Services, 1 Columbia Place, 2nd Floor, Albany, NY 12207
Phone: 518-436-0008, Cell: 518-527-0564, Web site: http:// www.nyaprs.org/
-- Michael Allen, senior staff attorney, Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law, 1101 15th Street, NW Suite 1212, Washington, D.C. 20005
Phone: 202-467-5730, ext. 117, Cell: 202-277-5551, Web site: http://www.bazelon.org/issues/commitment/index.htm
http://www.usnewswire.com
Source: U.S. Newswire
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