Consumer/Survivor Coalition Calls for Voluntary, Peer-run
Alternatives
to Force and Coercion in Mental Health Treatment
WASHINGTON, DC (10/6/09) – Lauren Spiro, director of the National Coalition
of Mental Health Consumer/Survivor Organizations (NCMHCSO), which represents
individuals with psychiatric histories, will promote self-determination and
community integration through peer-run alternatives to involuntary mental health
treatment at a Capitol Hill briefing entitled “Facing Mental Illness: Policy
Lessons from Minds on the Edge” on Wednesday, October 7, 8:00 a.m. – 10:00 a.m.,
at the Reserve Officers Association, 1 Constitution Ave., NE, Washington, DC. To
read the NCMHCSO position statement, click here:
http://www.ncmhcso.org/policy/AlternativesToForce.pdf.
Ms. Spiro was a Minds on the Edge panelist, and had hoped to share
NCMHCSO’s vision of recovery-oriented, consumer- and family-driven systems of
care, as called for in the 2003 report of the President’s New Freedom Commission
on Mental Health. Upon seeing that this recovery orientation was not included,
Spiro wrote to the producers (click
http://ncmhcso.org/communication.htm for the letter) to express her
disappointment that the pro-force-and-coercion perspective was given
disproportionate representation during the taping, and expressing her hope that
the final version of the program would address this imbalance. Unfortunately the
final version perpetuates the myth that persons with mental health issues cannot
make their own decisions.
Daniel Fisher, M.D., Ph.D., a member of the President’s New Freedom
Commission and the NCMHCSO Steering Committee, noted: “Research indicates that
forced psychiatric treatments are usually traumatic, resulting in people
becoming fearful of seeking help. NCMHCSO calls on Congress to fund
evidence-based, recovery-oriented, cost-effective, voluntary, peer-run crisis
respites. These respites are based on the values of trust, choice, and
person-driven treatment planning.”
“In order to have a balanced dialogue, the public needs to know that people
recover through self-determination and trusting relationships, rather than by
force and coercion,” said Spiro. “Such dialogue would generate widespread
support for transforming the system to better meet people’s real needs.”
For information about mental health peer-operated crisis alternatives, visit
www.power2u.org/peer-run-crisis-alternatives.html.
The mission of the National Coalition of Mental Health Consumer/Survivor
Organizations (NCMHCSO) is to ensure that consumer/survivors have a major voice
in the development and implementation of health care, mental health, and social
policies at the state and national levels, empowering people to recover and lead
a full life in the community. | 