Question

Identify the ten features of mental health legislation and describe each in 75 -150 words.

Answer 1

Features of mental health legislation : 1) the bills do not mandate forced treatment: it offerrs an incentives and funding for states to implement assisted outpatient treatment it also does not mandate any additional assisted outpatient treatment it also does not change any exisiting state laws that do not penalize people if they refuse AOT. 2) The bills are not the same as earlier ones and there are some important differences: the sessions proposals take a more balanced approach to mental health reform than did past proposals emphasizing both stage 4 crisis response as well as prevention early intervention and care integration.3) they will prevent tragic outcomes and the progression of mental illnesses fom stage 1 to stage 2: mental health care is not a solution to gun violences, because the correlation between mental health conditions and gun violence is modest, early identification and internvention is the way to prevent many of these tragedies and these proposals move us in that directions, 4) These proposals do not diminish SAMHSA, but elevate mental health in the federal bureaucracy.5) those whose mental illnesses have already reach crisis stages the bills will move mental health treatment and services out of jail and into treatment and services programs in our communities, 6) the bills are grounded in a sound public health approach: in public health policy there is importances of the prevention early interrvention, services, integration, and recovery.7) these bills pass people will get more than just triage when they go to the hospital but not held for years, 8) integrating health records as proposed in these bills will not let the police or your employer access your health information or diminsh the legal rights of individuals, 9) the bills will not force peers to be supervised by clinicians, 10)the bills will not be the end of mental health reform but they do represent an important beginning to addressing strustural issues and building out a continum of care. the mental health system is deeply broken and under funded while these bills lay a foundation for reforms they are still only a beginning.