To: keith carson, Alameda County Board of Supervisors, scott haggerty, Alameda County Board of Supervisors, and Richard Valle, Alameda County Board of Supervisors
We need Assisted Outpatient Treatment
Persons suffering the delusions and paranoia of schizophrenia or the mania of bipolar disorder are not always competent to make decisions for their own healthcare because they may not be able to recognize that an illness causes their mental suffering. Assisted Outpatient Treatment allows families to intervene to avert crisis and allows their loved ones to receive compassionate and comprehensive community-based services.
Why is this important?
We are mothers who have been prevented from getting help for our adult children when they become ill with severe mental illness. We founded Voices of the Mothers to advocate for reform to our mental health laws, and to give voice to the mothers, fathers, family members and all caregivers who are told there is nothing they can do when they try to get assistance for their loved ones. Instead of helping them to recovery with the life-saving medications and treatments that are available, we must watch helplessly as they deteriorate. Our mental health laws and public health systems should mandate treatment before tragedy. Under the guise of protecting civil liberties, these policies leave the most vulnerable to suffer the trauma and indignity of jails, homelessness, and the revolving doors of hospital emergency rooms. We believe that members of our community stricken with debilitating disorders deserve the compassionate help they need to be able to someday choose a path to wellness. We are asking the county to institute AB1421 as a way to restore civil liberties and lives of dignity to those who have had those benefits hijacked by persistent untreated illness.