Implementation of Assisted Outpatient Treatment
AOT (Kendra's Law in NY, Laura's Law in CA, etc.) has provided consumers with a less restrictive alternative to inpatient commitment and incarceration. Research shows 81% of consumers in AOT say it helped them get well and stay well. Independent research shows it helps the mentally ill by reducing homelessness (74%); suicide attempts (55%); and substance abuse (48%); Keeps the public safer by reducing physical harm to others (47%) and property destruction (43%) and saves money by reducing hospitalization (77%); arrests (83%); and incarceration (87%). It also has a positive effect on the treatment system, saves money, and delivers care to the most severely ill whom voluntary treatments and peer support have not worked for.
Mental Illness Advocate
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181 comments
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Anonymous
commented
AOT, as Laura's Law in California, is profoundly life saving, efficient, and saves huge amounts of resources, read, dollars.
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Denise
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We would never allow others with brain disease (e.g., those with Alzheimer's, etc.) to make decisions for themselves that they are incapable of making and that may put them at risk.
My brother killed himself almost 14 years ago...
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Marsha
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AOT definitely helps. I am so sorry for those of you parents who
lost children. Marsha in Buffalo, NY -
Anonymous
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You don't get on with your life if someone dies, my son died by suicide 11 1/2 years ago. I define my life as b/4 and after Justin died.
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anonymous
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The worse part is some of them sell drugs to make a living and Police will do nothing even though they know that person is selling drugs. Thru police intervention the person can get help for mental illness. If the person has ANOSOGNOSIA even if God came and told them that they need help ,they are not going to believe them. The laws for mentally ill are not there to help them. Besides it is very sad that the whole family has to suffer unnecessarily. If a person dies We can mourn for a time then go on with our lives. Here there is NO end to the suffering. The studies have shown that an average person who is mentally ill,it takes 10 years to get better OR to get help. How sad this is for a country which has so much to offer? I am from a foreign country and a citizen here now who regret coming here because if I was in my country my child who is over the age of 18 would have gotten help by now by force.I am so frustrated with the LAWS...I am seeing psychiatrist, therapist and other help. I miss my normal child who is living in his own world of paranoia and delusion...
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anonymous
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I don't believe medication is the only way to treat mental illness. It can be psycho therapy, group therapy OR peer support . .Anything to help the person who has severe ANOSIGNOSIA. Once the person recognizes that he has illness he can agree with his care givers that he needs help... I am in medical field and my son is very ill for the last 20 months. I am not asking for medication for my son. All I am asking is help him understand that he needs some intervention...Most of the ill are addicted to drugs and alcohol to mask their symptoms which makes it even worse...Thanks for letting me Vent. A heart broken MOM...
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Peggy McGuirk
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When someone with severe mental illness is not able to recognize their own symptoms as being real (anosognosia) AOT can be a life changing miracle. As the parent of an adult son with schizophrenia I will fight like heck to keep my son well and out of the hospital BUT when his illness takes a turn for the worse and this very illness prevents him from seeing how sick he is, when horrible delusions begin to torment him, when he no longer takes care of himself, and when the family that loves him begins to be fearful of him THEN I will fight with all I have to get him the help he needs. This is when AOT can be a life saver. AOT is a compassionate law that helps people get help that they desperately need so they too can have a chance to live a productive and fulfilling life.
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Anonymous
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It appears that most if not all of these horrific comments to rob people of their human, civic, democratic and constitutional rights have been made by BIG PHARMA/PSYCHIATRY trolls and drug company front groups like NAMI, CHADD and others.
Books like THE NARCISSISM EPIDEMIC, THE PEOPLE OF THE LIE, THE CULTURE OF NARCISSISM, THE WIZARD OF OZ AND OTHER NARCISSISTS and many others demonstrate that there are a lot of narcissistic parents and people out there who are abusive, evil, blind scapegoaters who rather than looking at their own evil selves, prefer to blame and scapegoat those they abuse and traumatize with their children and relatives their main victims.
Forced commitment, drugging and other barbaric measures in a so called democracy are evil and fascist and only belong in totalitarian dictatorships. Those fraudulently stigmatized with bogus "mental illnesses" from the junk science DSM have mostly been proven to be victims of abuse with trauma symptoms while those aided and abetted by psychiatry and the courts are the chief abusers, mobbers and bullies at home, work and society in general.
Continuing such barbaric practices in the so called mental "health system" with life destroying stigmas and lethal drugs known to be useless, no better than placebo, brain damaging and causing early death by about 25 years makes people want to avoid this system like the plague it has become. Robert Whitaker's book, ANATOMY OF AN EPIDEMIC demonstrates all this and the fact that psychiatry is mainly responsible for a massive rise in permanent disability due to its lethal drugs and other so called treatments and stigmas at a time when we can least afford this fraud in a nation already crippled by debt, unemployment, high taxes, such high health care costs, the system may go bankrupt and other challenges.
Psychiatry has nothing to do with health, but rather, it is only about social control, punishment, intimidation, torture and destruction of those who challenge, annoy or stand in the way of the power elite.
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anosognosia is real
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I would give all 7 of my votes to this if I could. This is about the only thing that worked to get my mother treatment. Getting her to the court and the Judge so this could be ordered was a nightmare. I'm a lawyer and navigating the mental health legal system was pure ****. And I have a lot of resources to call upon. Why do we have to wait for a crisis?
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anonymous
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Paranoid, delusional my son doesn't think anything is wrong with him. He said everyone but him is mind controlled by the government. The son who was the best before mental illness came now has NO smile, no jokes. He was very social, out going, charming person now living a life with no motivation. He is in his mid twenties and has no productivity. He had to stop going to college and now can't work. Isn't better if he gets treatment and gets back to society and lives a productive life? Please VOTE for AOT...Thanks...His MOm....
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John T. Klure
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My son, 46 years old, paranoid schizophrenic and prone to violence, generally refuses to take his medication, and would benefit greatly from the implementation of AOT if Sacramento County would see fit to adopt Laura's Law. Right now he is in the Sacto County Main Jail on charges of burglary and possession of a weapon.
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Anonymous
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Please implement,ent, it will save years of suffering and tragedy for all...patients ,parents, health professionals, Nd the public I..n general.
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anonymous
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My son 26 years old, mentally ill, after 2 -302s 3 days in hospital each time and nothing has changed. As a Mom I have done everything I could so he could get into treatment. He has ANOSOGNOSIA and refuses all help. The whole family is suffering. It has been 2 years and We see no light at the end of Tunnel. Please VOTE for AOT...
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Anonymous
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I believe AOT would work as a 'least restrictive alternative" to *** offender civil commitment for many offenders judged to be high risk, who are not scientifically adjudicated as "predators". Most certainly, I believe it would work for the 85% of *** offenders who offend against someone close to them.
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Ingrid Silvian
commented
We need to get the Probate court judges on the same page
to help save lives when needed. They are afraid of the cost shifting to the courts, but the issue is what comes
first, spend money now to save lives, or do nothing and let
ill folks die, go to jail etc. instead of treatment. In the long run, if people get treatment before tragedy, big
money will be saved. -
Ralph J. Murrieta, Jr.
commented
I absolutely believe that AOT should be more widely adopted in California. The law was written with the intent of reaching a small group of individuals who cannot, for whatever reason, engage in a treatment program that will assist them in their recovery from a mental illness. The law was also written very deliberately to protect the civil rights of those individuals who may be eligible for Assisted Outpatient Treatment.
Funding for AOT laws is available through the Mental Health Services Act (Prop 63) passed in 2004, contrary to what many opponents may say. The one county in California to fully implement an AOT program, Nevada County, utilizes MHSA funding with the blessing of the state department of mental health.
In the years that Nevada County has had this program in place, they have shown it be be effective in reducing hospitalizations, incarcerations and homelessness, all the while saving the county money in the process.
Many counties have looked into implementing an AOT program but have thus far chosen not to do so based on faulty assumptions and outright erroneous information. The citizens of California deserve better. I hope more counties will follow Nevada County's lead and enact this highly effective mental health service program.
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Anonymous
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Whether we have AOT or not, it needs to be easier to access needed services. Much of access is driven by money, not need thus a change in the way we view mental illness needs to take place in society. For those difficult case with potential danger, AOT is needed to keep society safe and to give treatment to those who are unaware that they need it.
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Anonymous
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I can use all the help I can get for my 25 year old non compliant schizoaffective son. I have run up against a wall with the system. My son in the meantime continues to decompensate and be a threat to self and others. Please help and vote for AOT!
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Anonymous
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PLEASE VOTE FOR AOT, THE AOT IS OFTEN THE ONLY RECOURSE FOR FAMILY TO DO ANYTHING AT ALL FOR THEIR MENTALLY ILL FAMILY MEMBERS......MY SON WOULD BE DEAD WITHOUT IT.
This is a program that should be utilized - particularly in states that have no available hospitalization options for most of these individuals. I vote for AOT -
William D Hardy
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As deputy sheriffs, me & my wife see the results of not having AOT in San Diego everyday. With our states budget crisis and realignment of prisions, AOT is a must.
