MF Oregon News: City of Eugene passes mental health "choice" resolution

Tue Oct 27 15:30:21 CDT 2009

Hi MindFreedom Oregon NEWS list:

Oregon can be proud -- one of our main cities here is breaking ground  
in the field of changing the mental health system!

Last night the City of Eugene passed a resolution #4989 for human  
rights, empowerment, choice, alternatives and recovery in mental health!

Unanimously!

(Some of you are on Lane County or International news lists, so sorry  
for the duplicates.)

Let's keep this up and do more of this, especially now that there's a  
great state-wide coalition in Oregon, OCSC! MindFreedom Oregon is one  
of the proud sponsor groups in this coalition. OCSC is now finally  
open to new sponsor groups and members, so stay tuned! More info at  
bottom.

- David Oaks/Director, MindFreedom International

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

MindFreedom International News - 27 October 2009
Uniting to win human rights in mental health.
http://www.mindfreedom.org/lane - please forward

  City of Eugene, Oregon, USA Passes Resolution for Human Rights and  
Choice in Mental Health

  Other Cities Encouraged to Pass Similar Resolutions

After a five-year process of public forums and committee meetings, the  
City Council of Eugene, Oregon, USA unanimously voted yesterday, 26  
October 2009, for a resolution to affirm the human right of citizens  
to have more empowering choices in the mental health system, including  
more non-drug alternatives, for complete recovery.

The resolution takes effect immediately (see text at bottom).

To download a PDF of signed City of Eugene Resolution 4989, click here:
http://bit.ly/eugene-4989

Psychiatric survivor advocate TC Dumas spoke in front of the Eugene  
City Council to thank them for the vote. TC, who survived forced  
electroshock as a teenager and went on to win her PhD, said, "I've  
been in the mental health system for 35 years. Many people are not  
offered choices. I just want to say 'thank you,' especially to you  
Mayor Piercy, who wanted to see this resolution happen."

The Mayor of Eugene, Kitty Piercy, has offered her personal  
encouragement to mental health consumers and psychiatric survivors  
during several meetings on human rights and mental health.

Ron Unger, coordinator of MindFreedom Lane County, did a lot of the  
background work for the resolution. He told the City Council, "I am a  
mental health counselor. One size does not fit all. Especially to  
reach young people, the mental health system needs to be much more  
positive and helpful. Thank you for passing this resolution."

For a photo of Ron speaking to City Council, along with links to  
download the resolution, City of Eugene two-page background briefing,  
and more, go to:
http://www.mindfreedom.org/as/act/us/or/lane/eugene

  OTHER CITIES ENCOURAGED TO PASS RESOLUTION: STORY OF 4989

Resolutions by city councils throughout the world are fairly common on  
other topics such as peace and the environment.

However, the MindFreedom International office seldom hears about  
resolutions for changing the mental health system with rare  
exceptions. For instance, the City of Toronto has declared "Mad Pride  
Week" in July.

The Eugene resolution emerged from a process that began in 2004 when  
the City of Eugene Human Rights Commission voted to adopt the issue of  
human rights in mental health as one of their priorities, because of  
leadership by psychiatric survivor Hugh Massengill, who was then a  
commissioner.

A special subcommittee on mental health and human rights headed by  
advocate Carmen Urbina held two public forums and a major conference.  
MindFreedom Lane County members participated with many others, aided  
by City of Eugene staff person Francisca E. Johnson.

Said David W. Oaks, Director of MindFreedom International, who  
participated in the subcommittee, "We hope that other cities will pass  
this or similar resolutions. Offering citizens in crisis only one  
choice -- prescription drugs -- really is no choice at all. The denial  
of empowering, humane alternatives is one of the most common human  
rights violations in mental health care today."

The lengthy City dialogue led to other victories, too.

The momentum led to the launch of an "Opal Network" in May 2007. Named  
after a famous Oregon author, Opal Whiteley, who ended up in a  
psychiatric institution, the quarterly meetings in the public library  
bring together all people and agencies who support the voice of mental  
health consumers and psychiatric survivors. The local cross-disability  
organization, LILA, especially staff person Bjo Ashwill, have  
especially been helpful in providing leadership for this innovative  
approach.

The Opal Network now offers workshops nationally about using this  
model of mobilizing allies, especially in the cross-disability  
community, to support consumer/survivor empowerment. For more info on  
Opal Network, click here: http://www.mindfreedom.org/opal

Out of this grassroots process, involving hundreds of people's input,  
the resolution emerged, but did not reach the City Council. Holly  
LeMasurier, a Human Rights Analyst for the City of Eugene's "Equity  
and Human Rights Center" took up the job of coordinating committee  
editing, and the City Council vote was finally held on 26 October 2009.

Said Holly, "Usually resolutions like this go by without comment by  
the City Council. In this case, the Mayor and several City Councilors  
singled out this resolution. At first I was concerned. But each person  
who spoke strongly supported the resolution. One councilor said that  
diverse perspectives were carefully included. The City Council was  
unanimous in supporting the resolution."

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Here is the text:

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

City of Eugene • City Council

RESOLUTION NO. 4989

A RESOLUTION AFFIRMING THE CITY'S COMMITMENT TO HUMAN RIGHTS AND  
MENTAL HEALTH CARE.

The City Council of the City of Eugene finds that:

A. The City Council of the City of Eugene recognizes that the  
diversity of our population is vital to our community's character, and  
that we have a long tradition of protecting and expanding human rights  
and civil liberties protections for all of our residents, including  
persons with all types of disabilities.

B. U.S. Courts have affirmed a number of rights for people diagnosed  
with mental disabilities. At the national level, the right to choose  
to live in the least restrictive environment that is reasonably  
available has been affirmed. At the state level, a number of courts  
have affirmed a person's right to refuse psychotropic medications,  
even when the state has a "compelling interest" in providing  
treatment, if less intrusive, effective treatment alternatives exist.  
These decisions are consistent with the principle that all people have  
the right to lives free of unnecessary restrictions and intrusions.

C. Many people determine that psychiatric medications are quite  
helpful for their mental and emotional conditions, and are grateful to  
have the opportunity to take them. Others find medications to be  
harmful to their health, unhelpful and/or excessively intrusive and  
problematic. When people seek treatment and are offered medication as  
the only treatment option, they may feel coerced into choosing that  
option. Many of the medications currently provided are typically  
associated with significant medical risk, are often experienced as  
subjectively harmful, and their long-term effectiveness remains  
controversial. Furthermore, there are widely researched psychosocial  
alternative treatments likely to be at least as effective for many,  
with fewer harmful effects.

D. Many mental health problems are caused by trauma and human rights  
violations, such as child abuse, war, racism, lack of housing and  
economic opportunities, domestic violence, and others. A key element  
in any kind of trauma is the denial of choice. When people who have  
been traumatized are denied choices in recovery, an effect may be  
retraumatization.

E. Serious psychiatric disorder is often thought of as inevitably a  
permanent condition requiring a lifetime of medication, however  
research shows that a substantial fraction of those with even the most  
serious diagnoses do fully recover, eventually not requiring  
treatment. Treatment choices, designed to foster rehabilitation and  
recovery, which include working, living, and participating in the life  
of the community, have been shown to increase such recovery.

NOW, THEREFORE,

BE IT RESOLVED BY THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF EUGENE, a Municipal  
Corporation of the State of Oregon, as follows:

Section 1. All mental health service providers within the City of  
Eugene are encouraged to incorporate self determination and consumer  
choice as much as possible, with accurate information provided to  
consumers and to families about those choices. Special emphasis should  
be placed on providing diverse alternatives in treatments, including  
non-drug alternatives, whenever possible

Section 2. All mental health service providers within the City of  
Eugene are urged to offer a full range of choices designed to assist  
in complete recovery.

Section 3. This Resolution shall become effective immediately upon its  
adoption.

The foregoing Resolution adopted the 26 day of October, 2009.

[signed] Acting City Recorder

- end -

For more info, including photo and links, go to:
http://www.mindfreedom.org/as/act/us/or/lane/eugene/choice-resolution

To download a PDF of the signed resolution, go to:
http://bit.ly/eugene-4989

~~~~~~~~~~~~

ACTION ACTION ACTION

To show there is widespread support you are encouraged to thank the  
City of Eugene by using their web contact form. Under "request," pull  
down "General Comment." Those outside Eugene can use to the "Eugene"  
pull down to select "web site visitor." Click here:

http://bit.ly/eugene-contact

By a happy coincidence, today is also the one-year anniversary of Ray  
Sandford -- who was receiving weekly forced outpatient electroshock --  
contacting the MindFreedom International office. Ray won his campaign  
because of MindFreedom International support. For more info on Ray see:
http://www.mindfreedom.org/ray

~~~~~~~~~~~~

CELEBRATE VICTORIES FOR HUMAN RIGHTS IN MENTAL HEALTH...

... by joining and donating to MindFreedom International, here today:

http://www.mindfreedom.org/join-donate

Unite for a nonviolent REVOLUTION in the mental health system!

MindFreedom International is one of the few totally INDEPENDENT mental  
health advocacy groups, with zero funding from government, mental  
health systems or corporations.

This means your support is absolutely crucial and urgent.

Please donate, join or renew your MindFreedom membership NOW, here:

http://www.mindfreedom.org/join-donate

~~~~~~~~~~~~

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MindFreedom Oregon is one of the proud sponsors of the Oregon Consumer/ 
Survivor Coalition.

OCSC Vision: A United Voice for Change!

OCSC is now finally open to new sponsor groups and members.

More info about OCSC is here, including the OCSC news and discussion e- 
mail lists:

http://www.mindfreedom.org/ocsc

~~~~~~~~~~~~

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