Self-Determination Versus Forced Treatment
Here is my statement in response to recent legislation extending Kendra's Law through June 30, 2020:
"While the extension to Kendra's Law passed, we at Community Access will be working with our colleagues, including the New York Association of Psychiatric Rehabilitation Services, to see that this law is repealed and replaced with alternatives that not only produce better outcomes but also protect human rights.
With the assisted outpatient treatment (AOT) mandated by Kendra's Law, "treatment" is poorly defined and the default option is typically medication. Kendra's Law does not challenge the health care system to examine the services being offered and adapt them to real needs and wants of its customers.
Supporters of Kendra's Law say that people enrolled in AOT are less likely to be homeless or hospitalized. While this is true, in most of these cases what made the difference was not the involuntary treatment but the fact that the individuals were given preference for housing, which stabilized their lives.
Supportive housing and other healing-focused services achieve the goal of reducing homelessness and hospitalization, while also preserving individuals' right to self-determination. At Community Access' 20 affordable and supportive housing developments throughout the city, thousands of tenants with mental health concerns live in caring communities and benefit from peer support, person-centered service planning, crisis support, urban gardening, art, job training, and other healing-focusing services.
Investing more in supportive housing and other programs that promote dignity, well-being, and access to health care — and expanding initiatives like 24/7 mobile crisis teams and crisis intervention training for first responders — is the best way to protect lives and promote a just society.
We call on the State to create a Kendra Commission composed of all interested parties to objectively examine the effectiveness of all forms of community support for people living with mental illness and devise a new Kendra's Law that does not rely on forced treatment as its underlying principle."
