NYAPRS Note: Here’s an excellent recent response to knee jerk unsubstantiated claims that forced medication or hospitalization provide the true response to crisis….or rare acts of violence involving people with mental health conditions, penned by Community Access’ and NYAPRS Board member Carla Rabinowitz. See next posting detailing a number of new New York City governmental policy changes along the lines of her and Community Access’ longtime advocacy.
Forced Medication Is Not The Way
Letter to the New York Daily News October 12, 2019
By Carla Rabinowitz
It’s no surprise that D.J. Jaffe’s scathing article demanding mental health recipients be forced to either be injected with medication or be locked up (“How to truly help the homeless,” op-ed, Oct. 9) appeared on Yom Kippur, the day of atonement. When the Jewish population was reflecting about how we can be better people, and reminding ourselves that every person is a human being deserving of respect and care, Jaffe again raised the threat to the mental health community of forced medication and alienation from mainstream society.
One in five people living in this city suffers from mental health concerns. We are not killers. We are your neighbors, your colleagues, your family members, your lawyers and accountants. And many are afraid to tell anyone because of people like Jaffe.
There is no evidence that forced treatment works. A Bellevue study of Assisted Outpatient Treatment and additional intensive services shows that extra intensive care, like the Intensive Mobile Teams or Assertive Community Treatment teams, works.
People with mental illness account for less than 3% of all violent crime. People with mental illness need care. And that is what the mayor’s wife has tried to accomplish with Thrive NYC. People can get reaol time connections to counseling and psychiatrists and talk to experts or peers to help them deal with their emotions until they get to a psychiatrist through Thrive.
Yes, much more needs to be done. We need mental health urgent care centers. We need more intensive care, respite care and other crisis preventative services. We need more housing for everyone with intensive support. We need to create a new city wide system to respond to crisis that involve mental health workers rather than a law enforcement response.
But, on Yom Kippur, of all days, we should not be maligning an entire population because they live with a certain illness. Shame on Jaffe for making a bad situation worse
Carla Rabinowitz, Mental Health Community Advocate, Community Access, NYC