November 20, 2007

INVOLUNTARY OUTPATIENT BILL NEEDS YOUR SUPPORT

The New Jersey Senate has unanimously voted in favor of S1093, legislation that would establishes involuntary outpatient commitment to treatment for persons in need of involuntary commitment to treatment. The bill now moves to the Assembly Human Services Committee which must vote to report the bill to the full Assembly for a vote prior to the conclusion of the current legislative session at the end of the year.

This bill amends the State's civil commitment laws (N.J.S.A.30:4 27.1 et seq.) to allow for involuntary commitment to outpatient treatment of persons defined as "an adult with mental illness, whose mental illness causes the person to be dangerous to self or dangerous to others or property in the reasonably foreseeable future and who is unwilling to accept appropriate treatment voluntarily after it has been offered, needs outpatient treatment because other services are not appropriate or available to meet the person's mental health care needs." The bill also adds that the determination of dangerousness shall take into account a person's "serious psychiatric deterioration."

As the treatment for people with mental illness has advanced, many successful treatments are entirely outpatient. For this reason and others, the bill shifts the sense of involuntary commitment from commitment to an inpatient facility to commitment to clinically appropriate treatment, which may be inpatient care, outpatient care, or a combination of inpatient and outpatient care. The finding that a person is in need of involuntary commitment to treatment, then, will result in an order of commitment to appropriate treatment, rather than commitment to a facility.

The treatment provided after the entry of an order of involuntary commitment to treatment will be governed by the principle of least restrictive environment. The commitment process, then, will have two steps: it will first be determined whether by clear and convincing evidence a person's condition meets the dangerousness standard; then the treatment to which the person is committed will be determined by considering the least restrictive treatment setting appropriate to ameliorate the danger presented and appropriate to provide services directed to the wellness and recovery of the person.

IMMEDIATE ACTION NEEDED
The Assembly Human Services Committee is schedule to meet just one time, December 6, prior to the end of the legislative session. S1093/A2304 must be scheduled for a vote or the full legislative process must begin from the beginning in January. It is mandatory that Assemblyman Cryan schedule this crucial legislation for a committee hearing. Advocates are urged to contact their Assemblyman Cryan AS SOON AS POSSIBLE at asmcryan@njleg.org or (908)-624-0880.

SAMPLE LETTER

Dear Assemblyperson Cryan,

It is time for New Jersey to act to protect individuals who as a result of their mental illness are unable or unwilling to accept desperately needed mental health treatment. The Governor's Task Force on Mental Health has recommended that New Jersey, like 42 existing states, adopt legislation that would establish involuntary commitment to outpatient treatment for individuals who have a history of refusing or discontinuing mental health treatment and as a consequence become a danger to themselves, others or property.

A2304 would establish involuntary outpatient commitment to outpatient treatment as an alternative to the only current option, commitment to a state or county psychiatric hospital. People who were exhibiting behaviors that by history had led to dangerousness in the reasonably foreseeable future and refused voluntary services would be eligible for a court ordered plan of treatment to be carried out by treatment providers designated by the Commissioner of Human Services.

I urge you to schedule this vital legislation for a vote in the Assembly Human Services Committee. We should not have to stand by and wait for an individual with mental illness to be harmed or to harm someone else before we provide them with the treatment they urgently need.

Thank you for your support on this vital matter. Please contact me if I can provide any additional information.

Sincerely yours,

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