On August 27, 1999, New York State Governor George Pataki signed into law the Involuntarily (Forced) Outpatient Commitment (IOC) Law that we have been fighting against since it was introduced this past February. On November 27, 1999, this law took effect in New York State. It is still unclear how this law will be implemented and funded.

NYAPRS (New York Association of Psychiatric Rehabilitation Services) reports that "almost every single leading mental health advocacy, religious, and civil rights group in the state has and continues to oppose this initiative. These groups will be working together to develop a statewide court-monitoring program that will identify plaintiffs for a future class action suit challenging the clearly unconstitutional nature of the law."

However, there are some details that have been established. The law is several pages long; thus we will not print the law in this journal. We will make recommendations on how to protect yourself against having this law enforced on you.

Basically, the people that will most likely be affected by this law are mental health recipients who have been hospitalized, are leaving the criminal justice system, are homeless, and recipients who are living at home with family members.

We have heard that the Office of Mental Health (OMH) is asking its Bureau of Recipient Affairs office to educate recipients on this law. Also, a group of traditional providers, the Erie County Department of Mental Health, Restoration Society, Inc., the Mental Health Association, and Action for Mental Health, are meeting to organize educational seminars on the law as well. We are looking for any questions or concerns that you might have about this law.

Please call me at Action for Mental Health at 716/ 836-0822 if you wish to voice your concerns, which will be presented to the Erie County Department of Mental Health, OMH, and/or traditional provider agencies. As the days go by, we will learn more about how this law will affect us. We will send out all new information to our Action Alert Team as it becomes available. If you’re not on the Action Alert Team, you may call me and sign up.

Many recipient leaders throughout the state believe that the fight in opposing this IOC Law has only just begun. Legal service organizations in the state are planning challenges to the law and organizing a monitoring system to keep track of the enforcement of this law. This information, too, is vague and sketchy at this time. As mentioned before, the new information we receive about protests and actions taken against this law will be given out as soon as possible.

It is key, however, that if you feel vulnerable to this law, that you develop an ADVANCE DIRECTIVE. Advance Directives are similar to Health Care Proxies, where individuals plan their own physical and mental health treatment before the treatment is needed, just in case. If you need more information on Advance Directives, call our Intake Coordinator at 716/836-0822 to set up a meeting with a peer advocate who can explain this to you in more detail.

It is also key to be very careful with whom you discuss your history in the mental health system. For example, if you have been hospitalized for psychiatric reasons in the last three years, be very careful to whom you tell your experiences. If no one knows that you have been hospitalized, then they will have difficulty committing you.

Another suggestion is to question your outpatient treatment program. Does it serve involuntary patients? Is it planning to do so? Since many service providers promote their programs as places for consumer choice and empowerment, I believe they should all refuse to serve patients by force. Administrators in one program told me they would not serve people on an involuntary basis. Under the law, a judge may be able to order a treatment program to serve involuntary patients. Issues such as these will be determined over the next months as the law is implemented in individual cases. If you find a program that refuses to serve patients by force, the chances of being forced into disagreeable treatment might be lowered.