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An independent evaluation found that a service for the defense of the rights of people incarcerated in mental health services should be expanded to include a model that does not involve treatment.
The Independent Mental Health Promotion Service (IMHA) was established in 2015 to badist people with mandatory mental health treatment in Victoria and ensure that they are aware of their right to care. To oppose a treatment.
But an independent evaluation conducted by RMIT University revealed that the service only affected a fraction of those who had been forced to undergo compulsory treatment and that many were not even aware that it existed.
He recommended that hospitals be required to inform IMHA when a new patient is subject to a mandatory treatment order, similar to a system operating in Western Australia.
Victoria does not provide data on the number of people involuntarily detained for treatment, so the report has not been able to indicate how many people have received no support in this regard. advocacy. According to IMHA's own data, it had 26,000 interactions with clients in 2017-2018, including 8,500 with high-intensity support or support.
Among these clients was Barbara Russell, a 47-year-old Melbourne woman who was involuntarily admitted to a mental health service twice in January 2018.
Russell has never been diagnosed with mental health. She stated that the experience was "very scary" and that she would have been "much worse" without the support of IMHA.
She was detained at Alfred Hospital for three days after a friend called an ambulance to help her escape an abusive partner. Two weeks later, she was detained for five days in the psychiatric ward of Casey Hospital when police arrested her on the order of medical staff to stop taking her medication.
"I was not taking any medicine," Russell told Guardian Australia. "I felt completely alone until I spoke to someone from IMHA because it's actually on your side."
Russell, who is now becoming a community support worker, said she was frightened and mistrustful of psychiatric nurses because they ignored her request to contact her GP. who could have explained the situation.
"[The hospital staff] you are wondering about your state of mind, they are asking you who you are and you feel that you have no rights to anything and if you do not act as if nothing had happened, you are going to take medicine or you will have to stay longer, "she said. .
Dr. Chris Maylea, in charge of evaluating the report, said the current system relies on mental health staff to refer patients to IMHA or for patients to see one of its patients. advocates during one of his regular visits to the hospital. This meant that many patients were not informed of their rights.
"I think the public would be very shocked if they knew about human rights violations in mental health services," said Maylea. "We have a lot more surveillance in the prison system than in the mental health system."
The Andrews government announced last year the creation of a royal commission on the state's mental health system, focused on early intervention and prevention.
Maylea said he hoped the mandate would be interpreted as including a focus on treating involuntarily hospitalized patients.
The department's attorneys currently travel to all state mental health centers at least once a fortnight, and respond to referral requests.
IALA Director Helen Makregiorgos said lawyers helped people to badert their rights with respect to treatment options, the type of medication, the rights to appeal, the right to see their treatment prescription in full and the right to keep their cell phone, which is often removed from hospitals.
"People often say that we saved their lives," she said.
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