The Washington Post editorial board today endorsed Hilary Clinton’s mental health reform platform, saying “it has a real chance of becoming a law,” and calling it the “most consequential of her campaign”
(September 1, 2016) The Washington Post editorial board today endorsed Hilary Clinton’s mental health reform platform, saying “it has a real chance of becoming a law,” and calling it the “most consequential of her campaign” (“Clinton just made a very important announcement — and hardly anyone is talking about it,” the Washington Post, August 31, 2016).
“This is one of the few issues on which lawmakers may be able to agree, even in a severely divided Washington, over the coming months,” the writers say.
The Post also notes that Clinton’s agenda for enhancing community health centers side steps controversial issues such as assisted outpatient treatment (AOT), which delivers outpatient treatment under court order to adults with severe mental illness who meet specific criteria, such as a prior history of repeated hospitalizations, violence or arrest.
The editors argue, “Without programs such as these, all of that money funding community health centers will do less good, because the centers will serve fewer people — and not necessarily those most in need.”
The Treatment Advocacy center applauds the Post for drawing attention to the Clinton camp’s apparent lack of focus on programs that would drastically improve the lives of millions of people with serious mental illness and their families.
But we also see room in the candidate’s agenda for assisted outpatient treatment and other policies long supported by the Treatment Advocacy Center, and believe that these programs can bolster Clinton’s top mental health priorities, including enhancing community-based treatment and prioritizing treatment over jail.
As our statement from earlier this week in support of the Clinton plan acknowledges, her platform devotes significant attention to early intervention and the decriminalization of mental illness — neither of which can be realistically considered without also acknowledging the breadth of support and evidence behind assisted outpatient treatment as a tool to treat those most in need.
We also haven’t forgotten that Clinton championed AOT in New York.
In 1999, the year New York’s AOT program (Kendra’s Law) was enacted, Clinton said, “I supported strongly Kendra's Law requiring people to take their medication and enforcing the need for the violent mentally ill to be in a setting where they can address their problem. A homeless person who is mentally ill obviously needs housing, but they need so much more.”
On severe mental illness, Clinton states in her agenda, "We need to close the treatment gap, and ensure that there is no wrong door to access care."
Let’s take note, this is a rare moment in history where policymakers occupying the highest levels of office appear to be on the same trajectory toward real mental health reform.
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