In Georgia, it looks as if the General Assembly may be on the verge of passing the most important reform in decades for Georgia’s mental health system. HB 1013, which flew through the House, would (1) make it easier to provide community-based mental health treatment to individuals with severe and persistent mental illness; (2) make insurers pay for mental health treatment the same as they do physical health treatment; and (3) help law enforcement avoid jailing individuals who act out due to their mental illness but who don’t belong in jail.
The bill represents the culmination of the work of the Georgia Behavioral Health Reform and Innovation Commission, which brought together a wide range of experts in behavioral health: psychiatrists and other mental health providers, judges, law enforcement officials, consumers, and family members of those with mental health issues.
Who could benefit most from this bill? All of those folks you see who need mental health treatment but who suffer from anosognosia, a symptom of severe mental illness in which the patient doesn’t understand his or her own need for treatment. These are the individuals who are in desperate need of care but who refuse treatment and often find themselves cycling between jail and homelessness. George Chidi has written eloquently about this issue here in Atlanta.
But just as the bill seems destined to make this year’s General Assembly highly successful, enter the opposition. Ms. Rhonda Thomas, who founded an organization called “Truth in Education,” called the bill a “government takeover of mental health” and intimated in her testimony before the Senate Health and Human Services Committee that this bill is part of a larger conspiracy to damage families, prevent parents from imparting their own values to children, and impose a globalist view of children on Georgia’s families. Others have inundated legislators with emails claiming the bill legalizes pedophilia, will force the state to pay for gender reassignment surgery, and will result in government taking away folks’ right to bear arms.
If you’re interested in reforming our state’s mental health system, now is the time to call your Senators.
GA HB 1013 hits a roadblock?
GA HB 1013 hits a roadblock?
GA HB 1013 hits a roadblock?
In Georgia, it looks as if the General Assembly may be on the verge of passing the most important reform in decades for Georgia’s mental health system. HB 1013, which flew through the House, would (1) make it easier to provide community-based mental health treatment to individuals with severe and persistent mental illness; (2) make insurers pay for mental health treatment the same as they do physical health treatment; and (3) help law enforcement avoid jailing individuals who act out due to their mental illness but who don’t belong in jail.
The bill represents the culmination of the work of the Georgia Behavioral Health Reform and Innovation Commission, which brought together a wide range of experts in behavioral health: psychiatrists and other mental health providers, judges, law enforcement officials, consumers, and family members of those with mental health issues.
Who could benefit most from this bill? All of those folks you see who need mental health treatment but who suffer from anosognosia, a symptom of severe mental illness in which the patient doesn’t understand his or her own need for treatment. These are the individuals who are in desperate need of care but who refuse treatment and often find themselves cycling between jail and homelessness. George Chidi has written eloquently about this issue here in Atlanta.
But just as the bill seems destined to make this year’s General Assembly highly successful, enter the opposition. Ms. Rhonda Thomas, who founded an organization called “Truth in Education,” called the bill a “government takeover of mental health” and intimated in her testimony before the Senate Health and Human Services Committee that this bill is part of a larger conspiracy to damage families, prevent parents from imparting their own values to children, and impose a globalist view of children on Georgia’s families. Others have inundated legislators with emails claiming the bill legalizes pedophilia, will force the state to pay for gender reassignment surgery, and will result in government taking away folks’ right to bear arms.
If you’re interested in reforming our state’s mental health system, now is the time to call your Senators.