Friday I shadowed another Mental Health Association (MHA) of Orange County Hearing Advocate at two different hospital psych wards, one in Orange and the other in Santa Ana. Neither hospital was as nice as the one in Laguna Beach; though, one was definitely nicer than the other. The patients, too, were quite different. Suffice it to say that though I’m aware of the problem of homelessness of many people with severe mental illness, I received a crash refresher course, and it was sobering. It is tragic that so many people live in a chronic cycle of short-term involuntary hospitalizations and homelessness.

I plan to research more about mental health patients’ rights in California. Here are some online resources that I found listed on the Resources page of the California Association of Mental Health Patients’ Rights Advocates ~ CAMHPRA.org:

California Patients’ Rights Resources

• California Advocates for Nursing Home Reform ~ CANHR.org
• California Association of Mental Health Patients’ Rights Advocates ~ CAMHPRA.org
• California Association of Mental Health Peer Run Organizations ~ CAMHPRO.org
• California Coalition on Mental Health ~ CaliforniaMentalHealth.org
• Disability Rights California ~ DisabilityRightsCA.org
  • California Office of Patients’ Rights ~ DisabilityRightsCA.org/OPR/
  • Publications and Resources ~ DisabilityRightsCA.org/pubs/PublicationsIndex.htm
• Prison Law Office ~ http://www.prisonlaw.com

California Government Links

• California Department of State Hospitals ~ DSH.ca.gov
• California Department of Social Services ~ CDSS.ca.gov/cdssweb/
• State of California Office of the Patient Advocate ~ OPA.ca.gov
• California Mental Health Services Authority ~ CalMHSA.org

National Patients’ Rights Resources

• Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law ~ Bazelon.org
• National Disabilities Rights Network ~ NDRN.org
• National Association for Rights Protection and Advocacy ~ NARPA.org
• The Saks Institute for Mental Health Law, Policy, and Ethics ~ weblaw.usc.edu/centers/saks/