Anti-Milosevic Poster
Date: Sun, 8 Oct 2000 23:20:49 EDT
To: "MHOCCA List" <mhocca@egroups.com>
From: "Gerald Minsk" <gminsk2185@aol.com>
Subject: Fwd: [MHOCCA] mental-health courts
Xxx wrote:
I also hope people pay attention to the circular (cycles) of what I have read in Mr. Minsk’s rendition about making the court diversion (mental health courts) ‘look like’ the mh system’s ‘way’ is the way to go.

Excuse me for interjecting here but the ‘truth’ is that to do one’s time, get out, get on to the business of rehabilitation in the community (in the final analysis ‘rehab’ is most generally accomplished by one’s choice not to ‘repeat’) and from my perspective of the entire matter, the better part of ‘valor’ is to address one’s past mistakes, errors, blunders, ‘offenses’ and simply decide to ‘not repeat’.

<snip>
  Once again the writer does not only understand anything about addiction, dual dx. or quite frankly your own dogma, as well as having a blind side to being open minded. The fact of the matter is alcoholics aren’t just born and end up in Folsom. The same goes with mental health clients ending up in places like Patton, Atascadero, or Vacaville.  

Whether we like it or not we already have mental health courts, we already have drug diversion programs, we already have people being stipulated into treatment whether you, me or anyone else cares about it or not. I’m one that does because I work with this populaction daily, not from some intellectual perspective but in the trenches daily. .. With their families, probation officers, parole agents, doctors, loan sharks, landlords, etc., etc. The point is we have a system that doesn’t work well, you don’t have to agree about that, most people that either work in the field or are part of the system agree the system sucks, you don’t need to be a rocket scientist to figure this out. What would be nice is if the system could work more cohesively, that’s what integration is all about.

You don’t have to embrace the concept of mental health courts but they exist and they need to be improved. I challenge anyone with any and all brain material to challenge this and to offer any relevant feedback. It helps of course if you have some knowledge or experience. Hell opinions are fine, they generate a disscussion, and frankly I haven’t seen much on this topic, perhaps it’s because we don’t want to talk about something that we are all a little too vulnerable to.

G. Minsk