Florida Mental Health Watchdog Hosts Weekly Seminars on Patient Rights and Alternative Treatments
The Citizens Commission on Human Rights of Florida conducts regular educational events focusing on mental health law rights, physical causes of psychiatric symptoms, and alternatives to psychiatric drug treatments.
The Florida chapter of the Citizens Commission on Human Rights, a mental health watchdog organization, hosts weekly educational events addressing critical mental health issues facing Floridians. The nonprofit organization provides information on mental health as a public service, focusing on topics ranging from patient rights under mental health law to the identification of physical conditions that mimic mental health disorders.
Since opening new offices in downtown Clearwater, the organization has held over one thousand events featuring attorneys, doctors, and clinical pharmacists as guest speakers. These professionals educate attendees on Florida's mental health law, commonly known as the Baker Act, and individual rights under this legislation. The seminars also address how underlying physical ailments and nutritional deficiencies can lead to misdiagnosis of mental illness.
Attorney Carmen Miller, a former assistant public defender with experience representing Baker Act clients, regularly conducts seminars on mental health law. Miller has hosted Advance Mental Health Directive workshops where participants learn about psychiatric living wills and how these documents can protect individuals from unwanted mental health treatments such as electroshock therapy.
During the "Psychiatric Disorders & Their Underlying Physical Causes" seminar, alternative medicine professional Dr. Jared Roscoe explains how psychiatric drugs affect the body and why they may hinder actual healing processes. Clinical pharmacist Pamela Seefeld addresses the potentially devastating side effects of psychotropic drugs on children and discusses natural treatment alternatives for mental health conditions.
The organization, initially established by the Church of Scientology and psychiatrist Dr. Thomas Szasz in 1969, maintains a mission to eradicate abuses committed under the guise of mental health and enact patient protections. The complimentary seminars and workshops vary monthly, providing ongoing education about mental health rights and alternative approaches to treatment.