Watchdog Offers Mental Health Law Continuing Education Course Designed for Professionals

Delivered by an attorney, the virtual course covers the basic human rights impacted by the mental health law and is designed for mental health professionals.

CLEARWATER, FLORIDA, UNITED STATES, May 17, 2021 /EINPresswire.com/ -- The Florida chapter of the Citizens Commission on Human Rights (CCHR) is hosting a complimentary virtual course on Saturday, June 12th, 2021 from 1:00-2:30pm. The course is delivered by attorney Carmen Miller, a former assistant public defender in the Thirteenth Circuit in Tampa, with an extensive background in dealing with Baker Acts.

Florida’s mental health law, commonly referred to as the Baker Act, allows for individuals of all ages to be taken into custody for an involuntary psychiatric examination but it is often misunderstood and misused. [1]

According to the Baker Act Reporting Center, there were more than 210,000 Baker Acts initiated during 2018/2019 across the state with over 37,000 involving children. [2]

Headlines such as “6-year-old Florida girl “traumatized” after being involuntarily sent to mental health facility” and “Florida’s flawed Baker Act rips thousands of kids from school” are all too frequent and spurred the Citizens Commission on Human Rights (CCHR), a mental health watchdog, to begin offering continuing education on the law. After first receiving approval to host continuing education through the Florida Bar on the Baker Act for attorneys, the move to become a provider through the Florida Board of Clinical Social Work, Marriage and Family Therapy and Mental Health Counseling was a logical next step. [3,4]

“The education of those given the power to initiate a Baker Act on the points of the law is vital to the protection of liberty and human rights,” states the president of CCHR Florida, Diane Stein. “If the law itself is understood and applied from the viewpoint of using the least restrictive means possible to help someone in crisis then the potential for abuse is greatly reduced.”

The virtual continuing education course is designed for Licensed Mental Health Counselors, Licensed Clinical Social Workers, Licensed Marriage Family Therapists and Certified Master Social Workers and offers 3 CE credits upon completion. Those in attendance will learn the context and intentions of the mental health law as well as the basic human rights impacted by the Baker Act and its unintended consequences. To learn more or to reserve a spot for this complimentary virtual course, please call 727-442-8820.

About CCHR: Initially established by the Church of Scientology and renowned psychiatrist Dr. Thomas Szasz in 1969, CCHR’s mission is to eradicate abuses committed under the guise of mental health and enact patient and consumer protections. L. Ron Hubbard, founder of Scientology, first brought psychiatric imprisonment to wide public notice: “Thousands and thousands are seized without process of law, every week, over the ‘free world’ tortured, castrated, killed. All in the name of ‘mental health,’” he wrote in March 1969. For more information visit www.cchrflorida.org

Sources:
[1] WUSF Health News Florida COMMITTED https://wfsu.org/committed/ and Baker Act Abuse - Media Stories https://www.cchrflorida.org/baker-act-abuse/
[2] Baker Act Reporting Center https://www.usf.edu/cbcs/baker-act/documents/ba_usf_annual_report_2018_2019.pdf
[3] Ibid.
[4] CCHR Continuing Education Courses https://www.cchrflorida.org/category/continuing-education/

Diane Stein
Citizens Commission on Human Rights of Florida
+1 (727) 422-8820
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Abuse of Florida Involuntary Commitment Law- Baker Act