Join Dr. Ralph Aquila on March 23rd!
Getting Help Without Getting Hurt
A discussion about mandated treatment and what people with serious mental illness, parents, doctors and policy makers can do to change the system.
March 23, 2021
2:00 PM - 3:30 PM (EST)
Via ZOOMThis forum will explore the plight of people living with untreated serious mental illness, including the recent rise in reports of homelessness and violence against and committed by this population in subways and other public places.
Panelists will discuss reforms needed to promote treatment rather than tragedy. Topics will include whether lowering the standard of involuntary commitment, mandated treatment (AOT) and additional inpatient hospital beds are needed, or if the mental health system has deeper, systemic problems at the root of why people with serious mental illness do not get the treatment they deserve and need.
The conversation will focus on the changes necessary to ensure that the mental health system provides timely, therapeutic and continuing care to people living with serious mental illness that is on par with treatment and care provided to those with physical health needs.A little bit about our Panelists
Dr. Ralph Aquila - Senior Medical Director of Fountain House, New York and assistant professor of psychiatry at the Weil Cornell school of medicine, New York, New York. Dr. Aquila has 30 years of experience treating persons with serious mental illness, predominately, schizophrenia.
Evelia Davis - Wife, daughter, sister, friend, Doctoral Candidate of Business Administration and Mother to a son diagnosed with serious mental illness. She desires for all to live authentic lives filled with joy, love and purpose.
Dr. Elizabeth Ford - Author and Chief Medical Officer at the Center for Alternative Sentencing and Employment Services, former Chief of Psychiatry for Correctional Health Services (CHS) for New York City’s Health + Hospitals, responsible for the mental health care of people incarcerated in the city’s jails, and Director of the Division of Forensic Psychiatry at Bellevue and the Training Director for NYU’s Forensic Psychiatry Fellowship.
Teresa Pasquini - California Mom on a Mission for reforming local, state, and federal mental health systems. As a family member of a son and brother living with serious mental illness, her 45-year lived experience drives her current passion for “Housing That Heals,” the name of a white paper released in May 2020.
Eric Smith - Nationally recognized mental health advocate, public speaker, and consultant. Graduate of assisted outpatient treatment (AOT) whose story has been told in the documentary Stopping the Revolving Door – A Civil Approach to Treating Severe Mental Illness, among other publications.