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DID YOU KNOW? 42 states allow mandated community treatment (also known as assisted outpatient treatment or court-ordered outpatient treatment) for some people with severe mental illnesses. New Mexico is one of only eight states that does not permit the use of this valuable treatment mechanism.

Recent update

Governor Richardson should put mandated community treatment on the agenda for the 2007 Special Session and demand that legislators get it right.

New Mexico is still one of only eight states that does not allow court-ordered outpatient treatment.  On February 27, 2007, the New Mexico House of Representatives passed HB 609, the Mandated Community Treatment Act.  (The state now uses the term "Mandated Community Treatment" when referring to assisted outpatient treatment.)

In the 2006 session, the New Mexico House of Representatives overwhelmingly passed HB 174 to bring AOT (now called MCT) to the state. The bill went to the Senate floor and was awaiting a vote when time ran out for the session.

Supporters

Democrats and Republicans alike have rallied behind the effort to update New Mexico's mental illness treatment laws with a Mandated Community Treatment provision.

• Senator Pete Domenici has strongly endorsed the legislation for mandated community treatment, pointing out "Some argue that it is wrong to force individuals to undergo treatment against their will. We argue that the tragic consequences are simply too monumental not to require help under certain circumstances. The success rate of the AOT program in other states has been well documented in both research and in practice.”

• Governor Bill Richardson held a news conference to endorse the measure, saying "We need this law to prevent events like the tragic murders in Albuquerque last summer. We have to do everything we can to prevent this from happening to another family, another police officer, or another community, ever again.” [Read more about the news conference.]
• Albuquerque Mayor Martin Chávez is a strong supporter, noting that 20 percent of the 55 homicides in Albuquerque in 2005 were related to mental illness. He was so frustrated at the delay in passage of the statewide mandated community treatment legislation that he is working to get Kendra's Law (MCT) passed in Albuquerque.
• Rep. Joni Gutierrez (D-Las Cruces), who introduced HB 174 in the House, said that "existing New Mexico law essentially forces people who lack insight into their illness to hit rock bottom before they can be helped ... Forced deterioration is cruel and inhumane."
• Mandated Community Treatment is supported by the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill (NAMI) and various New Mexico NAMI chapters.

In the News

February 28, 2007 - Revamped 'Kendra's Law' Clears House  “I’m hopeful because we worked all summer, and we really made some substantial changes,” said state Rep. Joni Marie Gutierrez, D-Mesilla, who sponsored House Bill 609. New Mexico Health Secretary Michelle Lujan Grisham said the bill "is much more directed at the individual’s rights and protections this go-around,” and “It’s very narrow in scope and broad in terms of protections.”  The Mandated Community Treatment bill is now on its way in the New Mexico Senate.

September 29, 2006. Albuquerque Mayor Martin Chávez  and State Representative Joni Gutierrez lay out their arguments for Kendra’s Law: “There is a small group of people with very severe mental illnesses who are too sick to seek out treatment. Some say we should ignore them until we can whip the entire mental health system into perfect shape. We say that is not just unrealistic but unacceptable. That's why we believe it is time for Assisted Outpatient Treatment (AOT), sometimes called a Kendra's Law.”

September 23, 2006 - Albuquerque Journal editorial praises Mayor Chavez and the City Council for their persistance in getting Kendra's Law to Albuquerque citizens.

September 21, 2006 - Albuquerque Tribune editor in chief Jack Ehn offers his perspective on Kendra's Law: "Some of the best people I know are bipolar, depressive or otherwise afflicted with pointless mental illnesses. You probably could conclude that I'm crazy, too.But I still favor laws that give governments more leeway to commit certain mentally ill people, involuntarily, into programs or institutions - where they could be forced, if not persuaded, to take their meds, live structured lives and get better, as far as possible. This includes versions of Kendra's Law passed by Albuquerque's City Council Monday and proposed statewide."

September 12, 2006 - Albuquerque City Council committee unanimously endorses Kendra's Law and sends it to the full Council for approval. Council President Martin Heinrich said the measure "has come a long way and has a lot of important safeguards built into it." Read the full story in the Albuquerque Journal (subscription only). The Albuquerque Tribune reports that five of the total of nine City Council members voted the bill out of committee. They also urged speed of passage.

September 7, 2006 - Despite other states' successes with assisted outpatient treatment, some in New Mexico's mental health community are working to defeat a proposed Kendra's Law not with logic, but with delay. TAC executive director Mary Zdanowicz weighs in on the debate with an oped in the Albuquerque Tribune.

August 31, 2006 - "More public resources for services are certainly a legitimate issue, and one we both believe in. But it is an issue quite apart from whether one has the authority to act, when someone is in the grips of severe mental illness, before it's too late." U.S. Sen. Pete Domenici and Mayor Martin Chávez debunk the myths in an oped in the Albuquerque Journal.

August 31, 2006 - The New Mexico Behavioral Health Collaborative.sponsored “A Discussion of Mandated Community Treatment & New Mexico’s Behavioral Health Needs” - panelists included Senator Pete Domenici, Treatment Advocacy Center Assistant Director Jonathan Stanley, Representative Joni Gutierrez, NAMI New Mexico President Joanna Salinas, and a sampling of national AOT researchers.

August 17, 2006 - City Council delays action on Kendra's Law until later this month. The reaction?

LETTER Hope During a Crisis (Alibi, May 11, 2006)

"We further stigmatize the mentally ill by insisting all mentally ill people can simply “choose” treatment. For some it is not a matter of choice. We should not leave behind those who cannot make informed decisions and choices due to their illness."

NEWS Mental Health Bill Considered (Albuquerque Tribune, April 15, 2006)

NEWS Bill Proposed for Mentally Ill (Albuquerque Tribune, April 11, 2006)

PRESS RELEASE Mayor Chavez to launch Kendra's Law in Albuquerque
February 17, 2006

OPED Help Mentally Ill Get the Treatment They Need (Albuquerque Journal, January 19, 2006)

Assisted outpatient treatment is a court-ordered program designed to bring intensive, consistent care to people overwhelmed by severe psychiatric illnesses. New Mexico is one of only eight states that do not have some form of AOT law, but that may soon change. State Rep. Joni Gutierrez, D-Las Cruces, is advocating legislation to enable and fund AOT. Albuquerque Mayor Martin Chávez has announced his intention to push for an ordinance if action at the state level is delayed. U.S. Sen. Pete Domenici endorses AOT measures as a matter of both compassion and public safety. The proposed Albuquerque ordinance would create a psychiatric officer to evaluate referrals and advise the Mayor's Office, which could petition District Court to order assisted outpatient treatment, including psychiatric, medical and social services and ensuring medications are taken as prescribed.

[The Albuquerque Journal requires a subscription to read their content in full.]

EDITORIAL Help Mentally Ill Out of Danger Zone (Albuquerque Journal, January 1, 2006)
In New Mexico, you have to deteriorate to the point of being dangerous before someone can intervene and force you to get the mental-health help you need. Albuquerque Mayor Martin Chávez and state Rep. Joni Gutierrez say help should be available before that. ... Gutierrez, D-Las Cruces, took the issue up at the state level on Thursday, announcing a bill for the upcoming legislative session that "will allow New Mexico courts to order people who meet strict criteria for severe mental illness into intensive and supervised outpatient treatment. Existing New Mexico law essentially forces people who lack insight into their illness to hit rock bottom before they can be helped," Gutierrez says. "Forced deterioration is cruel and inhumane." The approach is backed by state and local chapters of the National Alliance for Mental Illnesses. ...
[The Albuquerque Journal requires a subscription to read their content in full.]

BLOGTAC Wait until he escalates (Sept. 26, 2005)
John Hyde's family is speaking out about how they tried to get him help but the system failed them. "On April 27, Presbyterian officials had Hyde picked up and taken to the hospital. He was released after four hours. Robert Hyde said when he questioned his brother's therapist about the decision he was told that they would have to wait until John Hyde "escalates."

BLOGTAC New Mexico's latest tragedy spurs call for reform (Sept. 1, 2005)
John Hyde, 48, shot and killed five people in Albuquerque, New Mexico, in mid August, including two police officers dispatched to bring him in for an evaluation. For at least five months, according to his family, Hyde had been off medication for schizophrenia and bipolar disorder - in April, police responded to his home at the request of his 80-year-old mother, but there was nothing they could do to help.

COLUMN New Mexico needs to get proactive, treat mentally ill (Albuquerque Tribune, Aug. 30, 2005)
“I was stunned to find out New Mexico doesn't have an involuntary mental health treatment program. Without such a program, our entire state is a dangerous place to live.”

COLUMN How the next mayor can aid the mentally ill (Albuquerque Tribune, Aug. 29, 2005)
"Mayor Martin Chavez agreed that studying the issue of forced medication is part of what needs to be done."

EDITORIAL Deaths send a message: Fix mental health care (Albuquerque Tribune, Aug. 25, 2005)
"As Albuquerque grieves over the tragic shooting deaths of five people in less than 24 hours - including two veteran police officers - it is not too soon to ask what can we do to stop the carnage."

NEWS N.M. can't force drugs:State among few without involuntary treatment for mentally ill (Albuquerque Tribune, Aug. 24, 2005)
"In April, John Hyde's mother told police she was concerned her mentally ill son wasn't taking his medicine. That might have been enough to start Hyde down the road to an involuntary treatment program - if the state had one. New Mexico is one of eight states that have no avenue for authorities to force seriously mentally ill patients to take their medicine or face hospitalization."

LETTER Treat mental illness before tragedy (Crosswinds Weekly, August 21, 2005)

COLUMN Prisoners of illness (Crosswinds Weekly, February 17, 2005)

"So, you wonder, why doesn’t Woods just go get medication too? That would be much like expecting an Alzheimer’s patient to seek help. Neither the paranoid schizophrenic nor the Alzheimer’s patient can recognize their illness because both diseases affect the very part of the brains that’s responsible for self–evaluation."

OPED To help mentally ill, change state law (Albuquerque Journal, Sept. 14, 2003)
"For the past 31 years, judges have had nowhere to put the mentally incompetent whom psychologists determine are not a danger to others."

OPED Tragedy result of state denying trial, treatment (Albuquerque Tribune, July 24, 2003)
"People who are rendered incompetent by severe mental illness need treatment based on need, not on dangerousness."

PREVENTABLE TRAGEDIES The Preventable Tragedies database includes summaries of news articles of which an individual with a neurobiological brain disorder (usually untreated) is involved in a violent episode, either as a victim or perpetrator. Search for New Mexico episodes by choosing NM in the drop down box.

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