Opinion: Why we need mental health courts

Has been updated: 6 by the time release date: 6 by the time

On May 30, a gathering was held at Bonny Courthouse to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Anchorage Mental Health Court, the first of many treatment courts to follow in Alaska.

In addition to the hundreds in attendance, former Judge Stephanie Rose, one of the founders of the Mental Health Court, spoke along with Judge Jennifer Henderson of the Alaska State Court System. Both spoke about the positive outcomes for participants. Twenty years ago, I participated in the Mental Health Court program. Since then, I have testified before the Alaska State Legislature about the need for funding for treatment courts.

I believe the failure of Alaska state agencies and the Legislature to provide fair rights and accessible mental health recovery programs for psychiatric patients contributed to the need for treatment courts.

In 2003, police came to my apartment in Anchorage and presented me with a court order to take me to an Alaska psychiatric hospital for a forced psychiatric evaluation. They handcuffed me. I asked them to take my jacket, shoes, keys and glasses, but they refused my requests. I was escorted out the door, barefoot, shivering and without glasses in the middle of winter, and transported to API in a marked police vehicle.

In 2003 I spent five months at API undergoing psychiatric evaluation and treatment, and like the previous three times I was locked up at API, when I was released I was basically thrown out onto the streets with no help and no future.

In my case, the Treatment Mental Health Court did what the Alaska mental health care system and laws refused to do – set up a program to get me the help I needed.

In the best case scenario, Alaska would have programs and options in place for people with severe mental illnesses before they are charged with a crime. But in the absence of that, mental health courts are necessary.

Faith J. Myers He has been confined to a psychiatric hospital for more than seven months and is the author of a book called “Going Mad in Alaska: A History of the Treatment of Alaska’s Mental Illnesses.”

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