DNC Board
Minutes – June 24, 2014
13 board
members, 1 guest
Agenda
Guest – Ron
Carten WCMHN
Meeting with
City
Street
Market
DNC/VANDU
Tenant Meeting
Film Stipend
Community
Forum
AGM
Grants
Update
Motion to
adopt agenda, motion passes
X reads
minutes. Motion to accept minutes. Motion passes.
Guest
West Coast
Mental Health Network on Pender near Cambie St.
Peer
program. Funding was cut in December last year by VCH, but have some funding
from City.
Assertive
Community Treatment – Psychiatrist, social worker, nurse, sometimes police
officer. Primarily to monitor whether people are taking their medications.
Section of
Mental Health Act involves involuntary treatment.
When you are
in that category, you can be treated against your will.
Your rights
essentially, are taken away. There is another section called Involuntary Leave.
You are allowed out, but have to abide by medication, etc…
The director
of the hospital determines the category, recommended by the psychiatrist.
There have
been a challenge to involuntary committal under section 7. The BCCLA has
produced a pamphlet – and they are hoping to challenge the mental health act.
What the act
argues is that mental health is a special case and people don’t know their own
good. There needs to be choice in care, and choice in treatment.
Representation
agreement act – provides every BC resident a right to appoint a representative.
The exception to this is mental health treatment.
Section 15 –
is also possibly a good section to use – which prohibits discrimination
Book called
DSM4 – this lists all the mental health disorders that psychiatrists can think
of.
Group is
called madcaps – write letters to politicians. Met with CoV about ACT teams. Tried
to get VCH to commit to the principle of Choice in Treatment. They are
committed to patients’ rights, but always qualify it.
BCCLA has a
position paper.
WCMHN – has
a position paper on the representation agreement act. Group was not even
invited to be part of the Mental Health Task Force. They share an office with ARA mental health
which was on the task force.
Police
officers may now be funded as members of the ACT team by health money.
If a person
has an ACT team this means that $30k is being spent on you. This may even be
for people that don’t even have housing.
Meeting with
City
August some
time.
Missing
board members
Street
Market people were not here
Tenant Rights
meeting
DJ Larkin
will be there, also Diane from MadCap,
$200 budget
for the event
Filming
notice – table the program for a month
Community
Forum – Need to have an AGM before end of year
Motion to
adjourn – moment of silence