New Freedom has reared
its ugly head in Texas in the form of Representative Davis' HB 470,
ostensibly an omnibus mental health restructuring bill, that has actually
been designed to implement New Freedom, and proudly so!
“The Most Dangerous
Proposed Legislation Ever Is On The Table In The Texas Legislature…”
Citizens' Commission on Human Rights | March
22, 2005
Dear Fellow Human
Rights Advocate:
Your rights and those
of your children are under assault at this very minute by psychiatric vested
interests in the Texas Legislature. Don’t make the mistake of thinking
these are merely words – the threat is real and our response has to be swift
and definitive. Here are the facts:
20% of ALL Children In
Texas Threatened:
If the bills that are
currently on the lines at the Legislature are passed, it could literally
mean that 20% of ALL school children and teens are routed to a mental health
“professional.” We are talking about 1 in 5 students referred to a psych.
And we’re not talking about some long-term plan – this could all happen
within a single year!
Make no mistake; this
would be a psychiatric brave new world. And the only thing standing between
the psychs and our children, our very future, is CCHR, our allies and you.
This is a potential disaster of historical proportions as millions of people
are threatened. They need our help – and we need your help.
We understand that you
need to know the whole picture, so we’ve read through all the key documents
for you and have summarized the key points you need to be aware of…
Enslavement to a
Lifetime of Mind-Altering Drugs:
The So-Called “Freedom
Commission”
You might have already
guessed this is part of New Freedom Commission (NFC) or the President’s New
Freedom Commission on Mental Health.
How does this work
exactly? How could the Psychs get a hold of such a significant portion of
the population? The answer is that the psychs want to turn our schools into
psychiatric “recruitment centers” and “mental health clinics.”
According to the NFC:
§ [And this is a
quote]“The mission of public schools is to educate all students… …Schools
are where children spend most of each day. While schools are primarily
concerned with education, mental health is essential to learning as well as
to social and emotional development. Because of this important interplay
between emotional health and school success, schools must be partners in the
mental health care of our children.”
§ “Schools are
in a key position to identify mental health problems early and to provide a
link to appropriate services. Every day more than 52 million students attend
over 114,000 schools in the U.S. When combined with the six million
adults working at those schools, almost one-fifth of the population passes
through the Nation's schools on any given weekday….”
§ One of the
goals of the NFC is “Early Mental Health Screening, Assessment, and
Referrals to Services Are Common Practice”. The recommendations to
implement this goal are:
1. “Promote the
mental health of young children,
2. Improve and
expand school mental health programs,
3. Screen for
co-occurring mental and substance use disorder and link with integrated
treatment strategies, and
4. Screen for
mental disorders in primary health care, across the life span, and connect
to treatment and supports.”
Are You READY For
This?
The Texas NFC Bills
There are three bills
this legislative session that seek to implement the NFC recommendations:
House Bill 470, Senate Bill 194 and Senate Bill 1703:
House Bill 470:
+ This bill seeks to
restructure the mental health system in Texas and implement the NFC
recommendations, making early behavioral health screening, assessment, and
referral to services a common practice
+ It also includes promoting the “behavioral health” of young children
+ Improving public school system behavioral health programs
+ Screening for co-occurring mental and substance abuse disorders and
treating persons with integrated treatment strategies
+ Establishing formal partnerships between local behavioral health
authorities and school districts.
Senate Bill 194:
+ Making early
behavioral health screening, assessment, and referrals to services a common
practice
+ Promote the behavioral health of your children
+ Improve public school system behavioral health programs
+ The Department of State Health Services to ensure individuated care for
all adults with mental illness and for every child with a serious emotional
disturbance or a substance abuse program.
+ The Department of State Health Services to examine and promote the
solutions to challenges in the mental health care system that are identified
by the President’s New Freedom Commission on Mental Health.
Senate Bill 1703:
+ This bill turns
teachers and educators into psychiatric recruiters and establishes a new
Office of Children’s Mental Health and Substance Abuse to deliver
psychiatric services to Texas children
+ Requires that educators receive training in early identification of and
referral strategies for students with mental illness and substance abuse
problems to be included in the requirements for certification
+ Educators who are receiving continued courses and programs that fulfill
educators’ continuing education requirements would undergo courses related
to training in early identification of and referral strategies for students
with mental health and substance abuse problems
+ Incorporation of information regarding substance abuse, mental health
education and access to related services in school districts
+ Establishes a new Office of Children’s Mental Health and Substance Abuse
to deliver mental health and substance abuse services to Texas Children.
Please, Act Now!
We need people to
email, call and even visit their legislators and let them know that you are
against mental health screenings in our schools and urge them to vote
against these bills. If you have any questions or confusions about what to
do, then please call or email us and we will be happy to help.
We need you to contact
your legislators and have them vote against these bills. Tell them that you
are against mental health screening.
Legislators really do
listen to there voters. Your voice is important and can make a difference.
Please, be heard.
You can find your
legislators at the following website:
http://www.capitol.state.tx.us/fyi/fyi.htm
This site includes
postal and email addresses and phone numbers so you can write and call to
tell them your opinion.
A personal visit is
always the most powerful form of communication. People can come to Austin
and visit their legislator at the Capitol or at their local district office,
where their staff will relay your message to the representative. Contact us
and we can help you with this.
HB 470
Texas
House of Representatives | March 22, 2005
Sec. 531.451. RELATION
TO OTHER LAW. This subchapter
prevails over any other law related to the regulation or delivery of
services by health and human services agencies to the extent that the
other law is in conflict or inconsistent with this subchapter
The Department of
State Health Services shall ensure
that local behavioral health service delivery systems further the
following goals: (3) making early behavioral health screening,
assessment, and referral to services a common practice by:
(A) promoting the behavioral health of young
children;
(B) improving public school system behavioral health
programs; and
(C) screening for co-occurring mental and substance
abuse disorders and treating persons with integrated treatment
strategies.
(b) In providing
assistance under Subsection (a) of
this section, the Department of State Health Services shall examine and
promote the solutions to challenges in the mental health care system
that are identified by the President's New Freedom Commission on Mental
Health in its July 2003 final report.
Sec. 531.461. LOCAL
BEHAVIORAL HEALTH AUTHORITY RESOURCES FOR CHILDREN.
(a) A local behavioral health authority shall design system of care
resources for children with serious emotional disturbances that
recognize:
(1) the unique needs of such children;
(2) the various programs in this state through which a child may be
directed to the authority for services; and
(3)
the various programs available to the child, the child's family, and the
authority through which the child and the child's family may receive
behavioral health services or other services. (b) A local
behavioral health authority shall develop formal partnerships and
coordinate with entities in the authority's local service region,
including school districts, state and local agencies, and service
providers, to ensure that a child with a serious emotional disturbance
receives the most appropriate and effective care and services to the
extent possible. As appropriate, the authority shall use teams composed
of representatives of public and private service providers and members
of the child's family to develop individual and family service plans
that encompass to the extent possible all appropriate services and
direct interagency and provider cooperation as
necessary to further the plans. (c) The authority shall
establish a system for integrating funding for a child's services from
various available sources to provide a spectrum of services to meet the
needs of a child and the child's family. In establishing the system the
authority shall consider the criteria and expansion plans developed for
the Texas Integrated Funding Initiative under Subchapter G-1.
