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In 1998 and 1999, the Patients Council had legal standing in an Ontario Coroner's inquest into the fatal police shooting of Edmond Yu (February 20, 1997). View the jury's recommendations. Mentally ill need input, Yu inquest told Patients
fare better if given choice, advocate says People with mental illness spend less time in hospital if they're given a say in their treatment, says a patient advocate, who cites years of research on the issue. Jennifer Chambers, outreach and advocacy co-ordinator for the Queen Street Patients Council, said yesterday it is critical for "psychiatric survivors'' to be involved in the development of treatments and services provided for them. Chambers was testifying yesterday at the inquest into the police shooting death of Edmond Yu. The jury was told there need to be alternatives to medical-based crisis intervention teams and hospital admissions. "People did better if they got what they had identified were their needs met,'' said Chambers, referring to case research in the United States. "They weren't in hospital as much and they were more satisfied with their lives.'' Diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia, Yu was suspicious of mental health professionals and refused to take anti-psychotic drugs, the inquest has been told. The 35-year-old man was killed by police in February, 1997 after he slapped a woman who was boarding a TTC bus. Although Yu agreed to go to hospital, he threatened officers with a hammer when they tried to handcuff him. Officers involved in the shooting were later cleared by the province's special investigation unit. The inquest is examining Ontario's mental health system and police alternatives to deadly force. Traditional mental health services focus on a person's diagnosis and whether or not medication is being taken, Chambers said, adding that groups such as the Active Community Treatment (ACT) crisis intervention team don't deal with the whole individual or recognize that crises are often caused by stresses that have nothing to do with mental illness. "There's the illusion that there's all these good services to choose from and people won't use them - but good outreach programs are few and far between,'' Chambers said. "The ACT teams have very negative evaluations because they tend to be so intrusive that they drive people underground instead of connecting them with other people.'' Chambers pointed to several priority items needed to ease people with mental illness back into society: Subsidized housing, better crisis intervention models, more social assistance funding and opportunities for meaningful employment. Although former psychiatric patients are involved in a police diversity training course at the Toronto Police College, Chambers believes there's a need for even more input. Today is the last day for witnesses to testify; lawyers will make their submissions next week. View the jury's recommendations. Home / No
Force Coalition Site / QSOS Site
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