Advance Directives for Psychiatric Care West Virginia Office of Behavioral Health Services West Virginia Office of Behavioral Health Services P ositive changes have occurred in the delivery of mental health services since the implementation of Community Support Services. A major purpose of these changes has been to improve the service delivery system, simultaneously improving the level at which consumers are empowered to direct their own treatment. Consumers report they live in fear of the commitment process. It generally represents a total loss of control of where they will be, what will happen to them, who provides treatment, and where that treatment will be provided.
Providers also dislike the commitment process.
It is replete with bureaucratic and legalistic procedures. Providers are required to testify to dangerousness, offer opinions that no less restrictive treatment is possible, and omit opportunities for coordinated, client-focused treatment. In a similar manner, family members of the consumer feel helpless. They are often the petitioners to commit an individual with a mental illness. The commitment process is necessary, some would argue, because people with mental illnesses sometimes get to a point where someone else must direct their care.