I bet if you think about it, some member of your family, or a close friend, has had to deal with Virginia’s Mental Health System. Either a child with severe disability needs to attend a state or private school, a teenage girl with suicidal thoughts, young adult male with schizophrenic delusions – many more than you realize will have to navigate the system. Mental Commitment hearings / hospitalizations / medications / restraints / abuse / loss of rights and dignity – all very real and life changing.
I ran across a great blog today that gets to the meat on so many of the issues – legal process / medication / etc. Check it out – it may be a good resource, even if you don’t agree with the bent, it has some super information and commentary – http://hymes.wordpress.com.