Support for AOT in New Jersey

TAC executive director Mary Zdanowicz’s recent op-ed in the Star Ledger has prompted a flurry of responses from families and advocates across New Jersey, echoing Mary’s calls for passage of AOT legislation in New Jersey. If you'd like to help advocate for change in New Jersey, write a letter to the Star-Ledger today!

Recent letters to the editor in the Star-Ledger:

Three cheers for Mary Zdanowicz for stating clearly one major problem with our mental health system. New Jersey lags far behind other states in dealing with one of the most stubborn problems facing families and mental health professionals. Our system waits until a person is a danger to himself or others before he can receive involuntary treatment in a psychiatric hospital. There is no mechanism for allowing assisted outpatient treatment before that point is reached. More from Elaine Goodman...

Expanding the availability of court-ordered community care can achieve this by avoiding unnecessary hospitalizations and treating the illness before it spirals out of control. Whether you call it outpatient commitment or assisted outpatient treatment, it has been effective in New York and elsewhere. More from Raymond Deeney...

We support passage of greatly needed legislation to provide for involuntary outpatient treatment in New Jersey. Passage of this bill is vital to treating the severely mentally ill. We are the parents of someone who suffers from a serious mental illness and know firsthand the difficulty in getting help when a patient goes off his medication. Most often, patients require crisis team intervention and consequent hospitalization. More from Warrren and Irene Cook...