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Orchid Calendar
(Dates subject to revision)
June 1, 2020: Petition for Injunction & Civil Rights Complaints
another revision June 1, 2020
On-going -- Revised Drafts of Criminal Justice/Homelessness & Cognitive Disability --
It's NOT just Mental Illness, & It's Not Just the Brain
A Look at the Immune System, the Gut (Gastroenterology), and Endocrinology (Hormones)
We will make drafts publicly available -- the first final report will likely be made public in conjunction with our Jan. 2021 report on Cognitive Disability in Colorado.
It's NOT just Mental Illness, & It's Not Just the Brain
A Look at the Immune System, the Gut (Gastroenterology), and Endocrinology (Hormones)
We will make drafts publicly available -- the first final report will likely be made public in conjunction with our Jan. 2021 report on Cognitive Disability in Colorado.
National Report on Selected Issues of Olmstead Compliance-- June 22, 2020 (Olmstead Anniversary)
- To the best of our ability, we will address how Olmstead Compliance could be ECONOMICALLY STIMULATIVE for the economy and assist in addressing the Recession/Depression we may be in as a result of the Coronavirus Pandemic.
August 15, 2020: We may be combining our desire to interview with the previous project involving Mainstream Articles
Inclusion & Rights
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Translating research to clinical practice, Integration & making individualized medicine Possible
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Val's Update
Amy & I will be seeking out research and clinical experts to get their take on what needs to be done beyond the Nat'l Institute of Mental Health's Research Domain Criteria Program to support Clinicians in staying on top of the research, and addressing the thorny ethical dilemmas of a scientifically invalid DSM 5. Amy and I are not exactly opposites but we do bring different sensibilities to the issue. Amy will be addressing inclusion and rights -- I am very focused on the rights of patients to better more scientifically based treatment. No one is really against "better treatment," but it seems as though we are on the SLOW BOAT TO CHINA in the middle of a CRISIS. |
Amy Smith
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We welcome suggestions. We're also very interested in developing a conference that brings in a wide variety of voices to address the difficult policy and legal issues raised by new research. Any conference would likely be in 2021 or 2022. |
Final Version 1-15-2021
Our Draft letter letter to the ABA Criminal Justice Section regarding the DSM 5 & Resources
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NIMH and various leaders in the field have sent out a lot of mixed messages about the DSM. Originally, highly critical -- they ended up walking that back -- sort of -- but still remaining critical -- parsing their words to the point of being unintelligible. The problem is this has real implications beyond the political and diplomatic efforts of those @ the top of NIMH and the American Psychiatric Association.. Those implications need to be addressed and they especially need to be addressed in the Criminal Justice System. In the meantime, while NIMH and its prior Director have lost a little of their initial courage --- Canadian and British researchers are turning up the HEAT on a "scientifically meaningless" DSM. BOTTOM LINE: Reliance on DSM 5 Psychiatric Diagnoses in the Criminal Justice System raises many profound legal and ethical issues since US, Canadian & British researchers have found the basis of those diagnoses “lack validity” and are “scientifically meaningless.” These ethical problems persist even though issues of Competency and Insanity do not typically specify a particular mental health diagnosis, although laws may reference the requirement of some type of recognized mental health disorder. Further, the issues persist even though NIMH and its previous Executive Director have lost some of their bravado. |
The US National Institute of Mental Health no longer uses the DSM to direct research.
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February 2021
Pitch to Harvard Systemic Justice Project: February 20, 2019
We need effective Data-Driven federal administrative enforcement of
disability civil rights Laws
Policy Areas: Behavioral Health & Homelessness, Children & Families, Criminal Justice, Education & Jobs, Procurement Systems
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Harvard Systemic Justice Project
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One of the BIG SYSTEMIC PROBLEMS in Disability Civil Rights Law is lack of effective ADMINISTRATIVE ENFORCEMENT. This impacts many areas, including:
Harvard has a number of projects, centers and initiatives that might be able to address this. It is the Harvard Systemic Justice Project that seems open to "pitches" from outside organizations. |
May 1, 2021
Detailed Foundations: We're looking to construct detailed Handbooks for:
We are seeking the expert advice of others. Ideally we're looking to provide a doable & manageable foundation for pro bono programs or pro bono programs with support.
We anticipate it will take us at least 4 to 6 months for each section -- and we've learned some of these lessons the hard way.
- Olmstead Enforcement
- Medicaid Network Adequacy Enforcement, and
- Mental Health Parity & Addiction Equity
We are seeking the expert advice of others. Ideally we're looking to provide a doable & manageable foundation for pro bono programs or pro bono programs with support.
We anticipate it will take us at least 4 to 6 months for each section -- and we've learned some of these lessons the hard way.
Orchid Calendar [routinely revised]
Note on Orchid's Calendar & Priorities
*We're putting off our Letter to the ABA re: the DSM 5 until Jan. 15, 2021 -- largely because we have very limited resources the priority needs to be a PATH FORWARD with the PUBLIC HEALTH SYSTEM & COGNITIVE DISABILITY with Special Attention to new Understandings involving the Immune System, Gut, and Endocrine System that is ON-GOING.
- We're re-organizing our Calendar:
- *We haven't given up on the law & our #1 priority is a revised Petition for Injunction (initially Individual & ultimately Class Action) & 1st Draft Civil Rights Complaint.
*We're putting off our Letter to the ABA re: the DSM 5 until Jan. 15, 2021 -- largely because we have very limited resources the priority needs to be a PATH FORWARD with the PUBLIC HEALTH SYSTEM & COGNITIVE DISABILITY with Special Attention to new Understandings involving the Immune System, Gut, and Endocrine System that is ON-GOING.
- It "seems" to us the problems with the DSM 5 are certainly well known at the Scientific & Research level -- and the mental health and legal professionals in the TRENCHES may not know about them, or if they do -- they don't know what to do about them.
- Those professions desperately need a PRACTICAL ALTERNATIVE to the DSM 5--that may not be RDoC {the National Institute of Mental Health's Research Domain Criteria Program which seems a much, much LONGER TERM SOLUTION] but it may be:
- SERVICES, HOUSING, & PLACEMENTS TO SCALE
- Centers of Excellence at Research Institutions & Teaching Hospitals;
- More robust Translational Medicine with respect to Mental Health and Cognitive Disability in general.
- Strength-Based Approaches as a benefit to the Individual & the Society, and a PRACTICAL means of reducing expression of problematic behaviors when there is not a magic bullet. This isn't a magic bullet either but it can be BETTER than what we're doing. Especially, when we're dealing with "DEVELOPMENTAL ISSUES"
- Let's NOT just give people a PEJORATIVE PSYCHIATRIC LABEL AND consign them to Long-Term Incarceration which will likely make the expression of those problematic DEVELOPMENTAL ISSUES much worse. Those developmental issues seem to often involve Emotional Dysregulation.
- Right now in 2020 -- we do NEED more SECURE, THERAPEUTIC PLACEMENTS -- that is probably not always going to be true.
- Individuals & Families & Communities & Law Enforcement want to be PARTNERS in this TRANSFORMATION -- to do that there must be OPEN DIALOGUE.
Self-Serving Val's NOTE: I do feel the need to explain myself because I don't think my choice of priorities is self-evident to others:
- THE TENSION: My GOAL is NOT to Finish Projects -- My GOAL is to SOLVE COMPLEX PROBLEMS
- If I don't COMMUNICATE thoroughly enough:
- Others won't understand my ideas
- I won't be able to gain the support of others, and
- ULTIMATELY, I won't be able to solve those complex problems with others.
- If I don't move on to where the evidence seems to be pointing, the SOLUTION I'm proposing won't be as good.