The University of Washington’s Center for Mental Health, Policy, and the Law is pleased to host a virtual speaker series on civil commitment. Civil commitment, or involuntary commitment, is a legal intervention by which a person with serious mental illness, or other criteria, may be ordered to a psychiatric hospital or receive supervised outpatient treatment for some period of time. Recent changes in the laws governing civil commitment across the country have fueled the longstanding debate about the role of civil commitment, understanding the balance between ensuring public welfare and protecting one’s civil liberties, and providing quality health care services within the mental health care continuum.

This series brings together an array of experts, including clinicians, legal professionals, educators, policymakers, and individuals with lived experience. The speakers will provide foundational as well as advanced content on civil commitment laws and processes, ethical considerations, and clinical practices for caring for persons with mental illness.

All are welcome to attend. The series is intended to be useful to both professional and community audiences.

Participants may attend one session or the entire series.

Please use the Registration link to read more information and to register.

We will be hosting a movie night and watching the documentary See Memory by Viviane Silvera. it is free to watch on PBS streaming service. Afterwards we will have light discussion about the show and our feelings about it. This is our first movie night and we plan to do more in the future.