Hot Topics in Mental Health & Law: Civil Commitment series
February 4, 2025
Webinar description
Peer and family advocates will spend a session detailing aspects of their experience with civil commitment and the broader mental health care continuum.
Learning objectives
- Describe experiences of being an involuntary patient/family member in an Involuntary Treatment Act (ITA) process.
- Consider how negative aspects of ITA could be modified and improved.
- Identify alternative interventions to prevent crises.
About the speakers
Carolynn Ponzoha is a mental health advocate living with schizoaffective disorder, borderline personality disorder, and complex PTSD. She spreads awareness of psychosis through online videos and discussions. Apart from her work spreading psychosis awareness, she is in recovery from addiction with five years sober, and attributes a large part of her mental wellness to sobriety.
Karen Schilde serves on the boards for National Alliance for Mental Illness (NAMI) Sno-Isle and Everett Clubhouse (under Hero House Northwest); facilitates NAMI family support groups; and trains state teachers for NAMI’s Family-to-Family program. She volunteers with the UW SPIRIT Center as a Psychosis REACH family ambassador and family bridger.
Laura Van Tosh’s work is born from her experience as a patient turned activist, and she has been involved with the peer movement since 1985. She is the founder of the Mental Health Policy Roundtable, which brings newcomers and veterans of policy together in a neutral environment of learning. Laura has written extensively about peer-operated behavioral health care services and homelessness and has worked inside three state psychiatric hospitals. She is a member of the Behavioral Health Joint Legislative and Executive Committee, which is developing a five-year strategic plan for the behavioral health care system in Washington state, and serves as a consultant with Meadows Mental Health Policy Institute.