AOT is for severely mentally ill people who wind up in jail not because they committed a crime, but rather for a disturbance they created because of their condition. A judge can then order the person into treatment.
The group has been working through issues related to a bill Congressman Tim Murphy, R-Pa., is about to reintroduce that would provide federal funds to support AOT services.
Murphy’s Helping Families in Mental Health Crisis Act directs federal funding to states that have AOT laws to help fund programs for the seriously mentally ill who are in need of care, “but do not meet the high threshold of being an imminent danger to themselves or others,” said Susan Mosychuk, chief of staff for the congressman.
“Assisted Outpatient Treatment is a lifesaving alternative because it allows a judge, working with a clinician and the family, to order mandated and monitored treatment in the community for the seriously mentally ill who have a past history of arrest, violence, incarceration or repeated ER hospitalizations,” she said.
Consumer groups such as Mental Health America came out against the bill the first time, arguing it is regressive and ignores the possibility of early intervention for people before they reach mental health crisis, according to a 2014 news report on TheHill.com.
Rogers said he has fine-tuned his local process over the years, taking advantage of community mental health experts and his own staff. Among the keys to his court’s success are his probation monitor, who keeps track of people after they receive care so they don’t fall through the cracks, and his guiding philosophy, he said.
“I’m talking about treating people like they’re people…,” he said. “When you deal with serious mental illnesses, fear doesn’t work, you can’t use the fear motivational tool. It has to be love, it has to be relationships. That’s the only thing that works when you’re talking about mental issues. You have to be very cautious because you don’t want to trigger something and you have to understand what the treatment program is.”
He and his magistrate Patricia Hiter keep a “red book” with detailed information about every person on their docket, so when they come to court for their periodic check-ins, they can communicate on a personal level with the person.
“It’s about them, it’s really not about the court. It’s about them and it’s about their life. I wanted to know, have they been hospitalized five times, what started this case,” Hiter said. “How can I possibly walk on the bench and have any kind of meaningful discussion with somebody about where they’re at right now and how they’re doing if I really don’t know where they’ve been.”
The visiting group observed Hiter and Rogers handle about six cases.
“What was so dramatic for us was his whole approach — authority through love as opposed to fear,” said Scott Bryant-Comstock, president and CEO of the Children’s Mental Health Network, who was a part of the visiting group. “That just came out. Even if you are adamantly against AOT…, when you see his passion and his deep — this is what we all saw and we all concurred — love for people who are really, really sick and it comes through.”
Statewide, Rogers has been recognized that his broad interpretation of the civil commitment law — allowing courts to commit someone with a severe mental illness for treatment against their will, even if they don’t pose and imminent threat to themselves or anyone else — is correct.
“Butler County Probate Court has consistently interpreted the term in the old law, ‘subject to hospitalization by court order,’ to include all types of less restrictive settings consistent with the person’s treatment plan…,” Rogers said.
Former Supreme Court Justice Evelyn Lundberg Stratton has said Rogers and his court are a role model for the rest of the state.
“I always commended him for being progressive and using the statute as I thought it was written and putting in a program that I thought was very successful and had some wonderful outcomes,” she said. “We have used him as our model in trying to make some changes that would make the statutory authority clear for judges.”
About the Author