Mental Health Programs
About CMHS
Center for Mental Health Services National Advisory
Council Subcommittee on Consumer/Survivor Issues
Attachment 2
Statements of Values and Principles
The following statements of public health values and principles were adopted by the CMHS National Advisory Council's Subcommittee on Consumer/Survivor Issues in September 2002.
I. Values
Human rights and fundamental freedoms are the birthright of all human beings, their protection and promotion is the first responsibility of governments, and this unreservedly includes persons who experience psychiatric disability.
Mental health policy should lead to community integration and social justice for each person served. Mental health services engage rights and freedoms of people who experience psychiatric disability when those services orient toward recovery and incorporate values of self-determination, dignity, hope, reciprocity, witnessing, spirituality, and diversity.
II. Principles of Health, Community, and Action
Health
Humans have a right to adequate health, well-being, and resources necessary for health.
Community
Humans are inherently social and interdependent. We rely upon one another for safety and survival. Our right to make our own decisions balances against how our actions affect others.
Effectiveness of institutions depends upon public trust. Institutions should listen to and speak with the community, should be transparent, accountable, and under community oversight.
Collaboration is a key element to public health. The public health infrastructure is most effective when its agencies and professional disciplines collaborate with informed citizens.
People and their physical environment are interdependent. We depend upon the resources of our natural and constructed environments. A well-designed constructed environment promotes health no less than the natural environment.
Each person in a community should have opportunity to contribute to public discourse. Consumers of public mental health services, who are traditionally voiceless, should contribute to the process of developing and evaluating policy.
Identifying and promoting fundamental requirements for health is a primary concern. Fundamental social structures affect many aspects of health and addressing those fundamental causes is preventive. While important public health programs are curative, public health must never lose sight of underlying causes and prevention.
Action
Understanding and protecting health through research and knowledge brings a moral obligation to share what is known. Informed citizen participation in policy-making requires access to relevant information.
The scientific method provides a relatively objective means of identifying factors necessary for health and for evaluating policies and programs to protect and promote health. Scientific tools, collaboration among the sciences, and participation of informed citizens are necessary for public health.
Knowledge is not morally neutral and often demands action. Public health should turn knowledge into timely action, into research that explores what we do not know, and should help citizens stay informed.
Values inform action and use of knowledge. The fundamental value and dignity of each human being must shape policy and implementation although they may not be optimally efficient or cost-beneficial.
References
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