University Law School Prof. Richard Bonnie has been named to head a commission to investigate changes to the Commonwealth's current mental health laws.
"We are going to conduct a comprehensive exam of Virginia's mental health laws and services and identify ways to use the law more effectively to serve the needs of people with mental illnesses," Bonnie said.
Bonnie also said the commission will specifically examine access to mental health services and the presence of mentally ill people in the Commonwealth's prisons.
"There are some people with chronic mental problems," Bonnie said. "We need to find a way to engage them in services."
Over 100 people are involved in the commission and its various task forces, Bonnie added, including several members of the University of Virginia Medical School staff.
Leroy Rountree Hassell Sr., chief justice of the Virginia Supreme Court, appointed the commission and officially opened it at a conference in Williamsburg last weekend, according to Dr. Eileen Ryan. Ryan is a member of the Children and Adolecent task force and an associate psychiatry professor.
Ryan said this commission's work is the first revision of the mental health laws in Virginia in about 30 years.
"The kinds of challenges that we are facing now are very different from the challenges from when the laws were being revised for the first time," Ryan added.
In addition to the task force on children and adolescents, there are task forces on commitment, access to services, consumer empowerment and criminal justice, according to Ryan.
Bonnie said the commission plans to have a report ready in a year to present to the General Assembly session in January 2008.
"These problems are not new ones," Bonnie said of the Commission's work. "Basically it appears no one is happy with the current situation."
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