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Council Member Cabán expresses concerns about involuntary commitment policies
0:57:05
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165 sec
Council Member Cabán articulates her worries about the potential overuse of involuntary commitment and its impact on vulnerable individuals.
- Cabán questions how the new legal standard affects clinicians' decision-making process
- She inquires about the impact on the subway safety plan and requests statistics on involuntary commitments
- Cabán provides an example of a problematic involuntary commitment case from her district
- She expresses concern about gaps in the continuum of care leading to unnecessary involuntary commitments
Tiffany Cabán
0:57:05
my question again, it goes back that legal standard that was enacted in the state budget, which again lowers the floor.
0:57:10
When they're going out, are those clinicians saying, hey, this meets the standard that has now been set by the state?
0:57:16
Because then that opens up a larger amount of scenarios, situations where somebody could be involuntary involuntarily committed.
0:57:24
Like, is that clinician going by the legal standard that's been set?
0:57:28
Like, is that what they're told to to do, or is it something else?
0:57:33
And then I wanna add on to that.
0:57:34
And I'm gonna go ahead and ask all my questions just because I I wanna be really mindful of of my time.
0:57:38
I wanna know how the expansion of involuntary commitment affects the subway safety plan, and if you guys could just report to us how many involuntary commitments there were fiscal year twenty twenty four and how many in fiscal year twenty twenty five so so far.
0:57:54
Because this is my concern.
0:57:56
Right?
0:57:57
With the with the floor being lowered on involuntary commitments and the gaps in our continuum of care, what we're seeing is we can manufacture, more involuntary unnecessary involuntary commitments when we aren't investing enough in creating the the conditions where people are experiencing acute crisis less often.
0:58:18
Right?
0:58:18
So I'll give you an example.
0:58:20
Just in my district two days ago, a woman was living in her car, and was known to the neighbors, has some mental health issues but has not been a danger to herself and others.
0:58:30
She actually is helpful to the neighbors.
0:58:31
She sometimes is able to get some support.
0:58:34
And the there was a multi agency response because somebody wanted her car towed for being there over seven days, without moving.
0:58:42
And, you know, instead of her being able to access the continuum of care, police officers show up, DHS shows up, a bunch of other people show up, and that's supposed to be the answer.
0:58:53
And, of course, that agitates her, and now then she gets involuntarily committed.
0:58:58
Her car gets towed.
0:58:59
She's taken to a hospital.
0:59:00
She doesn't know where her car is, doesn't have any money, doesn't know now has no place to live.
0:59:05
Like, we left her worse off than than what she was.
0:59:07
But, you know, I I wanna know how the standards and the gaps in the in the city's continuum of care will contribute to the what we're seeing with involuntary commitments.
0:59:21
So specifically, can you explain how it's gonna affect the subway plan?
0:59:25
Can you give me those numbers on how many involuntary commitments there were in 2024 and how many in this fiscal year so far?
0:59:34
And and and then finally, like, how are you gonna prevent the overuse of involuntary commitment?
0:59:38
Because the reality is is that if if that gap remains, there will be an overuse because you're just asking and waiting for people to to be in acute crisis when we could be helping people maintain their their health.