The White Paper:There Must Be Informed Choice: Rule #1

There Must Be Informed Choice

The collective definition of informed choice is best stated as:

● obtaining useful information from the practitioner or professional, and then

● deciding individually or collaboratively on the best course of action, one that promotes independence, recovery, and an improved quality of life.

This means that the professional must be knowledgeable, and must exhibit

1. flexibility and openness toward information related to recovery, which may

2. include treatment programs, or treatment options, that are holistic, or services that are complementary to traditional treatment.

This would include the benefits and possible pitfalls of any treatment.

Informed choice includes:

1. an educational approach to medications and their side effects, which needs to be

2. on behalf of all parties, so that sound, knowledgeable risk can be decided upon by us, or collaboratively with family, friends, and/or our practitioners.

The issue of medication is extremely important to those of us involved in the dialogues, as the current status of medication administration is

(1) mostly seen as coercive and forceful,

(2) offering little or no information on what medications are doing to us, beyond the basic treatment of symptoms.

Medication education for
◊ prescribers,
◊ practitioners,
◊ therapists, and
◊ peers is of the utmost importance and must be a priority.

Informed choice
cannot be exercised without
accurate information.

▪ Many of us are quite capable of making decisions, even if we are experiencing a severe emotional state of mind, or presence.

A system that promotes recovery
would have

genuine informed choice as the foundation
of its service delivery.

We also feel that informed choice must be a part of goal setting. One participant felt that,

"information should be up front before any decisions are made."

Additionally, service planning that is built upon a foundation of informed choice needs to

1. take into account the whole person, and

2. not just the mental health-related symptoms.

For example:

▪ spirituality,
▪ cultural background,
▪ physical well-being,
▪ community connections,
▪ social supports

are essential considerations for each individual in the mental health service delivery system.

On a final note, a system that truly values informed choice will assure that each person who walks through the doors of any program is offered education on Advance Directives.

Additionally, if someone within a program or service already has an Advance Directive, the contents of that document will be respected and valued as a legitimate statement of the person's treatment decisions.

to Rule # 2