psychiatric advance Directive
"What are Psychiatric Advance Directives ? A psychiatric or mental health advance directive (PAD) is a legal tool that allows a person with mental illness to state their preference for treatment in advance of a crisis. They can serve as a way to protect a person’s autonomy and ability to self-direct care. They are similar to living wills and other protect medical advance planning documents used in palliative care.“*
The fillable PAD acrobat form allows you to provide more information than when completing it by hand, and removes the possibility of confusion caused by penmanship or illegibility.
The Georgia Mental Health Consumer Network established a working group of allied professionals to create the resources above. Without their research, thoughts, writing, editing, and general consideration over a period of months, the creation of these resources would not have been possible. The collected work was executed into these finished products (and made real) by the Georgia Advocacy Office.
None of the people or organizations listed below received any funding dedicated to this purpose. We worked collaboratively as volunteers because this effort is so very important to us, the work we do, and the people of Georgia. When the Georgia legislature enacted the Psychiatric Advance Directive in the spring of 2022, they did not provide funding to ensure that members of Georgia's mental health recovery community learned about the PAD, understood its purpose, and could be confident in knowing how to complete it. We saw the needs there, gathered a group of dedicated and talented advocates and stakeholders, and together produced something that will be useful to our peers as they complete their Psychiatric Advance Directives.
We would like to acknowledge the many, many leaders of the mental health recovery movement in Georgia who championed the Psychiatric Advance Directive at the legislature over the past 30 years, but there are of course too many of them, and some would inevitably be missed. Those of us who worked on this small part of helping to eventually make Psychiatric Advance
Directives accessible, commonly found, easily understood, and universally recognized in Georgia know that we stand on the shoulders of giants who made possible the passage of HB752 in the spring of 2022.
GMHCN would also like to acknowledge the following individuals and organizations for their support in helping make the tools above useful, practical, and available at no charge:
Anne Hernandez, Grady Health System
Devon Orland, Georgia Advocacy Office
Chris Johnson, GMHCN
Daniel D. Munster, Esq., The Eldercare & Special Needs Law Practice of Daniel D. Munster
Eve Byrd, The Carter Center
John Collins, Superior Court of Fulton County
Marci Tribble, Grady Health System
Maxwell Ruppersburg, DBHDD
Rachel Gadra Rankin, Georgia State University College of Law
Susan Goico, Atlanta Legal Aid
Sherry Jenkins Tucker, GMHCN
This work is far from over.
GMHCN believes that it will take some time (and even more effort) for Psychiatric Advance Directives to become universally accepted in Georgia. We plan to continue to explore ways in which access to self-directed care can be realized through Georgia's Psychiatric Advance Directives legislation. If you have suggestions for how these forms may be improved, or even replaced, with another tool or mechanism, please let us know by writing to info@gmhcn.org with subject line Psychiatric Advance Directives.
*From A PRACTICAL GUIDE TO PSYCHIATRIC ADVANCE DIRECTIVES published by SAMHSA, 2019.