Draft law on mental health in the work place
EMPLOYERS will be required to provide a mentally friendly working environment and patients with serious psychological disorders may receive free hospitalization, according to a draft of the nation’s first mental health law, experts said yesterday.
The draft will be completed by the end of this year. It will then be sent to the State Council and the National People’s Congress. The law is expected to be enacted before 2008.
According to Xie Bin, vice president of the Shanghai Mental Health Center and a member of the legislative team, each industry may determine the requirements for creating a mentally favorable environment. This includes providing paid holidays and giving care to employees through associations such as a trade union or women’s federation.
“Improving the overall mental quality of the public is an important task of this law,” said Xie. “In addition to treating patients, we want to help people prevent and control mental problems.”
Experts said the law focuses on patients’ rights, reducing social prejudices and improving overall mental health.
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“Draft law on mental health in the work place”
Dear Dr. Grohol:
I am also pleased that you bring this topic to educate the public. I think that the Mental Health Systems in the U.S. should educate themselves in this regard. Trust me or not: the worst work place discriminations toward mental health clients are done to those who are employed at the work sites at the MH systems. The practices of funding Vocational Rehabilitation Service Programs at the county or state levels, and then hiring the mentally ill individuals through these programs so that the County or State MH programs only need to pay maybe half of the wages that they usually have to pay to their regular unionized employees. The best practice model of work place discriminations must have originated at these programs, uh?! The way that these MH systems intentionally marginize and tokenize their own service targets, and use the numbers of the clients to claim money from the tax payer are totally disgusting and disgraceful, I believe. Well, and the public should also see how the system bash the whistle blowers with when they discover that you are one!!!
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Last reviewed: By John M. Grohol, Psy.D. on 9 Nov 2005
