Panel Discussion: Understanding the Mental Health System: Section 12

Join us for a 90-minute discussion with Rachel Chunnha, public defender and fierce mental health advocate, and Martha Barbone, member of the Alternatives to Suicide training team, on a section 12 in MA. There will be an opportunity for Q&A in the panel and a post-discussion group available the next day.

Our panelists will be illuminating your rights pre- post- and during the stages of a section 12 and sharing strategies to navigate and understand the force of this process. Our panel will aim to include not only the legal realities of a section 12, but the reality of living that experience. Our panelists are:

Rachel defends people facing civil commitment and forced medication orders as a public defender in Roxbury. Before fighting for liberty in courtrooms as a lawyer, she forged bonds of solidarity and mutual aid in hospitals and the community as a peer support worker. She believes that mental health law can be both sword and shield, but insufficient to advance meaningful liberation. Her views are her own and not those of the state’s public defender agency. There’s nothing official about her. She responds to everyone about everything when she can: Rachelchunnha@gmail.com.

Martha spent 15 years in mental health treatment including many hospitalizations, medications and other therapeutic interventions, before discovering peer support. This led to newfound hope and discovery of inner strength. She has worked providing peer support and training in clinical and peer-run organizations and uses her voice to advocate for systems change. Martha is a member of the Alternatives to Suicide training team.