What is a Declaration for Mental Health Treatment?
In Ohio, you can create a Declaration for Mental Health Treatment, or mental health declaration (“MHD”). The MHD allows you to state your preferences regarding your mental health treatment and to name a person to make mental health care decisions for you when you cannot make these important decisions for yourself.
Do I need a Declaration for Mental Health Treatment if I already have, or I am drafting, a Healthcare Power of Attorney?
If you are not currently diagnosed with, or have not been diagnosed in the past, with a mental illness and you do not have specific preferences in the specific preferences section listed below, the general Healthcare Power of Attorney (HPOA) that Student Legal Services can draft for you should be sufficient. The HPOA addresses both physical and mental health issues. In the event of a mental health emergency, the agents named in your HPOA will have the ability to make decisions for you.
Those who would particularly benefit from having a MHD are individuals who have a mental illness or have been diagnosed with a mental illness in the past and those who have developed an illness that likely will include a mental component as it progresses. The MHD is dedicated solely to mental health treatment choices, providing a more detailed plan for managing a mental health crisis.
Do you have specific preferences about mental health treatment choices?
To help you decide whether you need a MHD in addition to your HPOA, please consider whether you have specific preferences for the following mental health treatment choices that are included when creating a MHD:
- You have specific people you know and trust to make decisions about your mental health treatment when you are unable to make them for yourself;
- You have specific preferences regarding the use of psychotropic medications;
- You have specific preferences regarding the use of electro-convulsive treatment;
- You have specific preferences regarding admission to and retention in a facility for mental health treatment (note that this does not apply to involuntary admissions);
- You have a Wellness Recovery Action Plan or other crisis intervention plan;
- You have specific preferences about which physician(s) and/or mental health therapist(s) you consent to be treated by and those you prefer not to be treated by;
- If you are hospitalized for mental health treatment, you have specific preferences about which institutions you’d like to be hospitalized in and which you would not; and/or
- If you are hospitalized for mental health treatment, you have specific preferences about who you prefer not to visit you.