Your Mental Health Rights: How They Protect and Support Your Recovery
Your Rights to Dignity, Respect and Privacy

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Your Mental Health Rights: How They Protect and Support Your Recovery
Your Rights to Dignity, Respect and Privacy

You have rights to dignity, respect and privacy. These rights say that you are important, and that you should be treated like a human being. These rights say that you have your own thoughts and feelings, and that other people should see you as who you are — an individual. These rights ask other people to appreciate you.

Your Right to Respect and Dignity

It is your right to be treated with respect and dignity. This right can support your recovery because:

• being treated with respect makes us feel worthwhile;
• being treated with dignity makes us feel like human beings;
• it is easier to respect yourself when others respect you;
• being treated with dignity can give you confidence;
• being treated with dignity and respect can help you believe that you are important; and
• because being treated with dignity and respect can help you believe that your life has meaning.

Use your rights. Show others how to respect you, by respecting yourself. Treat yourself with dignity, to show others how it's done. Tell someone if another person is not treating you with respect or dignity.

Other people should help you use your rights. Others should:

• treat you with respect;
• treat you with dignity;
• stick up for you if they know that someone else is treating you without respect or dignity.

Your Right to Privacy

It is your right to have your own private space and time. This right can support your recovery because:

• having a private space to be by yourself can help you feel calm;
• having a private space to be by yourself can help you get away from what is bothering you;
• having private time can give you a chance to sort things out;
• having private time can give you a chance to think about things without anyone else getting in the way of your thoughts;
• having private time can let you have your emotions without anyone bothering you; and
• having a private space and private time can help you relax.

Use your rights. Try to find a private space for yourself. Try to make some private time each day just for you. Ask people to give you private space and private time.

Other people should help you use your rights. Other people should:

• give you a chance to be by yourself in a private place;
• let you enjoy your private time, without interrupting you; and
• help you find a private space and private time if you are having a hard time doing it yourself.

Your Right to Have Your Own Personal Things

It is your right to have your own personal things, in a place where you can get them. (If you are in a hospital or facility you should be able to keep your personal things in a locked place where other people can't see them or take them.) This right can support your recovery because having your own personal things:

• can help you feel that something in the world is yours;
• lets you express yourself and show other people who you are; and
• can help you feel like you have some control of the world around you.

Use your rights. Find a place for your things. Ask someone to help you find a place for your things, if you can't do it on your own.

Other people should help you use your rights. Others people:

• are not allowed to take your personal things; and
• should not mess with your personal things without your permission.

Your Right to Look the Way You Want

It is your right to look the way you want, according to what you like and to wear your own clothing (clothing that belongs to you). This right can support your recovery because:

• you may feel better about yourself if you feel good about the way you look;
• you can show others who you are by the way you look;
• having your own clothes can make you feel comfortable and safe.

Use your rights. Don't be afraid to look the way you want. Wear clothes, or jewelry or make-up that makes you feel good. Fix your hair the way you like.

Other people should help you use your rights. Other people:

• should not tell you what to wear; and
• should not insult you or say mean things about how you look.

Your Right to Read What You Want to Read

It is your right to read what you want to read without anyone stopping you. This right can support your recovery because:

• you can feel more independent by choosing what you want to read on your own;
• reading can help you learn about things that are interesting to you;
• reading can help you understand other people better; and
• reading can help you understand yourself better.

Use your rights. Don't be afraid to read what you want to read. Don't be afraid to ask for books or magazines that seem interesting to you.

Other people should help you use your rights. Other people:

• are not allowed to stop you from reading what you want to read;
• are not allowed to punish you for reading what you want;
• should not say you are in trouble for reading what you want; and
• should not take away anything that you are reading.

Your Right to be Safe and Not to be Abused

It is your right to be safe, and not to be abused. This right can support your recovery because:

• feeling safe can help you deal with life better;
• knowing that you will not be abused can help you feel happier and more relaxed;
• knowing that you will not be abused in the future can help you deal with the past.

Use your rights. Know that other people must not abuse you. This means that other people are not allowed:

• to hit you;
• to hurt you;
• to yell at you;
• to say hurtful things to you;
• to scare you;
• to threaten you;
• to punish you by not giving you food, water, clothing, medicine or emotional support;
• to touch you in a way that makes you feel bad or uncomfortable; and
• to do other things that hurt you or make you feel pain.

If someone is abusing you:

• tell them to stop;
• get away from them if you can;
• tell someone about it; and
• ask for help so the abuse will stop.

Other people should help you use your rights. Other people are not allowed to abuse you. Doctors, nurses, staff people, case workers and other people who give services must tell the police, and help you out, if they know you are being abused. Other people should help you out if you are being abused.

Your Right Not to be Neglected

It is your right not to be neglected. This right can support your recovery because:

• you can deal with life better if you are not hungry or cold or sick, and if you have a place to live and call home;
• having good food to eat and a warm, safe place to live can keep your body healthy, and help you deal with other things in your life.

Use your rights. Know that you must not be neglected. That means that you must get what you need to be safe, warm and healthy, and so you won't be hungry or thirsty. If you don't have enough food or water, or a warm, safe place to live ask for help and tell someone. Don't be afraid of any person who is neglecting you, even if the person is part of your family, or a friend, or a staff person, or someone else who takes care or you. Instead, ask for help.

Other people should help you use your rights. People who are supposed to take care of you must make sure you have food and water, medicine that you need, and a warm, safe place to live. If you are in the hospital or another facility, staff people there must make sure you get these things. Doctors, nurses, staff people, case workers and other people who give services must tell the police, and help you out, if they know you are being neglected. Other people should help you out if you are being neglected.

Your Right To Look at Your Own Chart

It is your right to look at your own chart and read about what doctors, psychiatrists and other people say about you. But you can be prevented from seeing part of your chart if, before you ask, a doctor has written a note in your chart saying it would be harmful for you to see that part — this is called for "clear treatment reasons." (You can get copies of the papers in your chart. You probably will have to pay for the copies, but how much you have to pay has to be fair.)

This right can support your recovery because you can know what people are saying about you; and you can learn more about what other people think is good for you, and then make up your mind if you agree or disagree with them.

Use your rights:

• ask to look at your chart;
• if you want, take someone with you to look at it;
• if anyone says you cannot look at your chart, complain and tell someone;
• if anyone says there is a part of your chart that you cannot see, ask when that decision will be reviewed;
• if you can't read the papers in your chart, ask someone to read them to you;
• if you don't understand what the papers mean, ask someone to explain them to you (like your doctor or psychiatrist, or someone you think can talk about what the papers say in a way that makes sense to you); and
• if you want, ask for copies of the papers to take home with you (but you may have to pay for the copies; what you pay has to be fair. It will cost about as much as it costs to copy the papers at a copy shop).

Other people should help you use your rights. If you ask to see or get a copy of your chart:

• people who have your chart must let you see it (or give you copies), unless it was written that you can't see a part of it for "clear treatment reasons";
• no one can say you can't see your chart because you owe money for your treatment or medical care;
• no one should make you feel bad about asking to look at your chart; and
• you must be able to see your chart not too long after you ask.

Your Right to be Told About All Your Rights in a Way that You Understand

It is your right to be told about all your rights in a way that you understand. This right can support your recovery because:

• you may feel stronger if you know your rights;
• knowing your rights can help you use them;
• if people are talking about your rights (like at a meeting) you can know what to say about your rights;
• you can tell others about your rights, especially if they don't know what your rights are;
• if you know your rights, you can talk about them and stick up for yourself if you need to.

Use your rights. Ask about your rights. If you don't understand your rights, ask someone to explain them in a way that makes sense to you. If you need, ask for your rights to be explained to you:

• in sign language;
• in braille or on a tape-recording;
• by an interpreter in the language you are most comfortable with (this may not be the English language); and
• in writing.

If you have never seen a list of your rights, ask someone to give you the list.

Other people should help you use your rights. People like the client rights advocate, client representative, client rights officer and other staff people:

• must talk with you about your rights;
• must put a list of your rights in a place where you can see it easily; and
• should ask if you understand your rights — and if you don't, staff must help you get what you need so that your rights make sense to you. (You may need a translator, or an interpreter, or an advocate.)

Your Right To Have Information About You Kept Private

It is your right to have information about you kept private — this includes information about your diagnosis and your treatment, and information about you that is in your medical chart. Other people can have your information only if you say they can. This right can support your recovery because knowing that your information won't be given to other people can help you:

• feel safe;
• feel that you have privacy; and
• feel more comfortable talking to doctors, psychiatrists and other people who give you services.

Use your rights. Tell someone, and complain, if you find out that information about you was not kept private. Tell someone, and complain, if you find out that someone (like a doctor or nurse or staff person) gave your information to another person without you saying it was OK.

Other people should help you use your rights. Other people, especially doctors, psychiatrists, nurses and staff people, are not allowed:

• to talk about your private information unless they are talking about it as part of giving you treatment or care;
• to talk to anyone about your private information unless you say it is OK and you have given your OK in writing; and
• to let anyone look at papers from your chart unless you say it is OK and you have given your OK in writing.

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