ISPS-US is deeply committed to mental health approaches that prioritize human dignity, recognize lived experience as expertise, and expand choices for people seeking recovery. To support this mission, we have officially submitted a testimony letter to Massachusetts legislative leadership in strong support of two vital bills: S.1389/H.5229 (An Act Modernizing the Six Fundamental Rights) and S.1383/H.5231 (An Act Establishing Peer Respites Throughout the Commonwealth). These bills represent a monumental step toward ensuring human rights are upheld in psychiatric facilities and expanding access to voluntary, peer-led crisis alternatives.
If you are a supporter or advocate living in Massachusetts, your voice is critical right now - contact your lawmakers and help push these bills forward!
You can read our full letter below:
Dear Chairs Michlewitz and Rodrigues and Vice Chair Comerford,
Re: Support for S.1389/H.5229, An Act Modernizing the Six Fundamental Rights, and S.1383/H.5231, An Act Establishing Peer Respites Throughout the Commonwealth
On behalf of the US Chapter of the International Society for Psychological and Social Approaches to Psychosis, US Chapter (ISPS-US), a professional organization composed of mental health clinicians, scientific researchers, attorneys and advocates, I write to express our strong support for S.1389/H.5229, An Act Modernizing the Six Fundamental Rights, and S.1383/H.5231, An Act Establishing Peer Respites Throughout the Commonwealth.
Successful clinical work is grounded in the belief that experiences of mental distress cannot be understood apart from a person’s relationships, community, history, culture, and circumstances. We support approaches that honor personal meaning, recognize lived experience as expertise, and expand the range of options available to people seeking support and recovery.
The modernization of the Six Fundamental Rights is an important step toward ensuring that people receiving mental health services continue to be treated with dignity and respect. The updates proposed in this legislation, such as the right of access to a cell phone, recognize that the ways people communicate, maintain relationships, and access support have changed significantly. Protections around privacy, connection, communication, and a humane environment are essential parts of any system that aims to support recovery.
From our professional experience as clinicians working with people diagnosed with serious mental illness, we know that connection is not separate from care. During times of intense distress, people often rely on trusted relationships and community supports to find stability and meaning. Ensuring that those in hospital can remain connected to the important people and resources in their lives, and have private conversations away from nurses' stations or other public areas, helps create a system that sees the whole person rather than only a diagnosis or crisis.
Protecting the rights of people receiving mental health services requires more than recognizing those rights in policy; it requires meaningful systems of accountability when violations occur, which this bill provides. Evidence from Massachusetts inpatient psychiatric facilities demonstrates the importance of this issue: between 2008 and 2018, 17,962 complaints were filed, including complaints related to treatment concerns, human rights violations, abuse, safety issues, and restraint and seclusion. Nearly half of the complaint categories were safety-related (48.9%), and 19.9% were abuse-related. However, only 8.3% of complaints in the dataset were substantiated, and researchers caution that complaint data likely underestimate the true extent of harmful experiences because many events may never reach formal reporting systems.
In a system where facilities may play a central role in reviewing and resolving complaints made against them, additional independent oversight mechanisms are necessary to ensure that people receiving services have meaningful access to accountability and remedy. This bill addresses this gap by introducing independent investigation processes, meaningful avenues for appeal, and enforceable consequences for violations, ensuring that the rights of people receiving services are not only recognized but upheld in practice.
We also strongly support S.1383/H.5231 and the expansion of peer respite services throughout Massachusetts. Peer respites offer an important alternative to traditional crisis responses by providing voluntary, relationship-based support from people with lived experience, achieving similar or better results than hospitalization and saving taxpayers’ money. In one study, the odds of subsequent use of any inpatient or emergency services were approximately 70% lower among peer-run respite users than hospital patients with similar conditions. An RCT comparing costs and outcomes of peer respites and psychiatric hospitalization found individuals with the same conditions randomly assigned to a peer respite “experienced significantly greater improvement” than subjects assigned to a hospital, with the cost of the total stay per patient being 2.6 times lower in the peer respite.
We also appreciate the bill’s attention to equity. Expanding peer respite access is not only about increasing the number of services available. It is about ensuring that people can access support that feels relevant, respectful, and responsive to their lives and communities. The inclusion of BIPOC affinity respites and LGBTQIA+ affinity respites acknowledges that some communities have experienced particular harms, exclusion, and mistrust within mental health systems and may benefit from spaces rooted in shared experience and cultural understanding.
This focus is closely aligned with the values of peer support. Peer support recognizes that knowledge about distress and recovery comes not only from professional training but also from lived experience. Supporting peer-led models helps create a mental health system with more pathways, more choice, and more opportunities for people to define recovery in their own terms.
For these reasons, ISPS-US urges the Committee to advance both S.1389/H.5229 and S.1383/H.5231. Together, these bills represent important steps toward a mental health system that protects rights, strengthens connection, and supports multiple paths to healing.
Thank you for your consideration and for your leadership on these important issues.
Sincerely,
International Society for Psychological and Social Approaches to Psychosis, US Chapter (ISPS-US)
