Whose life is it?

• A respectful attitude takes into account your self-esteem, your sense of well-being and who you are as a person.
• Disrespect (or "dissing") is stigmatizing behavior.  It is disregard for your needs and culture.  It can include ridicule, belittlement or coercion.
• Physical, sexual and emotional abuse are violations of your right to be treated with respect.

The Act states that all mental health services, whether for informal or involuntary patients with a mental illness or disorder, should be provided in accordance with the following principles.  You should receive treatment in accordance with these principles whether you are using a private or a public service.

• You should be provided with timely and high quality treatment and care in accordance with professionally accepted standards.
• Wherever possible, you should be treated in the community.
• The provision of treatment and care should be treated in the community.
• The provision of treatment and care should be designed to assist you to, wherever possible, live, work and participate in the community.
• Your treatment and care should promote and assist self-reliance.
• You should be provided with appropriate and comprehensive information about your mental illness or disorder, proposed and alternate treatments, including medication, and services available to meet your needs.
• You should be treated near your home or the homes of relatives or friends wherever possible.
• When receiving treatment and care your age-related, gender-related, religious, cultural, language and other special needs should be considered.
• The prescription of medication should meet your best health needs and should be given only for therapeutic or diagnostic purposes and never as a punishment or for the convenience of others.
• Treatment and care should be provided by appropriate qualified people and within a multi-disciplinary framework.
• Every effort that is reasonably practicable should be made to involve you in the development of an ongoing treatment plan.  Your treatment and care should be based on this plan.  The plan should be reviewed regularly and revised as necessary.
• You should be given the best possible treatment and care appropriate to your needs, in the least restrictive and intrusive way possible, involving the minimum necessary interference with your rights, privacy, dignity and self-respect.

Mental Health Services should:-

• provide for early intervention
• co-ordinate with other community services
• provide information on and access to complaints mechanisms, and
• encourage service users to participate in developing and operating the services.

* Some information on this page has come from the booklet "Patients' Rights - A Self-Help Guide To The Victorian Mental Health Act" produced by the Mental Health Legal Centre.