Florida’s Mental Health Crisis: Why We Keep Funding What Doesn’t Work
Florida’s mental health system is at a crossroads, and the latest state reports show that the “solutions” being put forward are the same ones that have failed far too many families: more beds, more drugs, more coercive interventions; just with bigger budgets and...
Florida Is Locking Up 161,000 People a Year and Calling It Mental Health Care. The Data Say Otherwise
Somewhere in Florida today, a child will be handcuffed by a police officer, placed in the back of a squad car, and driven to a locked psychiatric facility; not because the child committed a crime, but because a school administrator decided the child needed a mental...
CCHR QUARTERLY REPORT: Evidence That Coercive Psychiatric Detention Fails and Harms Those It Purports to Help
Executive Summary Florida’s Baker Act, the Florida Mental Health Act of 1971, authorizes law enforcement, health professionals, and courts to involuntarily detain individuals experiencing a mental health crisis for up to 72-hour psychiatric examinations. The...
U.S. Supreme Court Ruling: Protecting a Parent’s Right to Direct the Mental Health of their Children
The Mirabelli v. Bonta ruling can be invoked in every state as a binding U.S. Supreme Court precedent on parents’ constitutional rights to direct their children’s upbringing, including involvement in major mental‑health and gender‑identity decisions at...
“Biomarkers Aren’t Proving ‘Mental Illness’, They’re Exposing How Often Real Disease Gets Missed”
Biomarkers in psychiatry should be a wake‑up call about missed physical illness, not a green light to double down on labeling people “mentally ill” while their bodies are quietly failing. A story psychiatry should not ignore The USA Today piece opens with a chilling...
Investigate the Link between Psychiatric Drugs and Senseless Violence
In support of Senate Bill 54: Use of Substances Affecting Cognitive Function CCHR is imploring officials to investigate the very real possibility that the dangerous side effects of psychotropic drugs are the bottom of these tragedies. For almost 30 years, CCHR has...
Psychosurgery: Modern-Day Barbarism
The world in horror Most people in the world today consider psychosurgery a barbaric treatment with roots back to dark times in our history as Man. As described by Lindsay Toler at Very Well Mind, at the forefront of psychosurgeries in modern times were the lobotomy,...
Baker Rights and Coercive Psychiatry: The Citizens Commission on Human Rights of Florida Hosts Monthly Mental Health Law and Human Rights Seminars
Complimentary seminars to better educate professionals and the general public on the law and potential abuses of the Baker Act are hosted monthly by the Florida chapter of the Citizens Commission on Human Rights (CCHR). CCHR, an award-winning watchdog organization...
Mental Health Watchdog Calls Baker Acting of Children in Florida a Parental Rights Violation
At the peak in 2020/2021, there were almost 40,000 Baker Acts, involuntary psychiatric examinations, involving children with the Suncoast Region (Hillsborough, Manatee, Pinellas, Pasco, DeSoto, and Sarasota counties) having the greatest occurrences. CLEARWATER, FL,...
Mental Health Watchdog Calling for a Ban on the Use of the Electroshock Machine in Florida
After a public records request revealed that children in the under 5 age group are given electroshock, the Citizens Commission on Human Rights is calling for a ban of its use, citing a lack of clinical studies on safety and effectiveness. Concerned citizens, business...
Mental Health Awareness Month Open House – Hosted by the Florida Chapter of CCHR
Held in the state headquarters located in Clearwater, the event hopes to education citizens on their mental health human rights and the reformation needed to protect those rights. Clearwater, FL, April 30, 2025 – The month of May is annually observed as “Mental...
The Urgency of Questioning ADHD’s Prevalence and Treatment
ADHD is the most commonly diagnosed mental disorder in the United States. According to a 2022 CDC study, an estimated 7 million U.S. children aged 3–17 years have been diagnosed with ADHD.1 This staggering epidemic requires a deep look into the accuracy and...
Rampant Veteran Suicides in Florida: The Whitewashed Connection
Would you be given to believe that the exceptionally high suicide death rates amongst some of our most deserving, the veterans in Florida, are just a mere accident or more than that? According to the VA, Florida has the highest ratio of veterans to the general...
Forced Psychiatric Treatment: Is Anyone Safe?
All 50 U.S. states and Washington, D.C. have laws that permit involuntary psychiatric treatment, based on several landmark Supreme Court cases. The premise is safety for society, yet the results are catastrophic. Empirical evidence A 2014 Danish registry study...Contact CCHR Florida
109 N. Fort Harrison Ave.
Clearwater, Florida 33755
Tel: 1-800-782-2878
