mmunity Psychiatrist

Volume 39, Number 1

Voting is Recovery- Continued

In this spirit, a partnership with Authority Health GME-Consortium’s psychiatry residency program in Detroit, MI and Vot-ER, a nonpartisan civic engagement organization specializing in healthcare-based tools and programs, was able to educate and train over 100 residents across multiple specialties on how to offer voter registration and education to their patients. The immediate impact resulted in over 1,400 patients being informed about their eligibility to vote, where to vote, voting procedures, and connection to additional resources to vote for the most recent mid-term elections. For many, it was their first time voting in a midterm election. This partnership can and should be replicated in all community health centers.

Aside from the laws that obligate health care centers and providers to facilitate patient’s access to the polls, public psychiatrists in community mental health centers are uniquely positioned to address several barriers to voting for individuals with mental illness. From initial psychiatric evaluations to follow-up visits and strengthening of the patientphysician relationship, there is ample opportunity for education and facilitating the voting process. Moreover, voting allows individuals with SMI to take actionable steps for engagement in one of the critical freedoms of citizenship. As more national attention is paid to mental illness following COVID-19, individuals with SMI should be empowered to use their lived experience to vote for or against policies concerning the mental health system for which they have first-hand knowledge.

Spring 2023