Sandy Hook Advisory Commission Releases Draft Report

The Sandy Hook Advisory Commision has released its draft report that analyzes and makes recommendations on multiple topics including mental health treatment, gun control and medical privacy.

The report is nearly 200 pages long not including appendix infomation.

The commission, headed by Hamden Mayor Scott Jackson heard testimony from a plethora of community members, victim family members and experts of all kinds. The commision was created in 2013 by Gov. Dannel Malloy.

Among the commission’s recommendations and findings were:

• A diagnosable mental illness is a weak predictor of interpersonal violence. Untreated psychiatric illness in a narrow subset of the population does increase the risk of violence.
• Based on forensic psychiatrist testimony, experts haven’t devised a way to predict future events of violence even when there is the ability to identify the condition of dangerousness.
• Each school district should have policies in place related to threat assessment and violence management.
• There is some confusion about the intersection between Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act and Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act law. HIPPA applies to medical records while FERPA applies to educational records. One primary area of confusion is when records involving health care are provided to students in an educational setting.
• There are provisions within existing HIPAA and FERPA laws for disclosure when a person’s behavior poses a serious and imminent safety threat. However, the laws are extremely complex and often lead to confusion as to when disclosure is legally allowed.
• “Connecticut has significant problems with system fragmentation resulting from diverse payment systems and a lack of coordination or consistency among state agencies.”
• Many members of society regard people with mental illness as dangerous, incompetent and at fault for their condition.
• People with mental health challenges are much more likely to be victims of violence rather than perpetrators. Less than one-tenth of a percent of homicides are mass fatalities.
• Psychoeducation of individuals and family members of those with mental health issues can promote acceptance and decrease stigma.
• The commission couldn’t come to a conclusion on adopting involuntary outpatient commitment short of involuntary hospitalization.
• The state should come up with a comprehensive statewide plan to respond to large-scale school criss events, including short and and long-term interventions for different populations.
• The state and municipalities should enhance focus on mental health implications of disaster events.
• Educational and behavioral health agencies should be incorporated into the states Unified Command System to better respond to disaster events.

Image via CT-N