Program areas at Citizens Commission on Human Rights
Research:as cchr is a mental health watchdog, cchr conducted research into many areas of Human Rights abuses in the mental health system, including the use of electroconvulsive therapy (ect), the use of physical and chemical restraints in psychiatric facilities, the prescribing of mind-altering psychiatric drugs, the link between psychiatric drugs and violence and suicide. Data was also obtained on psychiatrists and psychiatric facilities' violations of state and federal statutes or regulations, especially the Commission of fraud and patient abuse, the use of physical and chemical restraints in psychiatric facilities and other coercive psychiatric practices.
Public education & advocacy, including legislative activities:cchr is a mental health Rights watchdog and a voice for those who are unable to speak out about having been abused in the mental health system. By investigating the abuses reported to it and assisting those abused or their families to file complaints, cchr aims to eradicate Human Rights violations committed under the guise of mental health "care." Cchr, along with advocacy groups and experts, continued to inform and educate policymakers about the inherent dangers of psychiatric drugs, mental health treatments, and practices.
Informational clearinghouse & hotline: cchr's website, www.cchrint.org, provides a means for people to become better informed about the mental health industry. The website includes the psychiatric drug side effects database where people can search and find the documented side effects and adverse reactions for psychiatric drugs, as well as international drug agency warnings and studies published on psychiatric drugs. In addition to the interactive database, there are web pages summarizing all of the documented risks of the main classes of psychiatric drugs.cchr also has its www.psychcrime.org website which includes the psychiatric crime and disciplinary actions database. This database contains searchable information about psychiatrists and psychologists, and other mental health professionals, who have been criminally convicted and/or sentenced, as well as those who have been disciplined by state medical boards for discreditable conduct.the cchrint.org website also includes cchr's abuse case management system where the public can easily report psychiatric abuse online and cchr can document and assist these abuse cases. Cchr also provides a toll-free hotline to report incidents of psychiatric abuse, fraud, or other criminal conduct or mental health Rights violations, and to request free information or assistance with filing complaints to the appropriate authorities. The hotline and online abuse case report form are promoted through cchr's websites, media releases, and through social media.
Public outreach:cchr conducted public outreach through its websites and social media. Press releases were posted by cchr on the website (www.cchrint.org), and promoted through its social media channels and through media outlets via online press release distribution services. Cchr also posted documentaries, videos and public service announcements on these online avenues. It also promoted its virtual public awareness psychiatry museum online.-cchr's online "psychiatry: an industry of death" museum details the history of psychiatry and how its treatments have been linked to so many deaths and abuse. As part of cchr's public awareness campaign, the museum's graphic documentary-style expose includes 14 state-of-the-art mini-documentaries addressing & exposing the lineage of Human Rights violations that have been and continue to be passed off as "treatment" within the infrastructure of modern, medical "practice".
Publications:as a watchdog organization, cchr produces many educational properties, including official reports and submissions to policymakers, positioning statements on mental health issues and documentaries covering aspects of psychiatry's harmful impact on society. The purpose is to raise awareness about protections needed for patients and their families' civil and Human Rights, especially the right to informed consent for treatment and to be safeguarded against coercive psychiatric practices.