NEW FACE IN THE OFFICE OF THE MENTAL HEALTH ADVOCATE

The Office of the Mental Health Advocate welcomes its’ 2008 Spring volunteer, Ms. Deborah Baldwin as she starts an internship.

Ms. Baldwin comes to OMHA with a great deal of experience, as well as a passion for upholding the rights of the mentally ill. She has worked in the legal profession since 1988. Having trained as a legal executive, she qualified as an attorney in England in July 1996 and her background has been primarily in criminal and mental health law. She obtained an LLM in Medical Law from the University of Northumbria in 2005.

Ms. Baldwin has varied experience in dealing with patients detained in psychiatric hospitals. In particular, she spent two years working as a mental health lawyer at Springfield Law Centre, based within the grounds of Springfield Hospital, a large psychiatric teaching hospital in South London. Ms. Baldwin gained invaluable experience in advising and representing a wide range of patients before the Mental Health Review Tribunals, from those with a forensic history to those with eating disorders or suffering from mental impairment. Ms. Baldwin finds that although there are many differences between the mental health systems that operate in England and in Georgia, there are equally as many similarities.

In November 2004, Ms. Baldwin was appointed as a Local Commissioner for the Mental Health Act Commission, a monitoring body in the UK. Its primary objective is to safeguard the rights of people who are compulsorily detained in psychiatric hospitals in the UK, in particular those who lack capacity or refuse to consent to treatment. This is achieved primarily through visiting and interviewing detained patients, as well as examining patient files to ensure that medical professionals are complying with UK mental health legislation.

OMHA is excited about Ms Baldwin’s assistance and support and look forward to learning more about how the mentally ill are represented in the UK.