The event is being held to honor those who work tirelessly over the year to help clean up the field of mental health. The awards will be presented during a banquet and live musical performance held at the historic Fort Harrison in Clearwater.

TAMPA, FL, October 28, 2024 — The 8th Annual Citizens Commission on Human Rights (CCHR) of Florida’s Humanitarian Awards Banquet is being held to honor the many dedicated volunteers and supporters of CCHR for their work to help restore rights and dignity to the field of mental health.

This year’s event will be held on November 9th at the historic Fort Harrison located in downtown Clearwater, Florida.

As a public service, the Florida chapter of CCHR, not only works to educate the general public on their rights under the law but also to reform the mental health law in order to protect Floridians from abuse.

Known as the Baker Act, Florida’s mental health law was originally reformed in the 1970s for the purpose of protecting patient rights. However, the Baker Act went on to become a source of human rights abuse with involuntary psychiatric examinations sky rocketing to a record 214,481 during 2018-2019.

Even more disturbing is that according to the Baker Act Reporting Center, 38,579 of the Baker Acts initiated during 2017-2018 involved children and many of these kids were taken into custody without parental knowledge.

Launching a campaign to put an end to this violation of rights in 2016, CCHR Florida, an award winning non-profit mental health watchdog, has educated hundreds of thousands of individuals on their rights, exposed the abuses being committed to millions using the media and worked with lawmakers to change the mental health law to better protect everyone.

“We must restore and secure basic freedoms and rights, especially and most importantly, for our next generation… our leaders of tomorrow… mankind’s future,” said Diane Stein, President CCHR Florida. “Coercive psychiatry in the form of involuntary examination is barbaric and must come to an end.”

The 8th Annual Humanitarian Awards Banquet is being held to honor the volunteers and supporters who work tirelessly each week to help clean up the field of mental health, ensuring that people receive real assistance in times of crisis. For more information, please contact CCHR at 727-442-8820.

About CCHR:

Initially established by the Church of Scientology and renowned psychiatrist Dr. Thomas Szasz in 1969, CCHR’s mission is to eradicate abuses committed under the guise of mental health and enact patient and consumer protections. L. Ron Hubbard, founder of Scientology, first brought psychiatric imprisonment to wide public notice: “Thousands and thousands are seized without process of law, every week, over the ‘free world’ tortured, castrated, killed.  All in the name of ‘mental health,’” he wrote in March 1969.

Media Contact:

Diane Stein

President, CCHR Florida

727-442-8820

[email protected]

www.cchrflorida.org

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