Patient Appointed to Interview Mental Health Czar

As a result of political pressure from psychiatric patients organized as Prop 63 4 Me, a fellow county psychiatric patient was appointed to the committee that is interviewing candidates to fill the vacant directorship of the Department of Alcohol, Drug & Mental Health Services. Prop 63 4 Me activists expressed disappointment that their own nominee was not selected. They liked appointee Patrick Bergen, but would have preferred someone who was only a consumer of psychiatric services, rather than someone doing double duty as both a consumer and family member of others who are receiving treatment from the county, which is Bergen’s situation.