Where can I obtain free mental health advocacy and/or technical or legal assistance?
Each State, the District of Columbia, and the six Territories (American Indian Consortium, American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands) have a Protection and Advocacy for Individuals with Mental Illness (PAIMI) program. PAIMI programs safeguard the rights of people with significant mental illnesses who are at risk for abuse, neglect, or civil rights violations while receiving care or treatment in a public or private residential facility. If a violation is found, PAIMI programs may pursue various remedies such as mediation, administrative hearings, and litigation (the remedy of last resort) to ensure protection of the rights of PAIMI-eligible clients. People with mental illnesses who are not eligible for PAIMI services may be eligible for services from other programs within their State Protection and Advocacy (P&A) system, such as the Protection and Advocacy for Individual Rights (PAIR) Program, Client Assistance Program (CAP), Protection and
