Drafter
Clerk 11/07/2005
Title
AN ORDINANCE adopting the recovery model as the policy framework for developing and operating the mental health services for which King County is responsible; adopting a five-year plan work program for converting the service system to a recovery-based model and requiring a detailed implementation plan and progress reporting process; adding new sections to K.C.C. chapter 2.43 and repealing Ordinance 13974, Section 3, and K.C.C. 2.43.010, Ordinance 13974, Section 4, and K.C.C. 2.43.020, Ordinance 13974, Section 5, and K.C.C. 2.43.030 and Ordinance 13974, Section 6, and K.C.C. 2.43.040.
Body
BE IT ORDAINED BY THE COUNCIL OF KING COUNTY:
SECTION 1. Findings.
A. According to the World Health Organization in a 2001 report, mental illnesses rank first among illnesses that cause disability in the United States and other developed countries and are underrecognized as a public health burden.
B. The President's New Freedom Commission on Mental Health reported in 2003 that each year between five and seven percent of adults experience serious mental illness and between five and nine percent of children experience serious emotional disturbance.
C. The Surgeon General Report of 1999 indicates that in 1996 sixty-nine billion dollars were spent in the United States on the diagnosis and treatment of mental disorders and that the indirect costs of mental illness, such as loss of productivity and costs to family caregivers, were even greater.
D. The 2003 report of the President's New Freedom Commission on Mental Health recognizes the recovery orientation as a best practice model appropriate for public mental health agencies.
E. A number of states including Delaware, Connecticut, Ohio and Wisconsin have adopted recovery concepts as the guiding policy for their mental health systems.
F. The Washington state legislature amended the Community Mental Health Services Act, chapter 71.24 RCW, to include recovery concepts in the 20...

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