27/05/2019
Seeking to encourage pro bono work for people in psychoneurological institutions
“If leading legal companies in Ukraine advertised on their websites the fact that they support pro bono work defending individuals in psychoneurological institutions and that they are more likely to recruit students who have done volunteer work in this area, this could do a lot of good. It would also be useful to rank legal companies based on the pro bono work they do.”
At the legal conference in Kharkiv, David raised the idea that lawyers in Ukraine could become more involved in pro bono work defending the rights of individuals in orphanages and adult psychoneurological institutions.
David wants to encourage lawyers in Ukraine to become more involved in defending the rights of individuals in psychoneurological institutions.
In the United Kingdom lawyers do pro bono work defending the rights of individuals with disabilities (for example, with The Free Representation Unit, www.thefru.org.uk). David suggests that this best practice be applied to Ukraine.
Individuals in these institutions are often diagnosed with mental illnesses simply as a means of coercive, chemical control. The result is that they are drugged unnecessarily with psychiatric drugs that cause long-term health problems. David suggests that lawyers in Ukraine do more to defend their rights through pro bono work.
David came to Ukraine over two years ago to try to spread the best practices of the UK STOMPLD (Stop Over Medicating People with Learning Disabilities) initiative to Ukraine.
David’s personal initiative was to seek to spread the best practices of the STOMPLD initiative that began in the UK, which was endorsed by the British National Health service (hyperlink: https://www.england.nhs.uk/learning-disabilities/improving-health/stomp/) aimed at stopping the harmful use of psychiatric drugs on people diagnosed with intellectual disabilities.
David used to work as a volunteer in an orphanage for people diagnosed with slow mental development (интернат для умственных отсталых детей) and has visited psychoneurological institutions in Ukraine.
The rights of people diagnosed with intellectual disabilities are not well protected. These individuals are vulnerable and abused by the system.
David believes they could be helped by lawyers giving support through pro bono work.
Individuals in orphanages and adult psychoneurological institutions are often drugged with antipsychotic drugs, which caused long term health problems.
David’s idea - which he discussed with lawyers at the conference - was that more pro bono legal work could be to protect the rights of such individuals.
SDVI Director, David Powell, is very keen to provide materials from what began two years ago to help lawyers in Ukraine to support such pro bono initiatives. At the Kharkiv legal conference, David wanted to raise the idea of lawyers in Ukraine doing pro bono work to help defend the rights of individuals in these institutions.
In the United Kingdom, not only legal companies do pro bono work. Students training to join the legal profession do charity work as volunteers defending the rights of disabled individuals; this helps their careers. The websites of top legal companies, including legal companies focused on commercial work, advertise the fact that they are more likely to give jobs to people who have done this charity work.
An alternative to psychiatric treatment is Positive Behavioural Support. In addition to providing best practice materials from the United Kingdom to the Ukrainian Ministry of Health and Social Policy, David worked together with NGOs in Ukraine involved in this area and paid for a UK expert to give a training in Kiev.
David noticed that the newly elected President of the Ukrainian Bar Association wrote in his manifesto that he would like to encourage a pro bono culture in Ukraine. David hopes the Ukrainian Bar Association and lawyers in Ukraine will take steps to support work in this area.
Useful links:
http://www.sdvi.su/en/publication/13-05-2017-the-challenging-behaviour-foundation-send-one-of-its-top-trainers-andy-fenwick-to-kiev-to-give-trainings
http://www.sdvi.su/ru/publication/novoe-rukovodstvo-ot-gosudarstvennoy-sluzhby-zdravoohraneniya-anglii
http://www.sdvi.su/en/publication/novoe-rukovodstvo-ot-gosudarstvennoy-sluzhby-zdravoohraneniya-anglii
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