Citizens Commission on Human Rights of Florida Information

The Florida chapter of CCHR is an award winning non-profit in the area of mental health human rights and government relations. CCHR is a non-political, non-religious mental health watchdog. Its mission is to eradicate abuses committed under the guise of mental health and enact patient and consumer protections. CCHR Florida has already proven a major player in the state’s fight against psychiatric abuse. After discovering that 55 percent of foster children in Florida had been prescribed powerful mind-altering psychotropic drugs, the commission documented the abuse to the health department which initiated changes that led to a 75 percent reduction in prescriptions for children under six. Additionally, working with the Florida legislature, CCHR Florida helped enact a law which prohibits public schools’ involvement in the psychiatric drugging of children. CCHR Florida also led the charge that got “Teen Screen”, mental health screening of school children, banned from Pinellas County schools in 2005. More recently, CCHR Florida helped to pass legislation that protects children from involuntary psychiatric examinations and that guarantees a parent's right to direct the mental health of their children.