2027 Policy Blueprint & Quality Framework • Right to Care (R2C) Peer Alliance

The Human Dignity & Care Continuity Standard

A peer-led executive policy blueprint establishing quantitative quality metrics, trauma-informed oversight, and continuous care bridges across acute psychiatric facilities and Assisted Outpatient Treatment (AOT) systems—ensuring individuals living with severe mental illness (SMI) are treated with uncompromising dignity, medical excellence, and respect.

Claiming Our Seat: The Third Space in SMI Advocacy

For decades, advocate groups have been locked in an endless argument: one side fights strictly to keep people out of treatment, while the other side pushes for hospital beds and court mandates without fixing how broken those facilities actually are.

The Right to Care (R2C) Peer Alliance rejects this false choice.

We bring people who have actually survived severe mental illness (SMI) and recovered to the decision-making table alongside families, doctors, and lawmakers. Together, we work to protect life-saving emergency care and Assisted Outpatient Treatment (AOT) while making sure hospitals and court programs treat patients with real safety, compassion, and human dignity.

01. Validating Peer Trauma & Constructive Oversight

Honoring the real pain of past hospital experiences without walking away from life-saving medical care. R2C brings recovered peers, doctors, and policy leaders together to fix how facilities treat patients—building safety and respect from the inside out instead of shutting down the care people desperately need.

"Safety is an essential human right... but when it is prioritized over everything else, what you end up with isn’t a utopia, but a prison. I’ve recently argued that the carrots are disappearing and there appears to be an alarming stockpile of sticks around every corner... You need positive incentives and reasons for people to try something different."

— Anonymous Forensic State Hospital Peer (10-Year Inpatient Veteran)

02. R2C Peer Audit Tool & Dignity Seal of Excellence

A simple checklist and rating system designed by peers who have been there. It measures whether hospital wards and court-ordered treatment (AOT) programs actually treat patients with kindness, clear communication, and physical safety. Programs that pass earn our official Seal of Excellence.

"Peer recovery is not an accident of willpower; it is the direct outcome of timely, specialized medical intervention, structured continuity of care, and multi-layered community support."

— Chandler Groce, Lived Experience Advocate & Miss Washington Contributor

03. Ending Unsupported Discharges & Step-Down Continuity

Requiring hospitals to connect patients directly to step-down housing, peer support, and county care teams before release. This stops the practice of releasing people in crisis back to the streets with nothing but paper brochures—ending the painful cycle between emergency rooms and jails.

"When internal insight is lost to psychosis, external accountability and firm structured holds act as essential safety nets. External accountability preserves physical safety until specialized medical care restores cognitive clarity."

— Patrick Sichel, Lived Experience Advocate & Author

04. High-Acuity / Anosognosia Safe-Harbor Standard

Setting clear rules that force hospitals and county programs to accept and treat people suffering from active severe psychosis and anosognosia (unawareness of illness), stopping facilities from turning away the sickest patients to only treat mild cases.

"Diverting individuals from law enforcement intake directly into specialized clinical psychiatric facilities prevents medical trauma and preserves an individual’s long-term capability to rehabilitate and thrive."

— Ashley C. Grill, MPH, RDH, Public Health Professional & Peer Advocate

🤝 A Movement Built Together: Join Us in Co-Designing the human Dignity & Care Continuity Standard

Real accountability cannot be built in isolation. We invite peers, family members, doctors, hospital administrators, county mental health leaders, and lawmakers to read our 2027 Policy Blueprint and help us refine these standards. Together, we can shape the future of dignified emergency care and unbroken support from the ground up.

download policy blueprint [pdf]

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Not Yet an R2C Alliance Member?

Lived experience is the essential expertise required to establish a true National Standard of Care. By joining the Right to Care Peer Alliance, you lend your voice to a nonpartisan movement dedicated to ensuring individuals living with severe mental illness receive timely, dignified, and continuous medical care.

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Build with Us

Open Executive Peer Leadership Roles

We are actively seeking experienced peer leaders with lived authority to join our national executive team in key strategic positions:

• Co-Chair & Strategic Lead: Partnering directly with Kerry Martin to drive national strategy.
• Head of Resource Development & Fundraising: Securing grants, donor partnerships, and peer funding.
• Head of Policy & Legislative Advocacy: Driving AOT initiatives and state policy toolkits.
• Head of Digital Marketing / Social Media: Amplifying ground-truth campaigns and movement growth.

Email Kerry Martin to Connect →