You have the right to ask for treatment at a mental health facility. You can ask for either voluntary or informal admission.

Don’t be pressured to admit yourself

A person may agree to enter a facility because they were pressured. They may be pressured by police, family members, doctors, or others. You have some rights to prevent doctors from doing this.

It is illegal for a doctor to threaten to admit you against your will if you refuse to admit yourself. This is true unless the doctor:

• Truly intends to take steps to have you admitted against your will; and
• Tells you that you are entitled to fight the admission in court and have the right to have a lawyer at the hearing.

Voluntary admission

You must complete a written application on the form provided by the facility. You can request that another adult acting on your behalf complete the application.

If you are 16 or 17, you can ask for voluntary admission as an adult. The law requires the facility to notify your parents or legal guardians if you are admitted.

Deciding whether you need inpatient treatment

A facility will admit you only if you need inpatient treatment. At private facilities, the staff makes this decision.

At state-operated facilities, the process is different. They may admit you only if the staff has examined you within the 3 days before your admission. They must certify that you need inpatient mental health treatment.

Discharge

If you are freely admitted, you can ask at any time to be discharged. You must make your request for release in writing. Upon receiving your application, the facility must discharge you in 5 business days or less.

The facility can file a petition in court to ask to keep you past the 5 days. If this happens, there will be a court hearing. They may continue to hospitalize you while waiting for this hearing. In this way, a "voluntarily admitted" patient can be kept against their will for 2 or more weeks after requesting discharge.

Informal admission

Informal admission is another way that you can freely enter a mental health facility. It is similar to voluntary admission. The difference is that you have the right to a quicker discharge. The above rules relating to voluntary admissions apply. Some exceptions are:

• You do not need to make a formal application for admission;
• Once admitted, you have the right to request release at any time during normal daytime business hours.

The facility may decide to admit you under the voluntary admission process. This can happen even if you request an informal admission.. If so, they must write in your records why informal admission is not appropriate for your care.

It is important to find out if your admission is informal or voluntary.