A/HRC/39/36 been proposed by user/survivor organizations and was now established as part of the State health-care system in all regions of Norway. The medication-free alternative did not threaten community-based inclusion or support, and was aimed at ensuring that persons could choose and receive support without being subjected to forced drugging, thus maintaining their agency and self-determination. She emphasized that that measure, however, could not replace wider legal reform to abolish forced treatment. 25. In response, panellists agreed that more focus was needed to address the social determinants that had an impact on mental health. Improving access and support were essential, but the use of force and coercion must simultaneously be addressed to promote inclusion and a recovery-based approach — including ensuring access to justice and seeking redress for violations. The changing role of psychiatrists was also raised; they had an important role to play in developing innovative practices, yet many remained resistant to the human rights model, which placed the individual at the centre as an expert in his or her own right. Panellists referred to the need for political will for a human rights-based approach to be adopted in mental health. C. Human rights-based services and support to improve the enjoyment of human rights in the context of mental health 26. Olga Runciman, of Psycovery, introduced the work of the Hearing Voices Network, a movement working outside of psychiatry in 33 countries. She referred to the case of an individual to illustrate how psychiatry silenced and dominated by forcing one into a diagnosed role. The case concerned a woman subjected to treatment and medication without her consent; no steps had been taken to explore the causes of distress linked to trauma she had experienced in her past, rather, the focus was on her diagnosis of schizophrenia and the voices she heard. Ms. Runciman concluded that the Hearing Voices movement and network allowed individuals to find their own voice, and allowed fellow voice hearers and peers to help one another find meaning and understanding. The network encouraged activism and raising public awareness about the harm psychiatry could cause. 27. Dganit Tal-Slor described the experience of the New York social service agency Community Access, whose mission was to expand opportunities for people living with mental health conditions to recover from trauma and discrimination and to advocate for affordable housing, education, vocational training and healing-focused services. Community Access followed a person-centred approach that promoted self-determination, harm reduction, recovery, dignity and human rights. It had been instrumental in developing the peer movement in New York, and in integrating peers as advocates into practically all programmes on mental health. It had also worked in police precincts to develop crisis intervention training for police officers to enable them to better understand the challenges and needs of individuals in crisis. The aim of the agency was to work with the City of New York to develop mental health teams composed of peers and social workers as first responders to emergency calls. Furthermore, the agency was working with the City and the State of New York to develop alternatives to hospitalization and emergency visits, and the City had initiated “respite centres” run and operated by peers. Ms. Tal-Slor said that most of the agency’s service recipients lived in poverty, many without food security or homes, and that the system failed to recognize the need for a holistic approach to supporting and empowering individuals living with mental health conditions, as the front-line approach remained medicalization, forced treatment in hospitals, and imposing conditions of “treatment compliance” for services, including access to housing. She observed that funding for medication and hospital visits was more easily provided than funding needed for inclusion in the community through housing and job training. 28. Michael Njenga, of the African Disability Forum, affirmed that article 12 of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, and general comment No. 1 (2014) on equal recognition before the law, of the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, identified peer support as a form of supported decision-making for the exercise of legal capacity. Peer support valued lived experience, as peers held knowledge and expertise to support others going through difficult times in their lives, and it thus helped advance autonomy during times of emergency decision-making, and was an integral part of 9