First, I want to note that anonymous comments under the name "peer" are probably made by dishonest mental health professionals posing as peers.  Unbelievable.  This shows how mental health consumers really need protection from these dishonest mental health professionals.

Second, vulnerable mental health consumers absolutely should have the right to safe mental health services.  I am an LGBT person who lives with severe mental illness and is dependent on mental health providers.  A few years ago, I left a much needed Intensive Outpatient Program (IOP) at my local CSB because I was scared of verbal or physical assault from the other rough-and-tumble participants who were court-ordered and bragged about fist-fighting during program.  I have been in tough environments and have been beat up before, so I'm not overly sensitive.  But, I've encountered great animosity when discussing LGBT issues at mental health groups dominated by heterosexual men.  I get blamed for bringing up LGBT issues, not the bigots who lash out at me.   I later met with the CSB human rights liason, and asked him whether CSB staff could blame LGBT clients for 'bringing violence upon ourselves' merely by discussing LGBT issues.  Of course, the CSB human rights liason told me that staff had total discretion to act however they wanted to, even to blame LGBT clients for the verbal and physical assaults perpetrated against us.

Third, shame on the mental health providers for opposing these very reasonable regulations to ensure our basic safety.  Apparently, these professionals believe that they have a right to a paycheck regardless of how incompetent or abusive they may be, and will oppose even the most basic protections for vulnerable mental health consumers.  And, regardless of regulatory enforcement, this regulatory language will also allow enforcement through civil litigation.  If mental health consumers are seriously injured due to the gross negligence of mental health professionals, who are only capable of collecting their paychecks, then we should be able to sue them for our damages.  Mental health funding is meant to provide quality, effective services to mental health consumers, not to provide charity payments for incompetent, abusive mental health professionals.  And, it is worth noting that there have been high profile cases of mental health professionals actually manipulating clients, especially intellectually disabled clients at group homes, into fighting each other for the staff's amusement.