This alert was originally posted on May 7th 2021. It was later updated on June 21st and 29th 2021.
Please help Shield member Jill Kesti obtain immediate release from Pine Rest Christian Mental Health Facility by calling or writing to the psychiatrist who aims to put her on a long-term injectable anti-psychotic drug, which Jill opposes.
Pratik Desai M.D.
300 68th St SE
Grand Rapids, MI 49548
(616) 455-5000
During a recent hearing at Pine Rest Christian Mental Health Facility, Jill was visibly shaking, a sign of Tardive Dyskinesia (TD), a well documented side effect of the Haldol that she is forced to take at Pine Rest when involuntarily committed there, as well as Depakote, which she was forced to take for months in her home while under an involuntary outpatient treatment order. The star witness for the state at Jill’s hearing, Pratik Desai, had no evidence to counter Jill’s evidence.
Her body is the evidence. She was visibly shaking, a sign of TD. Jill expressed a fear of being permanently disabled by TD.
Pratik Desai also did not address that the outpatient treatment which was forced on Jill in her own home in Ontonogan County does not appear to be helping her whatsoever. The very complaints that were lodged by Ontonogan County mental health care workers such as her “untidy” house could be directly related to her treatment, as a lack of motivation is a well-documented side effect of dopamine-inhibiting drugs. Jill stated numerous times in the hearing that she had tried to organize her home but felt overwhelmed at times. Instead of fixating on Jill’s drug intake, it would be far more helpful for Ontonogan County’s mental health care workers to provide her with weekly support in the way of housecleaning services.
In addition, Jill has repeatedly requested but not received drug-free, non-coercive alternative ways to help her cope with grief and trauma, including that of solitary confinement, forced injections, and restraints, all of which she has been subjected to under Michigan’s mental health care system.
Jill stated that the most helpful therapy she ever received was a treatment known as EMDR. Why is the county not helping Jill access EMDR when she found it effective? Why are they not providing her with wraparound services to help her live safely in her own home?
Jill’s outpatient treatment has clearly been harming her more than helping her, but the representatives of Ontonogan County in question do not hold themselves accountable for this failure. Instead they demonize Jill herself, shaming and gaslighting her as a “non-compliant” patient who must be subjugated by sending her back to Pine Rest, which is a ten-hour drive from her community.
What is wrong with Ontonogan County mental health care? There is an obvious need for an investigation into their total disregard for Jill’s rights.
In Jill’s recent hearing at Pine Rest, many false claims about her treatment ‘non-compliance’ were raised which Jill denied vigorously. In fact, Jill had been compliant for many months with her forced drugging order, in Ontonogan County, out of fear of retribution. If the Ontonogan County mental health workers were concerned about Jill’s behavior leading up to her re-hospitalization at Pine Rest in Grand Rapids , they should be questioning their ‘treatment’ failure, not Jill, whose enormous spirit remains unbroken, despite the bullying tactics of the Ontonogan County mental health system.
Please call or write to Jill’s temporary psychiatrist who has been assigned to her while she is at Pine Rest. Please tell him what is really going on. Please tell Dr. Desai, that it is the lack of non-drug, non-force options that are driving Jill to madness. Please tell him that justified rage and anger when one has been robbed of all choice and personal agency cannot be ‘medicated’ away. Jill needs to be presented with real choices and compassionate support to help her deal with grief and loss, not more of the same: forced injections, restraints, and seclusion.
Pratik Desai M.D.
300 68th St SE
Grand Rapids, MI 49548
(616) 455-5000
Jill is opposed to her ‘treatment’ with a ‘depot’ injection. The judge read ‘evidence’ from county mental health workers who were not present at Jill’s hearing, citing her ‘non-compliance’ with past outpatient drugging orders, which Jill denies, and her untidy home as the justification for Jill’s most recent incarceration at Pine Rest Christian Mental Health Facility.
One wonders how many of us with untidy homes are at risk of forced drugging orders if we have a past psychiatric diagnosis.
Once the time release drug is in her bloodstream, Jill has no controlserved as the star witness at a kangaroo hearing held at Pine Rest
Call her at the Aspen ward by calling
Although Jill is not a danger to herself or others, she was taken a second time, to Pine Rest which is a ten hour drive from her home. She has consistently advocated for her right to receive non-force, non-drug support to live peaceably in her own home, her right to safely taper off drugs which she says are causing her harm, and her right to receive grief counseling for her losses: the loss of her civil liberties, the loss of ability to have children, loss of her employment, and loss of her good health. She has been living peaceably in her own home, but is not being offered any non-drug, non-force options to support her needs and values.
Jill is once again activating Shield. Please demand her immediate release from Pine Rest. by contacting the CEO Mark Eastburg, CEO of Pine Crest Mental Health Services.
The only contact I can find for Mark Eastburg is his Linked In account.
linkedin.com/in/mark-eastburg-13b0239
If you can find an alternative way of contacting Mark Eastburg, please let us know at office@mindfreedom.org.
The Pine Rest Christian Mental Health Facility has a Foundation that relies heavily on donors, therefore they care about their public image. Please let the director of the PRCMHF that donors may no longer wish to support a facility that kidnaps Michigan residents and forcibly drugs them.
Donald MacKenzie,
Executive Director,
Pine Rest Foundation
616.258.7520
Donald.MacKenzie@pinerest.org
Please let staff know, that Jill has developed an intolerance to Haldol, the drug she is court ordered to take. If she resists, they will threaten to inject her by force. The haldol is causing her to experience a disabling, potentially irreversible movement disorder called tardive dyskinesia.
Jill has been fighting a court order to remain on a drug called Haldol which belongs to a powerful class of drugs known as ‘anti-psychotics’ even though they do not correct any known chemical imbalance. She was subjected to a court ordered ‘treatment’ while living peaceably in her own home in Ontonogan County. Without the means to pay for adequate counsel, she has been unable to overturn this order. After a year being forced to take this powerful drug, her physical, mental, and emotional health has been deteriorating. This is evident to all who know her well. Haldol is known to cause adverse and paradoxical reactions. Some people experience problems of thinking or living while under the influence of this drug. Some develop akathisia, an unbearable feeling of inner torment and restlessness. Others have reported insomnia, hostility, aggression.
Original alert: 5/5/21
MFI was disturbed to learn that Shield member Jill Kesti, founder of Coaltion to End Forced Psychiatric Drugging, is herself being forcibly drugged and held against her will at Pine Rest Christian Mental Health Services. She is being deprived of all her personal belongings including her phone. She has been held down and forcibly injected three times with powerful, psychiatric drugs since being detained. Jill is activating her Shield and asks for your help!
Please contact
Aaron Platter, M.D.
Pine Rest Christian Mental Health Services
300 68th St. SE,
Grand Rapids, MI 49548
Ask Dr. Plattner why he is not honoring Jill’s repeated requests for non-force, non-drug alternatives.
Contact Dr. Plattner’s boss:
Mark Eastburg, PhD – President and CEO of Pine Rest Mental Health Services
Call Jill on the ward to give her encouragement 616-455-5000 and ask for Aspen ward.
Post words of encouragement to Jill on her Facebook group, Coalition to End Forced Psychiatric Drugging HERE or on her personal FB page HERE