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Janet Marshall Wilson joined Mental Health Consumer Concerns in 1982, when she did an internship during
her first semester of law school on implementation of the landmark case Doe v. Gallinot. This case provides
due process commitment hearings for those on involuntary legal holds lasting up to 14 days. In this capacity,
Ms. Wilson joined the Patients’ Rights Advocacy and Training program of Mental Health Consumer Concerns,
which was the first client-run program contracted to provide advocacy services in California. She worked as a
Patients’ Rights Advocate through law school. She has served as the director of each of the Contra Costa County,
Solano County, and Napa County Patients’ Rights Programs and currently directs the Contra Costa and Napa programs.
During a brief interruption in service, she provided refugee rights advocacy for Salvadorans gaining Temporary Protected Status.
Ms. Wilson supervises a staff of seven, which includes relief advocates. Her two programs
provide hearing representation, complaint resolution and monitoring at Contra Costa Regional Medical Center, John Muir
Behavioral Health Center, St. Helena Hospital and (hearings alone) Napa State Hospital. In both counties, there is a
strong residential advocacy component, as well as coverage for Crestwood of the Napa Valley (a Mental Health Rehabilitation
Center) in Angwin and Crestwood Healing Center in Pleasant Hill.
Ms. Wilson is on the Quality Improvement Committee of Napa County and is currently on the Leadership Council of the Contra
Costa Network of Mental Health Clients, where her interests lie in public policy and social justice issues. Ms. Wilson is a California Governor’s Scholar. She regularly attends both the Napa Mental Health Board as well as the Contra Costa Mental Health Commission. In 2008, Ms. Wilson
was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award by the California Association of Mental Health Patients’ Rights Advocates, where she
has served as the Secretary for several years. Ms. Wilson served as the Interim Executive Director for Mental Health Consumer
Concerns for over two years and actively participated in the search for a permanent Executive Director.
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