Psychiatric Advance Directives are medical-legal documents that allow individuals with mental illness to:

• Advocate for their desired care on their own behalf and uphold core principles in the provision of health care such as the preservation of patients’ rights of self-direction and self-determination in guiding one’s care.

• Direct providers of health care on how they wish their psychiatric care to be provided in the event that they are incapable of making decisions concerning such care or are incapable of communicating such decisions.

• Designate another person to make decisions on their behalf in the event they become incapable of making such decisions.