                                 CODE OF VIRGINIA

DEFINITIONS (§ 16.1-336)

When used in this article, unless the context otherwise requires:
		&#8220;Community services board&#8221; has the same meaning as provided in §
37.2-100. Whenever the term community services board appears, it shall include
behavioral health authority, as that term is defined in § 37.2-100.
		&#8220;Consent&#8221; means the voluntary, express, and informed agreement to
treatment in a mental health facility by a minor 14 years of age or older and by
a parent or a legally authorized custodian.
		&#8220;Designee of the local community services board&#8221; means an examiner
designated by the local community services board who (i) is skilled in the
assessment and treatment of mental illness, (ii) has completed a certification
program approved by the Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental
Services, (iii) is able to provide an independent examination of the minor, (iv)
is not related by blood, marriage, or adoption to, or is not the legal guardian
of, the minor being evaluated, (v) has no financial interest in the admission or
treatment of the minor being evaluated, (vi) has no investment interest in the
facility detaining or admitting the minor under this article, and (vii) except
for employees of state hospitals and of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs,
is not employed by the facility.
		&#8220;Employee&#8221; means an employee of the local community services board
who is skilled in the assessment and treatment of mental illness and has
completed a certification program approved by the Department of Behavioral
Health and Developmental Services.
		&#8220;Incapable of making an informed decision&#8221; means unable to
understand the nature, extent, or probable consequences of a proposed treatment
or unable to make a rational evaluation of the risks and benefits of the
proposed treatment as compared with the risks and benefits of alternatives to
the treatment. Persons with dysphasia or other communication disorders who are
mentally competent and able to communicate shall not be considered incapable of
giving informed consent.
		&#8220;Inpatient treatment&#8221; means placement for observation, diagnosis,
or treatment of mental illness in a psychiatric hospital or in any other type of
mental health facility determined by the Department of Behavioral Health and
Developmental Services to be substantially similar to a psychiatric hospital
with respect to restrictions on freedom and therapeutic intrusiveness.
		&#8220;Investment interest&#8221; means the ownership or holding of an equity
or debt security, including shares of stock in a corporation, interests or units
of a partnership, bonds, debentures, notes, or other equity or debt instruments.
		&#8220;Judge&#8221; means a juvenile and domestic relations district judge. In
addition, &#8220;judge&#8221; includes a retired judge sitting by designation
pursuant to § 16.1-69.35, substitute judge, or special justice authorized by §
37.2-803 who has completed a training program regarding the provisions of this
article, prescribed by the Executive Secretary of the Supreme Court.
		&#8220;Least restrictive alternative&#8221; means the treatment and conditions
of treatment which, separately and in combination, are no more intrusive or
restrictive of freedom than reasonably necessary to achieve a substantial
therapeutic benefit or to protect the minor or others from physical injury.
		&#8220;Mental health facility&#8221; means a public or private facility for
the treatment of mental illness operated or licensed by the Department of
Behavioral Health and Developmental Services.
		&#8220;Mental illness&#8221; means a substantial disorder of the minor&#8217;s
cognitive, volitional, or emotional processes that demonstrably and
significantly impairs judgment or capacity to recognize reality or to control
behavior. &#8220;Mental illness&#8221; may include substance abuse, which is the
use, without compelling medical reason, of any substance which results in
psychological or physiological dependency as a function of continued use in such
a manner as to induce mental, emotional, or physical impairment and cause
socially dysfunctional or socially disordering behavior. Intellectual
disability, head injury, a learning disability, or a seizure disorder is not
sufficient, in itself, to justify a finding of mental illness within the meaning
of this article.
		&#8220;Minor&#8221; means a person less than 18 years of age.
		&#8220;Parent&#8221; means (i) a biological or adoptive parent who has legal
custody of the minor, including either parent if custody is shared under a joint
decree or agreement, (ii) a biological or adoptive parent with whom the minor
regularly resides, (iii) a person judicially appointed as a legal guardian of
the minor, or (iv) a person who exercises the rights and responsibilities of
legal custody by delegation from a biological or adoptive parent, upon
provisional adoption or otherwise by operation of law. The director of the local
department of social services, or his designee, may stand as the minor&#8217;s
parent when the minor is in the legal custody of the local department of social
services.
		&#8220;Qualified evaluator&#8221; means a psychiatrist or a psychologist
licensed in Virginia by either the Board of Medicine or the Board of Psychology,
or if such psychiatrist or psychologist is unavailable, (i) any mental health
professional licensed in Virginia through the Department of Health Professions
as a clinical social worker, professional counselor, marriage and family
therapist, or psychiatric advanced practice registered nurse or (ii) any mental
health professional employed by a community services board. All qualified
evaluators shall (a) be skilled in the diagnosis and treatment of mental illness
in minors, (b) be familiar with the provisions of this article, and (c) have
completed a certification program approved by the Department of Behavioral
Health and Developmental Services. The qualified evaluator shall (1) not be
related by blood, marriage, or adoption to, or is not the legal guardian of, the
minor being evaluated, (2) not be responsible for treating the minor, (3) have
no financial interest in the admission or treatment of the minor, (4) have no
investment interest in the facility detaining or admitting the minor under this
article, and (5) except for employees of state hospitals, the U.S. Department of
Veterans Affairs, and community services boards, not be employed by the
facility.
		&#8220;Treatment&#8221; means any planned intervention intended to improve a
minor&#8217;s functioning in those areas which show impairment as a result of
mental illness.

HISTORY: 1990, c. 975; 1991, c. 159; 2007, cc. 500, 897; 2008, cc. 139, 774;
2009, cc. 455, 555, 813, 840; 2010, cc. 778, 825; 2012, cc. 476, 507; 2023, c.
183.