Which situation would not meet GD criteria (Not GD)?

• A. Client is willing to accept food, shelter, and clothing from a responsible family member or third party, and this arrangement is put into writing.
• B. Client is unwilling to accept voluntary services but has a mental disorder.
• C. Client requests guardianship and refuses all services.
• D. Client is in need of immediate hospitalization regardless of acceptance of services.

Answer: (A)

Gravely Disabled (GD) means a person is unable to provide for their own basic personal needs for food, shelter, clothing, or safety due to a mental disorder. The situation described where the client is willing to have basic needs met by a responsible family member or a third party, with the arrangement put into writing, shows that someone else can reliably provide those essentials. That demonstrates the client is not unable to meet their own basic needs, so they do not meet the gravely disabled criteria. In other words, the presence of a written plan and external support means GD is not met here.

The other scenarios would address different risks or levels of need. An unwillingness to accept voluntary services doesn’t by itself prove GD without showing an inability to care for basic needs. Requesting guardianship and refusing all services might indicate significant impairment and could meet GD, depending on whether basic needs can be met. Needing immediate hospitalization due to the mental disorder points to acute risk that can trigger 5150 protections as well, which again is a different pathway from GD alone.