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a lot of issues that uh we care about

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and are active in there's absolutely a

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personal connection uh it's personal our

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family uh from from my very first date

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with my wife Angela we she shared with

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me U her experience is growing up as not

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just a daughter to a single mother but

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as her mother's uh caretaker and

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Advocate uh my mother suffers from uh uh

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or Her diagnosis I should say is a a

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bipolar one which gets to effective

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disorder uh so pretty severe diagnosis

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uh but uh Just Having learned and been

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inspired by Angel's experience over the

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years and her family's really ring

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around in support of my

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mother-in-law uh it's uh drove home the

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lesson that she's she's doing well uh we

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say she's thriving so if there's hope

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for her there's hope for almost anybody

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we know that there's certainly

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significant need around the country for

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improveed mental health support um the

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the need for uh better access to Mental

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Health Services uh and Care uh you know

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by the Numbers it was an epidemic before

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the covid-19 pandemic uh but uh Co

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really put a spotlight on the need and

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ex and exacerbated the uh the crisis and

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so um it was with a sense of urgency

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that we uh wanted to raise the

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conversation the priority level uh in

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Congress and particular here in the

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[Music]

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Senate sure well a lot of credit frankly

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goes to uh uh not just my colleague

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Senator Tina Smith on the Democratic

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side but uh my Republican colleagues

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Senator Tillis uh and Senator Ernst the

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four sort of the founding chairs of this

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caucus uh it was important to make it

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part bipartisan uh far too often issues

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uh become very partisan very quickly uh

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and it makes it harder to make progress

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uh as a result but uh you know mental

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health challenges No No Boundaries it's

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not a red State issue it's not a blue

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State issue it's a people issue uh and I

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give them credit for recognizing that uh

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and it was interesting is as soon as we

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approach the conversation about the idea

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the first thing just like you know your

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first question to me uh the first part

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of my response was not statistics and

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you know position papers but personal

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stories personal connections and it's

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become one of the first priorities of

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this caucus so how do we use this as a

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platform for people to share their stor

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uh and in so doing uh both deliver the

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message and maybe a little inspiration

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for anybody out there

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uh to uh to share theirs you know one of

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the big challenges that we have in

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improving uh mental health in America is

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overcoming stigma there's still far too

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many people that are either too

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embarrassed or shy or reluctant to come

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forward and ask for help when they need

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help because of the stigma around mental

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health uh we uh uh are working hard and

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again this is something I learned first

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from my wife Angela uh when somebody

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hurts their leg we don't hesitate to go

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get a check out by a doctor maybe you

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need an x-ray if uh you know you're

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you're suffering from a heart attack

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there's no shame in going to a doctor

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and to a hospital anding the care that

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you need but when it comes to uh when

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something may be wrong with the brain

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you know a very precious organ uh

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there's still that stigma so we need to

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overcome that stigma and a lot of that

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is by uh you know leading by example and

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willing to share our stories and being

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very public about experiences and uh uh

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you know that that's that's one of the

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first goals of the uh of the

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[Music]

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caucus the first thing I point to is our

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the first bill that we've introduced as

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a caucus uh recently the country rolled

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out a 988 system uh similar to 911 but a

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dedicated number easy to remember that

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anybody can call if you need somebody to

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speak to uh if you're in a crisis or

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observe somebody in a crisis uh there's

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somebody available to talk 247 uh in

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English or in Spanish uh or to text with

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247 in English or in Spanish to help

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walk you through uh a uh situation

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whether it's a crisis uh or

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[Music]

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not you know sort of big picture other

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uh priorities for the caucus uh are

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number one

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um you the the safer communities act

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that was uh passed and signed into law

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uh couple years ago now almost two years

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ago now included a huge amount of

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funding for mental health services

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across the country this was the bill

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that came after the shooting in nodi

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Texas uh you know some important pieces

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when it comes to gun safety that were

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approved on a bipartisan basis but this

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investment in mental health uh programs

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is hugely significant so want to make

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sure that those dollars are moving uh

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quickly uh appropriately strategically

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responsibly but uh quickly as well uh

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because of the need that's out there and

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then uh the last piece I'll just mention

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right now is our bipartisan recognition

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of the need to have a plan when it comes

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to Workforce uh if we're encouraging

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more people to seek help when they

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needed uh and uh to overcome the the

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stigma and reluctance uh to seek help

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then we need to make sure that there's

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enough you psychiatrists psychologists

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and counselors therapists and you know

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all the folks who work in the mental

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health space uh to be able to provide

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that support and to provide that level

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of service uh so having a a plan with

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some antenas for a Workforce Development

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uh is another

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[Music]

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priority one of the things that we

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recognize is not uh every person with a

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mental illness is home less not every

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person experiencing homelessness uh has

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a mental illness but there is

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significant significant overlap uh and

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so a lot of the the strategies at the

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Grassroots level will reflect that uh

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you know for all the emphasis there is

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on additional uh need for housing

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particularly affordable housing and

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transitional shelters that is important

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but it's really hard for uh to to bring

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somebody in from the outdoor sustainably

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if we're not also providing the mental

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he support uh that they

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[Music]

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need so funing we'll go to the states

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and we work with the states to uh

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recognize what are the priority areas

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and in California you know not just Los

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Angeles not just San Francisco but from

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San Diego to Sacramento to Fresno I mean

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I I don't know a medium to large siiz

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city that uh doesn't have uh this

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challenge of utilizing Mental Health

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Services uh as a core strategy in uh

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supporting the unhoused population uh uh

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come into affordable

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[Music]

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housing separate from the pocket itself

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I have my own piece of legislation that

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would seek to advance through

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Investments uh a culturally competent

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and linguistically competent Workforce

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as I mentioned earlier with more

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encouraging more people to seek help

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when more people seek help we need to

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make sure that we have the capacity to

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provide that support uh and not just

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more uh doctors and counselors

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therapists Etc but the the workforce

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that uh have the language and cultural

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competency to uh best serve that diverse

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[Music]

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population uh yes so again the the

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funding uh approved through the uh safer

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communities act from uh almost two years

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ago has significant amounts of the

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mental health uh dollars dedicated to

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schools you know it's a uh been a

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longtime effort to try to maintain a

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nurse in every school right whether it's

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Minister medications or you know putting

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you know Band-Aids on pets this is the

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father of three boys speaking you know

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it'd be a dream scenario to have a

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counselor or a therapist uh at every

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school or or ideally even a Wellness

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Center they relatively new Concepts in

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the United States but those that are

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proven to be very helpful to students

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and communities but with resources we

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can uh expand that model uh much sooner

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rather than later

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[Music]