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(Ambient music)

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A lot of issues that we 
care about and are active in

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there's absolutely 
a personal connection.

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It's personal, our family, 
from my very first date

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with my wife Angela.

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She shared with me
her experience in growing up

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as not just a daughter 
to a single mother,

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but as her mother's 
caretaker and advocate.

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My mother suffers from...

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or her diagnosis, I should say,

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is a a bipolar I
schizoaffective disorder

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So a pretty severe diagnosis.

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Just having learned and been inspired 
by Angel's experience over the years

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and her familiy's

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really rallying around in support 
of my mother-in-law.

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It...

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Drove home the lesson 
that she's she's doing well.

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We could say she's thriving.

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So if there's hope for her,
there's hope for almost anybody.

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We know that there's certainly 
significant need around the country

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for improved mental health support.

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The need for better access
to mental health services

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and care, you know...

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By the numbers, it was an epidemic 
before the covid-19 pandemic.

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But Covid really put
a spotlight on the need

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and exacerbated the crisis.

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And so, it was with a sense of urgency

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that we wanted to raise 
the conversation, the priority level,

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In Congress and particulary
here in the Senate.

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(cheerful music)

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Sure.

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Well a lot of credit frankly goes
to not just my colleagues,

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Senator Tina Smith, 
on the Democratic side,

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but to my Republican colleague, 
Senator Tillis and Senator Ernst.

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The four of us, sort of, 
the founding chairs of this caucus.

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It was important to make it bipartisan.

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Far too often issues become 
very partisan very quickly

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and it makes it harder 
to make progress...

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as a result.

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but, you know, mental health 
challenges know no boundaries.

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It's not a red State issue,
it's not a blue State issue,

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it's a people issue.

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And...

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I give them credit 
for recognizing that.

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and it was interesting

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as soon as we approach 
the conversation about the idea

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the first thing, just, like, you know,
your first question to me

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the first part of my response

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was not statistics and, 
you know, position papers

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but personal stories,
personal connections

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And it's become one of 
the first priorities of this caucus,

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how do we use this
as a platform

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for people to share their story?

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and in so doing, 
both deliver the message

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and maybe a little inspiration 
for anybody out there

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to share theirs.

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you know, one of the 
big challenges that we have

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in improving 
mental health in America

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is overcoming stigma.

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there's still far too many people

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that are either too embarrassed
or shy or reluctant

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to come foward and ask for help 
when they need help,

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because of the stigma 
around mental health.

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We are working hard

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And, again, this is something 
I learned first from my wife Angela.

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When somebody hurts their leg

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we don't hesitate to go

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"get a check out by a doctor 
maybe you need an x-ray"

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if, you know, you're
suffering from a heart attack,

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there's no shame in going 
to a doctor and to a hospital

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and in getting 
the care that you need.

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But when it comes to

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when something 
may be wrong with the brain

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you know, a very precious organ

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there's still that stigma.

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so we need to 
overcome that stigma

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and a lot of that is by, 
you know, leading by example

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and willing to share our stories

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and being very public 
about experiences and...

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You know, that's one of 
the first goals of the caucus.

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(cheeful music)

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The first thing I point to

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is the first bill that 
we've introduced as a caucus.

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Recently the country 
rolled out a 988 system

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similar to 911,

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a dedicated number,
easy to remember,

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that anybody can call 
if you need somebody to speak to

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if you're in a crisis

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or observe somebody in a crisis.

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There's somebody 
available to talk 24/7

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English or in Spanish,

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or to text with, 24/7 
in English or in Spanish

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to help walk you through a situation

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whether it's a crisis or not.

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(cheerful music)

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You know, sort of big picture

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other priorities for the caucus are

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number one:

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The Safer Communities Act

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that was passed and signed into law

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a couple years ago now,
almost two years ago now.

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included a huge amount of funding

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for mental health services 
across the country.

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this was the bill that came after 
the shooting in Uvalde, Texas

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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 you know Band-Aids on pets

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this is the father 
of three boys speaking.

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You know, it'd be a dream scenario

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to have a counselor 
or a therapist at every school

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or, ideally, even a Wellness Center.

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They're relatively new concepts 
in the United States

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but those that are proven to be
very helpful to students and communities

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But with resources 
we can expand that model

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much sooner rather than later.

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(cheeful music)