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A lot of issues that we care about and are active in
there's absolutely a personal connection.
It's personal, our family, from my very first date
with my wife Angela.
She shared with me her experience in growing up
as not just a daughter to a single mother,
but as her mother's caretaker and advocate.
My mother suffers from...
or her diagnosis, I should say,
is a a bipolar I schizoaffective disorder
So a pretty severe diagnosis.
Just having learned and been inspired by Angel's experience over the years
and her familiy's
really rallying around in support of my mother-in-law.
It...
Drove home the lesson that she's she's doing well.
We could say she's thriving.
So if there's hope for her, there's hope for almost anybody.
We know that there's certainly significant need around the country
for improved mental health support.
The need for better access to mental health services
and care, you know...
By the numbers, it was an epidemic before the covid-19 pandemic.
But Covid really put a spotlight on the need
and exacerbated the crisis.
And so, it was with a sense of urgency
that we wanted to raise the conversation, the priority level,
In Congress and particulary here in the Senate.
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Sure.
Well a lot of credit frankly goes to not just my colleagues,
Senator Tina Smith, on the Democratic side,
but to my Republican colleague, Senator Tillis and Senator Ernst.
The four of us, sort of, the founding chairs of this caucus.
It was important to make it bipartisan.
Far too often issues become very partisan very quickly
and it makes it harder to make progress...
as a result.
but, you know, mental health challenges know no boundaries.
It's not a red State issue, it's not a blue State issue,
it's a people issue.
And...
I give them credit for recognizing that.
and it was interesting
as soon as we approach the conversation about the idea
the first thing, just, like, you know, your first question to me
the first part of my response
was not statistics and, you know, position papers
but personal stories, personal connections
And it's become one of the first priorities of this caucus,
how do we use this as a platform
for people to share their story?
and in so doing, both deliver the message
and maybe a little inspiration for anybody out there
to share theirs.
you know, one of the big challenges that we have
in improving mental health in America
is overcoming stigma.
there's still far too many people
that are either too embarrassed or shy or reluctant
to come foward and ask for help when they need help,
because of the stigma around mental health.
We are working hard
And, again, this is something I learned first from my wife Angela.
When somebody hurts their leg
we don't hesitate to go
"get a check out by a doctor maybe you need an x-ray"
if, you know, you're suffering from a heart attack,
there's no shame in going to a doctor and to a hospital
and in getting the care that you need.
But when it comes to
when something may be wrong with the brain
you know, a very precious organ
there's still that stigma.
so we need to overcome that stigma
and a lot of that is by, you know, leading by example
and willing to share our stories
and being very public about experiences and...
You know, that's one of the first goals of the caucus.
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The first thing I point to
is the first bill that we've introduced as a caucus.
Recently the country rolled out a 988 system
similar to 911,
a dedicated number, easy to remember,
that anybody can call if you need somebody to speak to
if you're in a crisis
or observe somebody in a crisis.
There's somebody available to talk 24/7
English or in Spanish,
or to text with, 24/7 in English or in Spanish
to help walk you through a situation
whether it's a crisis or not.
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You know, sort of big picture
other priorities for the caucus are
number one:
The Safer Communities Act
that was passed and signed into law
a couple years ago now, almost two years ago now.
included a huge amount of funding
for mental health services across the country.
This was the bill that came after the shooting in Uvalde, Texas
You know, some important pieces when it comes to gun safety
that were approved on a bipartisan basis,
but this investment in mental health programs
is hugely significant.
So why not make sure that those dollars are moving
quickly, appropriately, strategically, responsibly
but quickly as well,
because of the need that's out there.
And then the last piece I'll just mention right now
is our bipartisan recognition
of the need to have a plan when it comes to workforce.
If we're encouraging more people to seek help when they need it,
to overcome the stigma and reluctance to seek help
then we need to make sure that there's enough psychiatrists, psychologists,
and counselors and therapists.
You know, all the folks who work in the mental health space
to be able to provide that support and to provide that level of service.
So having a a plan with some antenas for a workforce development
is another priority.
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One of the things that we recognize
is not every person with a mental illness is homeless
not every person experiencing homelessness has a mental illness
but there significant, significant overlap uh and
so a lot of the the strategies at the
Grassroots level will reflect that uh
you know for all the emphasis there is
on additional uh need for housing
particularly affordable housing and
transitional shelters that is important
but it's really hard for uh to to bring
somebody in from the outdoor sustainably
if we're not also providing the mental
he support uh that they
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need so funing we'll go to the states
and we work with the states to uh
recognize what are the priority areas
and in California you know not just Los
Angeles not just San Francisco but from
San Diego to Sacramento to Fresno I mean
I I don't know a medium to large siiz
city that uh doesn't have uh this
challenge of utilizing Mental Health
Services uh as a core strategy in uh
supporting the unhoused population uh uh
come into affordable
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housing separate from the pocket itself
I have my own piece of legislation that
would seek to advance through
Investments uh a culturally competent
and linguistically competent Workforce
as I mentioned earlier with more
encouraging more people to seek help
when more people seek help we need to
make sure that we have the capacity to
provide that support uh and not just
more uh doctors and counselors
therapists Etc but the the workforce
that uh have the language and cultural
competency to uh best serve that diverse
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population uh yes so again the the
funding uh approved through the uh safer
communities act from uh almost two years
ago has significant amounts of the
mental health uh dollars dedicated to
schools you know it's a uh been a
longtime effort to try to maintain a
nurse in every school right whether it's
Minister medications or you know putting you know Band-Aids on pets
this is the father of three boys speaking.
You know, it'd be a dream scenario
to have a counselor or a therapist at every school
or, ideally, even a Wellness Center.
They're relatively new concepts in the United States
but those that are proven to be very helpful to students and communities
But with resources we can expand that model
much sooner rather than later.
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