A Conversation Katie Porter

Well, Like so many Americans,

my family and my friends have faced
mental health challenges.

And so, you know,
I think that there's very few families

and very few workplaces or communities
that can't say that.

And I think one of the things
that I've seen is even as we've made

advances in the ability
to treat mental health,

the actual delivery of that treatment,

the affordability and the accessibility
has often lagged behind.

And so one of the things I've been
really focused on is trying to make sure

that insurers, that providers are actually
delivering on mental health care.

When I moved to Orange County
ten years ago,

there were no pediatric
mental health beds in the entire county.

And as I said, you might think,
well, it's just a county.

Orange County is bigger than like
20 some states,

and yet we had no pediatric
mental health beds.

And so although that's changed
with leadership of our children's

hospital over time, it really goes
to show you how difficult it is

to be able to find mental
health care as well as afford it.

And so when I talk about people
being healthy,

I mean healthy in every
aspect of their lives.

Both physical and mental health.

Well, talking to different people about
their experiences, one of the great

things about being a congressperson is
people share their life stories with you.

They share their frustrations with you.

And I think one of the amazing things
that we've seen the disability community

do, over my lifetime,
as I was born in the era of the ADA.

I grew up in Iowa.

Tom Harkin was my senator,

I can remember what a big deal it
was to have the ADA pass.

As we've seen the stigma reduced and more
and more people feel like

they can talk about their frustrations
and their challenges,

what they could accomplish,
what they couldn't get,

in terms of wellness,
and what they often are falling short on.

And so, you know I started
talking to different people.

I started looking at things,

you know talking to psychiatrists
in our community, psychologists,

social workers, schools, teachers,
and hearing about their challenges.