Advocacy

By: Nathaniel Counts, J.D. MHA Senior Director of Policy, and Debbie Plotnick, MSS, MLSP, MHA Vice President of Mental Health and Systems Advocacy

A new year, a new Administration, and a new Congress brings new opportunities to best attend to our nation’s mental health. This year, in addition to working with Congress on the pressing issues around health care and social services that surface, Mental Health America (MHA) will have four areas of focus:

By: Paul Gionfriddo, president and CEO, MHA

By Paul Gionfriddo, president and CEO, MHA

Senators Chris Murphy (D-CT) and Bill Cassidy (R-LA) have now introduced the Mental Health Reform Act of 2015. While Mental Health America has not yet formally endorsed it or its House counterpart, we consider it another important step toward making comprehensive mental health reform a reality in America.

It builds on H.R. 2646, the Murphy-Johnson proposal introduced two months ago in the House, incorporating many of the provisions that Mental Health America has made a priority in our advocacy for many years.

By Debbie Plotnick, MSS MLSP

Dear E. Fuller Torrey and Doris Fuller:

Early Saturday morning, I saw the op-ed that you both authored which ran in the Wall Street Journal. 

It pretty much was all I could think of over the weekend. At first I was very, very angry. This was because it hurt me personally, as a family member, as a mental health advocate, and as a social worker.

By Paul Gionfriddo, President and CEO, Mental Health America

It’s disparity, not parity, that’s the norm for mental health status and services in America.