Burlington, VT – In honor of World Mental Health Day, October 10th, Rep. Becca Balint (VT-AL) highlights the six bills she has led in the 118th Congress to address the urgent mental health crisis and end the stigma for those who deal with anxiety, depression, and other mental health challenges.
H.R. 2642, the Peer Education and Emergency Response (PEER) for Mental Health Act, creates a grant program to support training for teachers, school personnel, parents, caregivers, and students in mental health first aid.
H.R. 5623, the Addressing Addiction After Disasters Act, helps ensure disaster resources include support for mental health and substance use disorder. This bill has advanced out of committee.
H.R. 6257, the Emergency Medical Services Reimbursement for On-scene Care and Support (EMS ROCS) Act, ensures EMS can provide essential medical care to rural communities and modernizes Medicare to reimburse EMS.
H.R. 6415, the Crisis Assistance and Resources in Emergencies (CARE) for First Responders Act, provides specialized mental health, substance abuse, and crisis counseling services to law enforcement, firefighters, emergency response workers, and 9-1-1 operators.
H.R. 8422, the MEND Act, deploys mental health crisis units, funds grants for behavioral and mental health recovery, authorizes research on the effects of natural disasters on mental health and substance use disorders, and supports victims, families, and communities.
H.R. 8444, the Mental Health in Schools Act, creates two new grant programs to help K-12 schools develop mental health education programs and to promote careers in mental health to high school students.
“Mental health care is health care. Period. And Americans deserve a full range of mental health care services available to us as part of comprehensive health care,” said Rep. Balint. “We must all do our part to end the stigma of talking about mental health struggles and to normalize what is part of the human condition. I’ve heard from so many Vermonters about the mental health crisis–and it’s not just doctors and nurses that I’m hearing from. It’s parents, teachers, teens, first responders and employers. That’s why I’ve introduced a suite of legislation to ensure we have the tools we need to address this growing crisis.”
