Prioritizing Mental Health
Over 780,000 adults in Maryland have diagnosed mental health conditions, and over 180,000 adults in our state are living with serious mental illness. For this reason, mental health treatment and suicide prevention are critical health care issues we need to prioritize. This year, I supported several pieces of legislation to combat this issue that has an effect on so many in our community, especially in the wake of the pandemic:
- Behavioral Health Crisis Response Services: This bill will enable our state’s Behavioral Health Crisis Response Grant Program to recipients to minimize law enforcement interactions with individuals in crisis. It also provides more tools and information to mobile crisis teams who respond to incidents.
- Excused Absences for Mental Health Issues: I garnered national attention for legislation I sponsored to allow students who are experiencing anxiety, depression, or other mental health issues to have an excused absence from school. Maryland will become the 11th State to adopt this type of law.
- New 9-8-8 trust fund: We adopted legislation to establish 9-8-8 as the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline in Maryland. The bill creates a trust fund to support the mental and behavioral health crisis call centers that will answer the calls.