Washington, D.C. – Colorado U.S. Senator Michael Bennet joined several Senate colleagues in introducing the Pursuing Equity in Mental Health Act. This bill would address increased suicide and mental health issues facing young people, particularly among socially and economically disadvantaged communities that have disproportionately faced disparities in access to mental health treatment and outcomes during the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic.
The Pursuing Equity in Mental Health Act expands minority mental health access by supporting scientific research and increasing funding for existing federal programs. This legislation also provides grant funding over a period of five years to establish inter-professional health care teams at community health centers, rural health clinics, and behavioral health programs that predominantly serve people of color, and to develop cultural competency educational curricula for health professionals to help bridge the gap in racial and ethnic minority mental health disparities.
“The mental health care disparities for communities of color in this country are shameful, and the COVID-19 public health and economic crisis has only exacerbated them,” said Bennet. “We need to improve access to mental and behavioral health treatment and resources for communities of color in Colorado and across the country, and I’ll work with my colleagues to get this critical bill across the finish line.”
According to the National Alliance on Mental Health, 1 in 6 U.S. youth aged 6-17 experience a mental health disorder each year. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has also found that suicide remains the second leading cause of death among teens aged 15-19, with the suicide death rate among Black youth increasing faster than any other racial or ethnic group according to a report published by the Congressional Black Caucus.
Furthermore, according to the AAMC, Black and Latino children have witnessed more illness and death during the pandemic than other children, and during this same period the CDC found that Black and Latino groups across all ages are reporting higher rates of symptoms of anxiety and depression than their white counterparts. The rates among youth have been even more alarming, which exhibited a 24% increase in the proportion of children going to emergency health departments for mental health care in the first six months of the pandemic compared to the same period in 2019.
The Pursuing Equity in Mental Health Equity Act would:
- Establish and fund inter-professional health care teams to provide behavioral health care;
- Authorize grants to develop cultural competency educational curricula so students training to be social workers, psychologists, psychiatrists, and therapists will be able to properly treat youth, regardless of race or ethnicity;
- Authorize $650 million to the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities to enhance research into addressing mental and physical health disparities;
- Authorize an additional $100 million to the National Institute of Health (NIH) to partner with communities and support clinical research, including clinical research on racial or ethnic disparities in physical and mental health;
- Reauthorize the Minority Fellowship Program for 5 years and nearly double the current authorized funding level; and
- Direct the Department of Health and Human Services to establish a Commission on the Effects of Smartphone and Social Media Usage on Adolescents.
“By advancing the Pursuing Equity in Mental Health Act to the Senate, Congress has taken an important first step to addressing disparities in care that have been devastating for the mental health of young Black people and other BIPOC,” said American Psychiatric Association President Vivian Pender, M.D. “The provisions of this bill support the kind of tangible action needed to meaningfully confront these longstanding issues, including providing substantial funding for cultural competency training, research and outreach efforts to the communities most affected by structural racism that experience persistent health inequities.”
“We applaud the advancement of the Pursuing Equity in Mental Health Act to the Senate during Mental Health Awareness Month. As the ongoing COVID-19 crisis continues to exacerbate already-rising rates of depression and suicide among young people –particularly among Black youth, who are now twice as likely to die by suicide than their white peers – it is more important than ever to provide equitable access to mental health care,” said Mark Barden, co-founder and managing director of Sandy Hook Promise and father of Daniel who was killed in the Sandy Hook Elementary School tragedy. “This important piece of legislation will provide necessary funding to address the disparities in access to mental health care and support research into effective interventions that equitably address youth mental health issues.”
“The Trevor Project’s 2021 National Survey of LGBTQ Youth Mental Health found that LGBTQ youth of color reported higher rates of attempting suicide than their white peers in the past year. Yet, nearly half of all LGBTQ youth could not access the mental health care they desired. This bill will help break down barriers and improve access to culturally competent mental health care,” said Sam Brinton (they/them pronouns), VP of Advocacy and Government Affairs for The Trevor Project, the world’s largest suicide prevention and crisis intervention organization for LGBTQ youth.
The bill is also supported by American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, American Psychiatric Association, Sandy Hook Promise, Trevor Project, Mental Health America, and National Hispanic Medical Association.
In addition to Bennet, this legislation is co-sponsored by U.S. Senators Bob Menendez (D-N.J.), Cory Booker (D-N.J.), Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.), Tom Carper (D-Del.), Tina Smith (D-Minn.), Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Alex Padilla (D-Calif.), Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Ben Ray Lujan (D-N.M.), and Chris Murphy (D-Conn.).
This bill was developed in response to the Congressional Black Caucus’s report on racial disparities in mental health care. Companion legislation was introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives by Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-N.J.) and John Katko (R-N.Y.).
The bill text is available HERE.