A quick story of how Congress is supposed to work.
1/ in January I did a meeting with pediatricians and child mental health providers about the spiraling number of kids needing mental health care.
They had a really good idea.
1/ in January I did a meeting with pediatricians and child mental health providers about the spiraling number of kids needing mental health care.
They had a really good idea.
2/ Nearly every kid has a pediatrician. But pediatricians get very little mental health training. Often they donβt know enough to screen for and identify the signs of early mental illness. They get little training on treatment.
Itβs a big gap.
Itβs a big gap.
3/ I couldnβt stop thinking about this. It seemed so cost effective - just skill up pediatricians and we create a whole new mental health workforce.
I set my team to designing a way to do this.
I set my team to designing a way to do this.
4/ Then, in May, an opportunity - as the gun bill negotiations began, Republicans made it clear they wanted the bill to include major mental health spending. @SenatorSinema and I pinned them down on a number. We agreed on $15 billion.
5/ My team pulled our training idea out of the drawer. After a back and forth w @JohnCornyn and @SenThomTillis we settled on a $60M program to train doctors (including pediatricians) on how to treat mental illness. It was included in the final bill. politico.com
6/ Today I returned to the site of that first meeting - @ctchildrens - to celebrate passage of this new program and make plans for one of the grants to come to CT.
One good idea from a roundtable discussion. Now a major $60M program.
Thatβs how Congress is supposed to work.
One good idea from a roundtable discussion. Now a major $60M program.
Thatβs how Congress is supposed to work.
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