PASSED: House Passes Davids' Bipartisan Bill to Renew Mental Health Programs

Statement

Wednesday, the House passed Representative Sharice Davids' bipartisan legislation to renew federal mental health grant programs for health centers, schools, and law enforcement. The REACHING Improved Mental Health Outcomes for Patients Act is led by Representatives Morgan Griffith (R-VA), Claudia Tenney (R-NY) and Angie Craig (D-MN) along with Davids. Earlier this week, local experts from Johnson County Mental Health Center and the Greater Kansas Chapter of the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention joined Davids to urge passage of this legislation

Davids' bill reauthorizes 8 programs through the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) that are proven to be effective. Those programs include grants to help communities improve suicide prevention strategies, integrate mental health into primary care, and train school personnel and first responders to identify symptoms of mental health disorders.

"Mental health is health, and especially after the difficulties of the pandemic, it's critical that we continue to treat it as such," said Davids. "These programs have helped create healthy, resilient communities in Kansas and across the country, from helping first responders identify mental health symptoms to improving suicide prevention strategies for veterans and young folks. I'm glad to work across the aisle to continue moving forward on mental health and urge the Senate to take this up quickly."

Kansas has benefitted from several of these programs, including the Zero Suicide program, which helps train over 4,500 mental and behavioral health professionals across the state who reach over 140,000 Kansans each year. Other programs include:

Strengthening community crisis response and providing community partners like school personnel, first responders, and veterans with training to better recognize signs and symptoms of mental disorders.
Integrating mental health services into primary health care systems which has been shown to improve patient outcomes and funding treatment, rehabilitation, and support services for patients with severe mental illness.
Researching new, effective health care models through the National Mental Health and Substance Use Policy Laboratory.
Improving suicide intervention and prevention strategies including the National Strategy for Suicide Prevention and the Zero Suicide grant programs.

Davids has focused on improving mental health care since taking office. She has helped secure funding for mental health programs in Wyandotte and Johnson Counties, and has advocated for stronger mental health supports in schools. She also helped get grant funding to local police departments to hire more behavioral health specialists to the force, including the Overland Park Police Department's new Crisis Action Team. Last week, she introduced bipartisan legislation to improve opioid misuse prevention among student athletes, who are more often exposed to prescription opioids due to sports-related injuries.

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