 Good afternoon Or I should say to those of you I saw already this morning hello again and to those of you who are just arriving for lunch We're really glad that you're here Our luncheon presentation the urgency of now and our special guest Virginia senator Cree deeds and Cree I have to tell you that Your name is spelled just like the beginning of my alma mater Creighton University So I had a hard time getting cray out of my head. So I apologize if I do that somewhere along the way First while you're enjoying the meal. I would like to speak about a very special award if you attended clarity con 2014 You heard us talk about Kathy Cunningham She was a beloved member of our staff and a valued member of the mental health community here in San Antonio and around the state Kathy was also the key clarity person That made the first children's summit possible Kathy passed away unexpectedly in 19 in late 2013 We wanted to honor her memory by the creation of a special award the Kathy Cunningham Mental Health Advocacy Award. We will announce the first recipient in just a few moments Joining us here today is Kathy's son Steve Owens Sitting here in the front Steve and his family were a part of the selection process for the first award and we believe our first recipient is a tremendous reflection of Kathy's legacy But before I introduce that person to you, let me tell you a few things about our recipient in the words of the person Who nominated her Selena Catala from the Center for Healthcare Services Our nominee is the mother of an adult with intellectual and behavioral health disabilities and has dedicated the past 35 years To advocacy and policy development for children and youth with mental health needs and their families She is the first recognized family partner in the United States. She was the first family Let me try that one one more time She was the first recognized family partner in the United States and served as a founder of the National Federation of Families for Children Mental Health and established the Texas chapter of the Federation of Families At the state level she has served on the Texas Mental Health Planning Council for a mere 22 years Was the chair of the Family Advisory Board of the Texas Children's Mental Health Plan in 1999 and provided support as services were being developed for children youth and families She has successfully funded the SAMHSA for those of you who are not in on the terms substance abuse and mental health services administration statewide family network in 1993 and continues to receive that funding to date She established the Alamo area youth move in August 2008 and was successful in securing funds for training travel support and activities for more than 40 youth in our community her Organization the Texas Federation of Families for Children's Mental Health partners with other organizations to support youth advocacy day at the Capitol and Provides intensive legislative training with student support from Texas Women's University She has been a state and national leader in the promotion of the National Children's Mental Health Awareness Week by holding a music fest in New Braunfels named the Guadalapalooza for the past 14 years Our nominee serves on the Texas system of care governance board the Texas system of care family involvement work group and Is the co-director of the Texas Recovery and Resiliency? SAMHSA grant She assists families through the CRG staffings. That's community resource coordinating group attend school meetings and provides training to agencies and groups She participates in children's mental health planning initiatives Information fairs while guiding and training youth and families regarding all aspects of service She is always at the ready to help with whatever issue and level of need Steve would you please join me in presenting the award? It is my privilege to now announce the 2015 Kathy Cunningham Mental Health Advocacy Award along with a $500 check that comes with a stipulation That it must be spent on herself Our recipient is patty durr patty, please join me on stage Thank You patty and thank you for the nomination Selena We will award the 2016 recipient and clarity con next year Details are in your syllabus. I would now like to welcome Rebecca Helterbrand Senior vice president extraordinaire who've you've seen running all over the place this morning keeping this coordinated and Conducting tours clear back out at clarity and everything else So she's going to share a little information about the one in five Mines campaign Rebecca. I told Fred extraordinary wasn't in the script He needs to follow the script Fred. I Have the pleasure of working at clarity child guidance center And we're the sponsor of the one in five minds campaign and this luncheon is an actual official one in five minds event For us and it's an important part of the conference to help educate the community on children's mental health one in five minds was introduced in March of 2013 to end the stigma not minimize and The stigma associated with children's mental illness and the name of the campaign is a descriptor One in five children will have a mental emotional or behavioral disorder that needs our collective care For the past two years. We've been talking about how ending the stigma starts with you We must have the conversations about children's mental health not just at a conference like this but at a picnic in the park Across the aisle at church at the dinner table. That's where the conversations are really needed We have to care for our children's mental health the same exact way we do their physical health You know, my team has talked to hundreds of parents over the years and you know We're often meeting these parents and what is the worst moment in their family's journey They have no idea that treatment can work and has is a very hopeful process But what we've heard over the years are heartbreaking sentiments like I thought I was alone. I Didn't know who to talk to I didn't feel like I could talk to anyone that stigma Will people blame me? Well, they think that I'm just a bad parent or worse. Will they blame my child? Or I was worried that if I Talked about what was going on with my child that my child's future would be limited Will their employer see this information? Can they join the military if a mental health incident is on their record? Those are things that parents are work worrying about day in day out But the worst of all is the sentiment that we hear all the time. I Wish I had gotten help sooner That friends is stigma at play That's why one in five minds was created so we could start the conversation Since launching the campaign over 2,600 people have gone online to one in five minds Org and taken the pledge to instigma almost 5,000 fans and followers are interacting with us on Facebook and Twitter and these conversations are very important to creating access to care for kids You know as we shared with senator creedides today on a tour nine out of ten parents tell us that their child has improved as a result of treatment and the Majority state that that treatment and the impact was significant. There is hope and healing for kids So look someone asked me a reporter asked me a couple weeks ago. Do you think we'll ever end the stigma? You know my answer is yes, you know we as a nation We ended the stigma of breast cancer in the 70s now we wear pink ribbons We talk about mammograms openly in the 80s. We ended the stigma of AIDS today Now and going forward is where we need to end the stigma for children's mental health It's gonna take all of us banding together, but I'm gonna give you an opportunity right now to prove that you can do it So I want you to do a simple action for me. I see several of you out there with your phones I want everyone to grab your phone. I know you've got it handy. I Want you to grab that phone that we're tethered to I? Want you to pull it out and I want you to go to Facebook Demographics and research tells us that this is the audience. It's on Facebook. The kids are on Instagram. You're on Facebook So I want you to go to Facebook I want you to log in and I want you to search if you're not already a friend of one in five minds for one in five Minds so numeral one the word in the numeral five no spaces in minds So if you type in numeral one in five minds no spaces you should be able to find the one in five minds Facebook page I want you to first click like So now we're friends right we're gonna share information with each other So now when we post things that you're gonna see that now speaking of posts the very first post You see when you're on that page is something you can share right now Because you know what ladies and gentlemen, it's not enough for you to like us You have to share it with everyone else you have to say this is the cause I believe in so I want you to take that very first post and you can see what it looks like on the screen right here And I want you to click share and you could simply click share and just end it there Or you can add your own statement like join me in supporting this important cause So click share add a message or not and then now you've taken this message Viral to everyone else on Facebook and you know gosh, isn't that a much better opportunity than Kardashian posts I Mean come on. Let's break the internet with children's mental health and ending the stigma So see how easy it is and so for those of you that want to take even further action You can go to one in five minds dot org and there's a take action button And there's shareable graphics that you can email or you can print You can change your Facebook cover page or profile picture to support one in five minds Because it's important for us all to step forward for the people that can't speak for themselves Children expect us as their adults to protect and nurture them This is a simple way to get that going So now I have the pleasure of introducing Janet Wilhelm She's the pastor who oversees all the support and recovery groups for community Bible Church. They number about 400 a week this is amazing church that serves and CBC is the presenting and lunch and sponsor for today So everything you're enjoying right now is because of their generosity along with New star energy and the Griehi family faith foundation these folks are seated at these two tables Please take a moment to join me in applauding their support And so as as Janet comes to the stage I want to mention something Cree really wants to have a conversation with you so he's going to speak in a moment But he's going to open this up to Q&A and I want you to think deeply about the questions You'd like to ask him. I'd also like you to respect his privacy and not asking a very personal question So he's going to share with us and then we have a chance to open it up for Q&A. So Janet Thank You Rebecca Community Bible Church believes in serving all in need and we're pleased to be a part of this summit. I Have the distinct pleasure of introducing our luncheon speaker today Cree deeds is an attorney and a state senator in Virginia Senator deeds has spent the last 28 years Serving constituents from all walks of life from his start as a local prosecutor To his current position as state senator His legislative work has earned him recognition from groups as diverse as the Virginians United against crime the nature Conservancy The Virginia Association for State Parks the Virginia chapter of the American Association of University Professors and the Virginia Community Healthcare Association While always an advocate for those with mental illness He became a public policy leader on the issue after losing his son in 2013 He currently chairs the joint subcommittee to study mental health services in the 21st century Which will help develop comprehensive reforms in Virginia in hopes of Creating a model for other states to follow In addition to reforming the system he advocates for destigmatizing mental illness and advancing research in the field He will speak speak briefly on how the system failed his son his legislative efforts in Virginia and The urgency in improving services to help millions of others in need Please join me in welcoming senator deeds to the stage Thank thanks so much for that generous introduction and I will tell you I spent the morning with tour and clarity And Rebecca showing off everything you do, and I'm probably the least qualified Be standing up here. I mean you all have so much to learn from you And so much that I think we could take back and Honestly, I wish we had something like clarity in Virginia I Will talk for a little bit and then I'll be glad to answer some questions They always stretch out I tell people that I could tell you everything I know about everything at all and 15 or 20 minutes But people generally want me to go a little bit longer than that So I probably will talk about 20 minutes or so and then I'll be glad to answer questions What one of my favorite stories in the Bible was from the Old Testament? The book of Esther tells the story of a Jewish teenager who winds up in the Kings harem During the Babylonian Kings harem during the Exile She turns out to be his favorite, but the rules in the harem are pretty strict She can't come to him unless he asks the penalty for doing so his death Now the king has a wicked guy working for him named Haman and Haman Hates the Jewish people with a passion and plots their demise Mordecai Young Esther's uncle gets a message to her Asked her to go to the king in order to save the people but but Esther's afraid She's just a teenager and she also knows what the penalty for approaching the king without permission is Mordecai responds with something pretty interesting. He says and Remember that they're talking through emissaries. He can't he can't go to her directly either But but Mordecai's message is do not think that because you are in the king's house You alone of all the Jews will escape for if you remain silent at this time relief and deliverance for the Jews Will arise from another place, but you and your father's family will perish and who knows? But that you have come to such a royal position for such a time as this And needless to say young Esther relents She goes to the king the king's glad to see her the Jewish people are saved and Haman gets the death penalty Now the lesson I take from this story as each one of us has to be open for the notion that some Circumstance of our lives something that sometimes we do not want or are not looking for Might give us an opportunity to make a real difference in somebody's life Certainly the circumstances that brought me here are something that I would not wish on any of you and would do just about anything to reverse But you have to find meaning in life and you have to move forward Here's what I know our system for the treatment of the mentally ill is broken Desperately broken I work and live in Virginia and the circumstances there are what I know best And I know after my tour of clarity that that There is another way And I know some of you all don't might not think it's your system is broken But I know from the countless calls emails and letters I get from all over the country That Virginia is not alone. They're unmeet the unmet needs everywhere What an honor it is to be here with all of you today as a history major in college and a student of the past It's great great to be here with you and beautiful Historic San Antonio Some people are bored with history and feel like it's rote memorization But we have to learn from the past in order to have a better future Each one of us at times feels our lives are too long that the time on earth is plentiful But when you're a student of history and you cover hundreds of years of history in one lecture You begin to grasp how fleeting it all is Each one of us is really here for such a short period of time We have such a short time to make our mark and live our lives to the fullest and to make a difference in the world in which We live I don't believe that our mental health system has ever recovered from the decision We made decades ago to de institutionalize those with mental illness and I say recover not because I believe it was a wrong Decision but because we made it without making so many other decisions to make that policy change successful While token efforts were put in place to fund community services It was never enough the array of services was never diverse enough to meet the needs of a dynamic population We saw some medications as panacea and even after decades of improvement medications aren't a panacea and we failed miserably to educate the public about mental illness when one Five children has a diagnosable mental health issue and almost one in twenty has a serious mental illness is reprehensible reprehensible that the majority of people are educated about mental illness by news stories and television shows and Sadly the loss of mental health beds has often led to a transit a Trans institutionalization That is the result of the intersection of mental illness and criminal justice More on that later Each one of us in this room has a finite amount of time to make the most of our lives If we're not urgent in our work to make a real difference now Then what are we doing if we aren't investing significantly in researching the mysteries of the brain now? Then what are we doing if we aren't changing attitudes and erasing misconceptions about mental illness with every conversation and interaction we have Then what are we doing? I Know the task before us is daunting the scope of the problems can be overwhelming The policy changes are so broad insurance coverage difficulty in accessing Psychiatrists we talked about the problems of rural areas well I can tell you I live in the horseshoe of Virginia if the horseshoe of Virginia Goes from east to west back back to north it has about 800,000 people and if you if it includes One of one of the great institutions of education in the Commonwealth Virginia Tech But if you took if we were at the 51st state We would be 51st educational attainment. We have childhood Psychiatrists there are far and few between Other policy issues the nexus with the criminal justice system efficacy and usefulness of screenings Multisystems approaches with children crisis situations and the right approach to involuntary treatment the list goes on and on We're working hard Virginia to make improvements in 2014 while my eyes were still red and my scars more visible I Was able to push with the help of some colleagues for change in Virginia You have to remember I've been in the General Assembly a long time I'm a I'm a partisan Democrat But I've got friends on both sides of the aisle because you don't get things done Just within one party you've got to work to be effective. You have to work with both sides of the aisle People in the General Assembly know me and more importantly They knew my son because you've been on the campaign trail with me for years So the recency of that event made it a little little easier to get things done The changes were largely driven by the system failures that were made evident in the fall of 2013 and Solidified by many of the stories that were subsequently shared with me by practitioners and families quite simply some of our laws Did not make sense and the crisis intervention situation Evaluators needed more time with patients and a registry of psychiatric beds to help find a facility during the process Mental health workers in law enforcement had to communicate so that valuable time could not be lost You know I explained it this morning in Virginia We have a kind of a several tiered process a person gets an emerge ECO an emergency custody order And then the cock begins ticking once the order is executed They have eight hours for an evaluator to determine whether the person is a risk to himself or others And if so, there's a TDO issue to temporary detention order The street and the streeting of people in crisis simply because a bed could not be found was unconscionable Before in 2014 the legislative changes we made then This phenomenon existed where after the ECO had been issued after the TDO had been issued because psychiatric beds or We had we had a kind of bass aquas The TDO would not be issued if a psychiatric bed could not be found. So you had this phenomenon called street It's what happened in my situation. It's just that was situation was just unconscionable Someone in cardiac arrest is not turned away from the emergency room because there is no space One who commits murder is not turned away from the jail because the jail is full An individual deemed to be a threat to himself or others should never be turned away without treatment We took steps during the 2014 session to improve our laws to benefit families and individuals in crisis We also created a joint subcommittee to study mental health services in the 21st century Unvisioned this group to comprehensively explore mental health services in Virginia and develop a model for other states and 2015 we built upon the 2014 reforms by improving the requirements for updating the bed registry by modifying the laws pertaining to the involuntary commitment of older teenagers We also provide an additional avenues for transporting someone subject to an emergency custody order to take some burden off of strap shares Departments and provide a more appropriate means of transportation for someone experiencing a mental health crisis And we also granted access to information about past involuntary commitment history the law enforcement Which should help officers respond more appropriately at the scene But so much work remains and with every passing day the sense of urgency is somewhat diminished You know you think of you would think in Virginia after the crisis we had in Blacksburg where Virginia Tech is in 2007 We would have we would have figured it out But the problem is whenever there's a crisis people respond They think they fix it and they move on and The urgency diminishes The opportunity for real change is lost We can't let that happen this time our own state agency this Department of Behavioral Health Determined this past year. We needed to heighten the requirements for mental health crisis worker workers I carried the legislation to implement those recommendations and those bills languished. I worry that this is a harbinger of things to come I expect the joint subcommittee to present bold changes to our current mental health system It will take leadership and political fortitude to get those changes implemented My dedication to affecting changes emboldened with every new story I read in the paper every new phone call that comes into my office and every new letter or email that comes across my desk and Visiting places like Clarity this morning gives me hope that solutions and answers are within our reach There are unmet needs throughout our country I just offered testimony earlier this week before a congressional committee And I'm hopeful our leaders in Washington can work together in a bipartisan fashion to help families who are struggling Parents of adult children reach out to me all the time we want to have input into their children's treatment Parents who feel helpless when their child is discharged from a three to five day hospital stay to the street Often only to wind up in jail They can have no input and that's exactly where the federal HIPAA laws left us We cannot address this at the state level every day. I read about small tragedies large tragedies, and I There are countless other many tragedies That we will not hear about I've heard lots of stories in the last 19 months So many people have reached out to my office people with a mental illness loved ones of someone who struggles friends neighbors pastors teachers Many of those stories are heartbreaking many of them show a disjointed mental health system an inflexible system That fails a con tell that so diverse and so dynamic Every day that goes by without change is a day that's lost As a legislator, I didn't understand the full scope of the problems until the system failed my family No policy changes no efforts to reduce stigma. No research search in the mental illness will help my son My son is gone But it's not too late to help so many others The other day a woman reached out to my office. Her daughter had made a suicide plan Fortunately the daughter's efforts were thwarted the teenage girl was hospitalized and the mother was facing some choices Upon her daughter's discharge One psychiatrist thought the daughter's medication was not working and wanted to try something different a second Psychiatrist felt they just needed to increase the dosage of the first medication. The mother was calling me of all people Because she didn't know what else to do How can any parent make it that decision knowing the possible repercussions of making the wrong decision? And I know that we'll never be able to answer that question with any certainty without additional research Knowledge is what makes us powerful and what will help unlock the mysteries of the brain the mysteries of mental illness I don't know what year what decade or even what century will discover and fully understand how our brains work but we won't get there if We don't dedicate ourselves to this research as I've said before our time is limited for some families The time is already up. I Could share stories with you all day that would move you to tears leave you wondering how these circumstances came to pass Many of you have your own stories from your personal lives for families with whom you've worked I'm only going to touch on a few often Virginia help illuminate some of the issues begging for solutions Listen to this a ten-year-old boy who had sexually abused One of his younger siblings was scheduled to be released from a psychiatric hospital The parents were concerned about bringing their son home They were concerned about the welfare of their younger children They didn't know whether the ten-year-old was really ready to be just discharged The hospital threatened the family with a child abuse complaint if they didn't pick their son up So many people so many families are in that sort of untenable situation and even though a crisis may be resolved Because the system is so crisis-driven so many families live crisis to crisis at every level of government agencies are strapped for funding and policy makers Refused to invest in early intervention and community support Was it safe for the ten-year-old boy to be discharged without a high risk of Reoffending if the child was discharged were there significant supports for the entire family What role should parents play in discharge planning? Should parents be forced to make those kinds of impossible decisions that the little ten-year-old boy have access to services early in life What does he need now to prevent future hospitalizations? Prevent future victimization of other children to be stable and healthy. What worries me the most Is that if our system cannot work to make progress with the child at 10? Where is this good child going to be when he's older a Mother saw an emergency custody order an ECO for an adult child who was ultimately detained involuntarily The local mental health agency citing HIPAA would not speak with the mother The agency would not share with her where a son was taken so she couldn't communicate his history with the facility Arrange for some of his personal belongings to believe be delivered to the facility nor once she figured out which facility had gone to Would the facility share with her when he was going to be discharged? The young man when discharged would be sent by a cab or bus back to his community The information about diagnosis and medication would not be shared Even though the mother would be the one to ensure her son followed up with appointments and kept his prescriptions filled What role should parents or other caregivers have in decisions regarding the health and welfare of adult children for whom they may be responsible? Do our laws strike the right balance for an individual with a serious mental illness in his or her autonomy? Do we have proper avenues beyond guardianships to allow for the sharing of information and decision-making when someone with a serious mental illness is Temporarily unable to care for himself due to that illness that we promote the use of these tools Are are they unworkable in our current system a woman comment contacted my office last summer about our brother who had a mood disorder? Rescue personnel took him to the hospital because they found him incoherent on the floor with the do not resuscitate note on his chest as Well as a directive that he'd written not defeating The brother stated unequivocally that he wished to leave this life peacefully and the medical records reflected the need To obtain an ethics consult on the case Nevertheless the hospital determined that he did not need to be hospitalized and voluntarily and discharged him two months later He was found in his home dead from starvation At what point does a mental illness warrant the infringement of one's individual liberties? Did this man have the right to take his own life slowly by starvation? Was there adequate follow-up with him in the community if he says no do we absolve ourselves? Do we wash our hands of? Any responsibility or is it incumbent on the state and our laws to intervene? You know for decades we stripped away The mental civil rights of anyone with a mental health diagnosis and hospitalized them for life Against their will have we struck the right balance or have we gone too far? now a 25-year-old man diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder whom his parents had sought treatment for unsuccessfully ends up Stabbing his younger brother because of delusional thinking and rocking up additional charges of resisting arrest and assaulting an officer When they come to arrest him Young man was found not guilty by reason of insanity and sent to a state hospital for much needed and long-awaited treatment Why does it take the commission of a crime? For someone that with a serious mental illness to get long-term treatment to get him on a path to recovery Were the officers who responded to the scene aware that the man had a serious illness that they have Proper training to respond appropriately to someone experienced in psychosis and I'm so impressed to hear that in San Antonio They do have training in San Antonio officers are required to have that that Crisis intervention tree training, but in lots of places they aren't in Virginia I can only I can tell you have maybe one or two localities where officers are adequately trained What benefit is it to our society to charge someone who was ill with these additional crimes and when this 25-year-old was Stabilized an on a path to recovery. What kind of future can he look for? what about Also in Virginia the 17 year old Suicidal boy with a knife who was shot in the street after ignoring commands to drop his knife The police were called to respond to a teenager who was actively suicidal and wielding a knife What if anything could have been done to have resulted in a different ending to this story and more recently the 37-year-old woman With a serious mental illness who was jailed not hospitalized. They were trying to move her from one jail to the other six men big Jailers came in and biohazard suits because she was known to throw feces and other bodily fluids They came in they couldn't get her to bend her knees they tased her what six times two three times they killed her Eventually, can you imagine what that woman thought when these six people in spacesuits came into her jail cell? The stories illustrate the critical juncture of mental health and criminal justice systems in my view One of the easy solutions is to increase the number of law enforcement officers trained as part of a crisis intervention Dream like you've done here in San Antonio specially trained officers are skilled at identifying someone who might be experienced in the mental health crisis and Deescalate the situation Research shows that this training not only helps get people with mental illness treatment But it also reduces injuries to officers as well as the length of time spent on these types of calls The use of mental health courts or dockets is another policy solution to address some of these issues The first mental health court opened in 1997 and they became popular and then following years However, we only have a handful of active mental health dockets in Virginia I Understand the concerns about the dilution and fragmentation of the court system that seemed to win out whenever we make try We make proposals for change there But I also know how valuable a tool these courts are to improve the lives of those with diseases of the mind In our juvenile justice system in Virginia 97% of those who have been admitted to one of our facilities have symptoms of at least One mental health disorder and that includes substance abuse disorders ADHD and depression 89% of the kids had suffered previous trauma or had family risk factors such as parental incarceration parental abandonment or death Substance abuse to parental substance abuse issues We spent in Virginia $150,000 a year on each one of these children to keep them in a space that is not therapeutic Think how much better we could spend those funds and help those children We're already spending significantly more money on mental health than it's reflected in the budgets of our local and state mental health providers The financial impact of caring for the mentally ill can be felt on the entire criminal justice system and all our safety net programs Think how much good we could accomplish with those funds funds on the front end on early intervention on Services for youth and young adults and I know you all are committed to that and remember that we're not just talking about dollar signs here We're talking about children We're talking about our future the impact extends to entire families in terms of well-being stress finances and productivity to classmates and peers of the child who is struggling Nationwide we know that 50% of all cases of mental illness Begin by the age of 14 and that 70% of youth in the juvenile justice system Not just the facilities I was talking about but in the system have a mental illness We know that suicide is the third leading cause of death and young people aged 10 to 24 We know that early intervention and treatment at the first sign of a possible mental illness We'll have a much more positive results for the individual listen to this People often go an average of 10 years from the onset of symptoms before obtaining care Nationwide only 50% of children aged 8 to 15 with a mental health diagnosis Only 50% we receive treatment and those statistics don't speak to the efficacy of the care the quality or Appropriateness of treatment or the accessibility of services Looking about the percentage of cheap children who receive any sort of treatment at all To me those statistics are sobering But I'm hopeful that by continuing to raise awareness by investing in early intervention and rethinking our efforts in these transitional years We can make progress and and that's why To a large extent I feel like I should be sitting out there listening to you because I've learned so much about my visit To clarity this morning your participation and commitment is vital to improving lives We have to begin a national discussion about mental health We have to rethink the ways that we deal with the issue and we have to work every day to eradicate the stigma associated with mental illness So many people refuse treatment or fail to seek it precisely because they do not want to be labeled Parents who put so much hope in their children fear mental health diagnosis some refuse to accept it Despite the large percentage of the population diagnosed with the disease of the mind the stigma is profound That's stigma often interferes with the early treatment that we know is beneficial in the long run and once a person is labeled It can it can impact their employment their relationships their livelihood All of you know that mental illness does not make people violent evil or incompetent. We are surrounded by We literally are people with mental illness some of the most brilliant people. We've all read about in history Struggled with one form or another of mental disorder. What services do we need to provide in the community to allow? everyone To thrive and reach their full potential with appropriate treatment and support and understanding Mental illnesses can be managed Certainly there are situations in which a person is in crisis and needs hospitalization in which a person may be a danger to himself or others But those situations are far less common that it may seem by news reports and high-profile stories involving Mental the mentally ill and I firmly believe that those crisis situations would be reduced significantly by reforming our mental health system and ramping up services and supports at younger ages There's no shame to living with a mental illness There's no shame to have an apparent a child or a friend with a mental illness And I'm echoing somewhat Rebecca said it wasn't that long ago that we spoke only in hushed tones about cancer Now we have walks and ribbons to raise awareness and money for research You could hear survivors talk openly and honestly in the most inspirational ways about their struggles to overcome We need that same courageous We need that same courageous narrative about mental health We need to treat diseases of the mind as we treat diseases of the body. Let me close this way In pro profiles encouraged one of my favorite books written by John Kennedy Before he was president or ghost written by John Kennedy before he was president He writes for in democracy every citizen regardless of his interest in politics holds office Every one of us is in a position of responsibility and in the final analysis the kind of government we get Depends upon depends upon how we fulfill those responsibilities Here's the line that ought to be on your heart We the people are the boss and we we will get the kind of political leadership Be it good or bad That we demand and deserve In other words We cannot consider our work as citizens finished on election day It's just beginning every day We're all part of the system It belongs to us Kennedy's words are so important to me because they describe exactly our responsibility our social contract is Americans We have an obligation to participate in our democracy Every single day to advocate for the kind of government the kind of mental health system That we want we get the kind of mental health system be it good or bad That we demand and deserve as a father and a legislator. I'm determined to make my time To work to take use my time To work with others to make meaningful change and improve the quality of life for many who now struggle From the youngest child struggling to maintain in a preschool classroom to the octogenarian struggling to manage the onset of dementia I Tend to demand the same of all policy makers I ask for your participation your expertise and your prayers in this national conversation. Thank you Thank you Thank you now. I'll be glad to try some questions if you have some Yes, ma'am The problem, you know, it's driven by the stigma, you know, we think about you know And I don't know if this is correct or not It's been a long time since I've read to kill a mockingbird or seen the movie But you know, I used when I was talking about mental health on the floor the senator, Virginia in 2014 I talked about boo Radley being this the metaphor for the way we deal with mental illness, you know out of sight now I'm on I've read somewhere maybe in some Faulkner book Maybe maybe it wasn't kill a mockingbird about some mentally ill relative family member who was kept in a cage Under the the porch. That's the way we deal with mental illness. It's out of sight and out of mind I think once we do defeat the stigma and I agree with Rebecca that we will get there Well, once we defeat the stigma and and we can begin to treat mental illnesses the way we treat physical illnesses Once we get the research dollars behind it. We will we will get where we but we've got to knock the stigma down first Yes, ma'am To get a national dialogue going about mental health awareness. We do it locally Texas is so diverse. We have rural areas We have metropolitan areas and each county has different strategies and methodologies. How can we make a uniform? treatment Goal throughout the US that that's one of the biggest challenges. I've got yeah, I live in one of the most rural parts of Virginia and We we were divided into 40 mental health providers community service boards for public system of mental health And the services they provide are like our night from day. They're disparate as they can be You know, I think you know congressman Tim Murphy the the conversations he's having at the federal level. He's promoting a National conversation that I think could bring about real change on the national level I don't think this is something we can deal with adequately at the state level as a state as big as Texas with all the resources You have I mean clarity to me is just an amazing organization. We don't have anything like that in Virginia We don't have anything like what you have put together in Virginia And I think there are challenges on going for organizations like this But I think it's just it's an unbelievable what's happened here just because the people of this community decided it needed to happen The problem is as you point out is we have a lot of communities that just don't have the resources We and so it's going to take a national conversation. I think we need we on a statewide basis. We need to have People who advocate for change constantly at the state level But that that conversations needs to be carried on the people that we elect to go to Washington have to Be determined to make change the federal level. I'm encouraged by What's going on up there right now? I mean I I'm and I'm for the most part. I'm very cynical about Washington. I'm very cynical Congress just seems to whether it's Democrat Democrats control or Republicans control It's the same nothingness that seems to happen But I'm encouraged that there are enough people on both sides of the aisle in both houses that that seemed now to recognize the Problems that have been created in large part by our ignorance of mental health issues They seem to be coming about to make change. I might be I might be naive and foolish, but I hope not Hello, I'm over here. Okay, and I just wanted to Reiterate the Murphy bill. We've been working with the Murphy bill Do you know of the children's mental health network and the newsletter the work with Scott Bryant Comstock? We've been meeting up in DC And did he Hoyer's office? I believe somewhere in that area But but Scott Bryant Comstock has been a leader with trying to get the two bills To where they're working together so that we can improve the mental health services you mentioned relinquishment of custody and In Texas we in the in the beginning like in the late 80s. We didn't know what that meant Since I've moved to San Antonio. I've assisted 13 families. This is not something to be proud of But I've helped I feel like I'm saying I've assisted them with something much You know But but there were no other services for them to keep their children alive other than to make that choice To relinquish relinquish their children at this point We have we had a law that passed last legislative session and the state of Texas opened up 10 beds through CPS and Those parents weren't called rappers or weren't at risk of losing their other children this legislative session There will be 33 beds. That's small. That's so small for our state, but it's a step with that Significant, you know, we were talking before in Virginia. We have 48 public site pediatric psychiatric beds 48 for the whole state population 8 million We're not as big as you as you guys but 48 beds is all we've got and Advocates in Virginia instead of advocating for the construction of more beds That they say if you're going to put more money into the system put it in community services And I have to agree with that because we're more likely to get some uniformity of care for one end of the state to the other But but in the meantime, we have to keep these children alive and these families together So in September September 1 we will have 33 you have 48 Currently as of this morning. I had another parent from San Antonio call me with this very issue I have three of them. I'm working with now This is not where they need to be going but until we recognize and we all Want band together to say this can't happen anymore We can no longer support the destruction of families because of mental illness. This will continue And I just want to thank you. Have you worked with Carol O'Brock to my chance Carol O'Brock to She's one of your advocates. Okay. Okay. I was just in Washington day before yesterday with with congressman Murphy and You know, it's interesting. You know, it's it's To a large extent that they're there it's easy to see where the divisions are drawn on the committee but but You know congressman Murphy is a Republican and he had only demo he had Democrats advocate for the bill me and Patrick Kennedy and Who Patrick Kennedy is also a resource that that you ought to ought to know clarity He's one of the most knowledgeable people on the issues, you know, certainly he's got he's in his history and his personal history and his family He's had an issue history of some of these issues. So he's very knowledgeable about them about this book But we were advocating for Some of the Democrats on the committees didn't seem to really understand the urgency of some of the issues but We left an impression on Senator to your left Sorry senator deeds. Yes, ma'am. What do you think it is about mental illness that your colleagues in the legislature may not understand? Well, here's that you got to remember that most Well years ago I was on this thing called the Commission on the future of the environment in Virginia and we had we had a public hearing This is back in the late 90s But hadn't public hearing up at the northern Virginia What one of the largest community college campuses in the country and Anondale, Virginia? And had had an environmental planner come out with a set of bar graphs and he said, you know This this was the length of the last ice age. This is the lifespan of a dinosaur Or this is the lifespan of an elephant This is the lifespan of a of a man. This is the attention span of a politician, you know two years you know Public services is somewhat overwhelming because there are so many issues There are so many things that are grabbing your attention and I will tell you For me, I've always been concerned about mental health, but never until it hit me in the face literally Was it at the top of my list the top of my list the top of most politicians lists are going to be Jobs creation or jobs creation improvement of education improvement of Transportation systems things things like that, you know mental illness mental health The only way it rises to the level rises to the level of the top three or four issues that somebody's got to be concerned about Are if you make it rise to that level, that's why that's why Kennedy's words are so important to me We the people are the boss We and we have to tell the leaders what what issues are important to us because that's going to be going to become The issues are important to them So I think to a large extent, you know, we can look at ourselves and say Mental health has not been a national priority or not been a statewide priority because we've not driven it there We've not driven it there. We've said, you know, these are more important things They're more important things to us mental health is important. But yes, we've got a first We've got a first do this. We've got a first do that and I say no if a person's not healthy Nothing else matters you know Public health has to be important and and that's why you know, and I know this is controversial and I don't really you know I don't really care it's controversial because Virginia's in the same boat as Texas We've turned down these Medicaid expansion dollars. What would mean to Virginia is it would be mean Insurance for about 400,000 people and somewhere between a hundred and sixty two thousand a hundred seventy seven thousand depends on how you define mental illness have serious mental illness and I can tell you right now a lot of those people are walking Time bombs and we're not ensuring them. We're not giving them services We're not providing them services at our own risk You've made the same decision in Texas as we in Virginia made and that's you know, it's it's it's that that's not you know, not Inexcusable in my view. We have time for one final question. I see you What advice would you give to a parent of a child with mental health issues? First I'd say get over yourself love your child and take Make sure your child gets the services they need and You know listening to your child if you're your child Need services you need to tell you need to make sure that you do whatever's necessary for the child You need to forget about yourself or forget about your ambition for the child You need to forget about what all you need to you need to recognize it The most important thing you can do is keep that child alive and that the earlier that child gets the services they need The more more likely that person is to have a productive life And so the most important thing I'll say to any parent is love your child do what you did at the end of the day That has to guide you Love free the love that you have for that your child Thank you all very much Senator deeds. Thank you so very much I kept thinking through all this as we were talking about it You had told me earlier that it was an election year for you coming up You know coming from the land of LBJ and everything I thought a number of us could probably go up there and vote for him three or four times Anyway, we wanted to to give you something to to remember clarity by and this is a pinwheel shadow box and We look at this as the iconic symbol of childhood hope and joy and Healing and you know, we appreciate what you're doing to bring that about for all the kids that we possibly can You know, it's such an honor for me to be here and thank you so much and thank you for the good work. You're doing Tell you about my friend Cooter From the Dukes of hazard, you know, he was he was a congressman from Georgia and Cooter says that he's such a Democrat He's made arrangements that he's to be buried in Chicago so he can continue to be active with the party This concludes our lunch presentation we invite you to begin moving toward the breakout sessions Again, we encourage you to stop and say hello to our exhibitors and obtain your raffle tickets for the drawing I got a couple more things to say if you hang on two seconds I used to teach a college class and they always had this tendency to walk out before you finish The remainder of your day is comprised of breakout sessions So choose which topics you have the most interest in hearing after your last breakout session ends The day's over and we'll see you tomorrow morning for a full hot breakfast and a keynote presentation from David Epstein Along with a half a day of presentations. Okay, I'm done now. Thank you