Today, the House of Representatives unanimously voted in favor of Congresswoman Lynn Jenkins’ (KS-02) legislation, H.R. 1877, the Mental Health First Aid Act.  After the bill’s passage, Congresswoman Jenkins issued the following statement:

“With this bill’s passage, we are one step closer to providing vital assistance to the over 40 million Americans who live with a mental illness. For too many years, mental health has remained a taboo subject, and those living with its effects are not recognized or are left to survive by themselves without any help. Mental Health First Aid training has the ability to change that by providing the resources to train veterans’ advocates, law enforcement agents, first responders and others to identify and aid people in need before tragedy strikes. By building a stronger community, we can extend our mental health safety net in America to help and protect tens of millions of people.”

Congresswoman Jenkins spoke on the House floor in support of the Mental Health First Aid Act. Click here to watch her remarks.

Items To Note

-         Congresswoman Jenkins introduced the Mental Health First Aid Act in the 114^th Congress with Congresswoman Doris Matsui (D-CA). Congresswoman Jenkins previously introduced the legislation with Congressman Ron Barber (D-AZ) in the 113^th Congress.

-         Training for mental health first aid style programs has previously been funded through the appropriations process, but this would be the first time the training would receive consistent and reliable authorized funding over the next five years.

-          The Congresswoman first started working on mental health initiatives nearly a decade ago through her involvement with the Family Service and Guidance Center in Topeka and the National Council for Behavioral Health.

-          Congresswoman Jenkins has previously hosted briefings on Capitol Hill with the National Council for Behavioral Healthcare to raise awareness for Mental Health First Aid training.

Below are Congresswoman Jenkins’ remarks as prepared for delivery

“Thank you Mr. Speaker. I rise today in support of H.R. 1877, the Mental Health First Aid Act of 2016. The first step to helping someone suffering with a mental illness get the help he or she needs is to be able to quickly spot the signs of that mental illness and know where to point that friend, colleague, neighbor, or family member. H.R 1877 will help police, first responders, veterans’ advocates, teachers, and others spot the signs and get people help that need it.

           “It authorizes a grant program that has been included in appropriations bills in years past and enjoyed great support from Congress and the public. The grant money will go to fund state bureaus of prisons, veterans’ advocacy groups, EMT and EMS teams, police officer and firefighters. These important groups will get educated in spotting signs of mental illness in the people they work and live with so that they can get help to those people.

            “We hear about the state of our mental health system every day and the state of the VA dealing with injured veterans. We hear about police and first responders called to a scene where someone has become dangerous and they are not sure of the best way to respond. H.R. 1877 will help those people know instinctively how to respond so that the situations stay in control and the risk of harm to anyone is lessened. 

            “The kinds of education programs that this legislation will provide funding for have been shown to be effective and efficient at teaching people the signs of mental illness and how to drop the stigma of that illness so that someone in need can get help. We need this funding more than ever and I am glad that we have decided to take action here today.

            “It is well known that this piece of legislation has been one of my top priorities since coming to Congress and I am thankful to my colleagues on the House Energy and Commerce Committee, Chairman Upton, and Congresswoman Matsui for taking it up and supporting it. Congresswoman Matsui and I worked on this bill because we both saw the need for training in communities so that people in a position to do so, could help those suffering with mental illnesses. I urge my colleagues to support this important bill and I yield back the balance of my time.”

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