Resolved if you continue to try various interventions. I think American History tv on cspan is one of the best programs available. I wish we could do it more than once a week. And continue to let us know what you think about the programs youre watching. Call us at 2026263400 email us at comments at cspan. Org. Or send us a tweet at next a forrum on Mental Health care and legislation. Former congressman, Patrick Kennedy of rhode island. Virginia state senator and singer demi lovato spoke about their experiences with Mental Health. The National Alliance on Mental Health hosted this event in september. [ applause ]. Hello, everyone. Welcome to our national convention. I am so excited to see all of you here today. And welcome to our national day of action. I hope youre ready to take some action. We Want Congress to act. And so today, our supporters here and around the country are going to be calling, emailing, tweeting and visiting capitol hill. And when you visit capitol hill, i want you to remember that you are part of the nami movement. We are a movement of people dedicated to providing help and hope to all of those effected by Mental Illness. A movement that demands a more caring and better Mental Health care system that provides help to us when we need it and where we need it. A movement [ applause ]. Thats right. A movement that rages against homelessness, emergency rooms, jails and prisons. Weve had too much of that and we want it to change. [ cheers and applause ]. And a movement that fights for recovery for people with Mental Illness, for jobs, for homes, for family and for friends, for the ability to use all of your gifts and all of our talents. [ applause ]. This movement will Tell Congress today that its time to act and we will be supported and inspired by our speakers today. The first probably needs no introduction, but im going to give him one any way. Patrick kennedy served eight years in congress until 2011, representing Rhode Islands first district. He was the leading champion of the national Mental Health parody bill which was passed in 2008. He has been [ applause ]. Yes he has been the recipient of namis highest honor, our distinguished service award. He continues to be a leading voice for Scientific Research and the transformation of Mental Health care and patrick is all of those things, but he is so much more. He is a beacon of hope for all of those who struggle with Mental Illness and addiction. I had the privilege this summer of visiting a peerrun dropin scepter in chicago on 47th street. I got a really warm welcome, but they couldnt wait to tell me about their visit from Patrick Kennedy. And what a difference he made by telling his story in such a heartfelt way, the way he always does. And one of them said it best, they said, he is one of us. And thats how we feel at nami. Patrick is one of us. Hes been a great friend to those in the Mental Health community and we want to welcome our great friend, Patrick Kennedy. [ cheers and applause ]. Thank you very much. Well, when i was in congress, you know, i got used to that standing ovation. Now that im out of congress, im just going to stand up here and soak it in because im in recovery. And not only recovery from [ applause ]. Im in recovery from being in politics. [ laughter ]. Let me just say from the outset how great mary has been in terms of hitting the ground running and really coming in. Talk about trying to drink water from a fire hydrant. She came in at a time that is going to be the most formative time in Mental Health advocacy in the last 50 years. And we couldnt be more proud to have you as executive director of nami, mary. [ cheers and applause ]. And ron homberg and andrew sperling, terrific policy team who are getting you all ready to go to go to the hill, your whole nami team is exceptional and ive had the honor of working with them for many years. Let me just first say to demi lovato, i told her back stage, she is already a hit. We know shes produced lots of hits, but shes already a hit star with all of us because shes willing to stand up in the lights and say, shes one of us, too. [ cheers and applause ]. My daughter my 6yearold daughter loves skyscraper. I tell you, demi, youre our skyscraper when it comes to standing up tall when things are falling around us because of the stigma and discrimination against Mental Health and to have someone like you willing to take a stand means something to all of us. And were really grateful again that youre here. [ cheers and applause ]. Now, most of you have heard of my uncle, president john kennedy. But one of the things that president kennedy was known for was his book profiles in courage. And if he were alive today and were adding another chapter to that historic book, he would include senator and mrs. Craig deeds in that book. [ applause ]. Senator, like my family, your tragedy was exhibited in public in a way that should not have to be for any family. And instead of running away from the problem, you ran towards it and you took your own devastating, incomprehensible personal tragedy and you showed the light of your own familys experience facing a fragmented, uncoordinated Mental Health system which was the responsibility of all of us to do better on and showed what the ultimate consequences of that failed system is through the loss of your son. And you, more than anyone, have helped america understand what is at stake if we do nothing to repair this broken Mental Health system. Senator deeds and mrs. Deeds, we owe you a debt of responsibility to fulfill your mission, to fix the system so that it doesnt have to befall any other family like it did your own. And for that, we are very grateful for your leadership. [ cheers and applause ]. President kennedy in 1963 talked about the Civil Rights Act this way he said, who amongst us would trade the color of their skin and be content with those who counsel patients and delay . See, at the time, many people said we can take another 10, 15, 20 years to implement civil rights. Its okay. Lets take our time. That means one thing to a white american. It means something entirely different if the color of your skin is dark in this country. And you are discriminated against simply because of the color of your skin. Who amongst us would trade places with that person and be content with those who tell us, just wait. Now is not the time. We face a similar moment in History Today because this is an issue that is a civil rights issue. Its about the discrimination against our brothers and sisters simply because of immunable fact that theyre illness [ applause ]. That their illness, as immunable as the color of their skin, is an illness of the brain as opposed to an illness of any other organ in the body. Shortly after president kennedy put the civil rights bill before congress, he took on another civil rights bill, the community Mental Health act and he said the mentally ill need no longer be alien to our affections or beyond the help of your communities. [ applause ]. Have you ever heard something so clear in terms of what we need today . The mentally ill need no longer be alien to our affections or beyond the help of our communities. Pretty simple, isnt it . Pretty basic. Now, youre all going to go up to the hill today and youre going to advocate for simple things, making sure that families are part of the treatment plan, planning for their loved ones, just as they would be if their loved one was coming out of the hospital for any other physical illness. [ applause ]. Youre going to go up there and say, dont those with brain illnesses deserve the same coordinated care as any other chronic illness that is out there . And why shouldnt our Health Care System reflect the desire to optimize care by making sure that its coordinated for the benefit of the patient . This is Pretty Simple stuff, my friends. [ applause ]. Youre going to go up there and talk about the fact that this is simply about treating the brain like any other organ of the body. [ applause ]. Now, i could we could spend all day, as you often do at your nami meetings, going through the litany of discriminatory practices embedded in federal law and federal regulation. I mean, its replete with discrimination. So, rather than letting the congress get lost in the details, make sure as mary did in her article in role call we keep it simple, my friends. This is not complicated. Treat Mental Illness the same as every other illness and we will make an enormous difference in tackling the challenges that face us. [ cheers and applause ]. But how do we treat it . If this were cancer, there would be a revolution in this country. This would be if this were diabetes, there would be a revolution in this country. The way we pay for Mental Health care today is we say to the mentally ill and those with addictions, come back when you have stage 4 cancer. Thats what we would be saying to them. Say, come back for treatment when you need your legs amputated as a diabetic. We wouldnt think of saying that to anybody with diabetes or anyone with cancer. And we shouldnt think of saying it for those who are suffering from Mental Illness and addiction. [ cheers and applause ]. And then and then we say, well, these problems are too great. We cant get our arms around them. Theyre intractable and theyre uncurable. Wait a second here. If you let cancer metastasize to stage 4, yes, its pretty difficult to treat. If you let diabetes get to be where you need an amputation and e you lose your sight, yes, its a pretty terrible disease to cure and fix. But if you intervene on first on set of schizophrenia, first on set of addiction and put in place the kind of preventive measures that we would put in place if it were any other chronic illness, we would have a different trajectory and people would not be forced to have their illness pathologized because of lack of care and the untreatment of the mentally ill that goes on for too long and creates too much disability and too much mortality. This is a simple issue. [ applause ]. So, we need to be clear with congress on our vision for a new Mental Health system. We cannot allow them simply to move deck chairs on the titanic. You understand what im saying . We cant let them make this decision about commitment and forced this or that. You know what, if you treated someone early in their illness, they wouldnt be forced to take the high levels of medication that they end up having to take because you never take care of them until their illness becomes pathologized and then they wouldnt have the side effects and then they wouldnt have the compliance issues. This is a simple issue. Treat it like every other issue. Treat it early. Treat it aggressively. Youll save lives. Youll save disability and well all as a society be better off for it. [ cheers and applause ]. Now, on the commitment issue, because its the most controversial out there, commitment to what . Okay. Why dont we have the same expectations and standard for care for the mentally ill that we expect for every other physical illness . We shouldnt be committing people to substandard care or lack of evidencebased treatment. But on the issue of commitment, i know about it personally. My brother and sister took guardianship of our mother. So no one needs to talk about these issues to me because like my mother, i have serious depression and bipolar and like my mother, i struggle with addiction and alcoholism, and like my mother, some day, god forbid, my children have to save my life, i want them to step up to the plate and save their fathers life like i saved my mothers life. [ cheers and applause ]. So, i come back to it. You got my refrain. This is simple. Just treat these illnesses as if they were any other illness and apply those standards to this set of illnesses. The biggest challenge were facing and ill wrap up with this is political will. And that political will is a reflection of the lack of understanding and its the result of cultural indifference and bigotry, which feeds the prejudice and discrimination that effects those with Mental Illness, like myself. So, my proposal would be lets, like the Civil Rights Act, we had to pass the Voting Rights act to define what we meant by civil rights, then we had to pass the Fair Housing Act to define what we meant by civil rights, then we had to pass the fair employment act to define what we meant by civil rights. I hope we dont have to go around and begin to define what is common sense, what is basic, and that is like my friend tim murphy said, treat one another with dignity and respect. If you do that, the rest of it will fall into place. [ cheers and applause ]. And ill conclude with this my father was known for compromises. Now, no one said that my father okay . My dad was a champion and a stalwart for the liberal cause. But when it came to advancing the national interests, not just his party interests, he worked with orin hatch and mike dempsey and john mccain and all of them. Because at the end of the day this is about making progress. Not making perfection the enemy of the good. So i would say lets make sure hhs and departmental labor enforce, okay, implement. Monitor compliance of. Health insurance plans to make sure that they are meeting the federal laws requirement. This is simple stuff. Follow the law. Okay . And lets make sure the federal government follows the law. So not only are we going to hold Insurance Companies accountable to law, we need our own medicaid and public Health System accountable to the federal law. So you know, to my republican friends, this is easy. Just do what everyone says. Follow the law. You know, you pass laws now you got to live by them. Apply it to medicaid. If youre you know, my democratic friends say apply the law to these managed Care Organizations who like to impose higher treatment and financial limitations on those suffering from Mental Illness. Follow the law. Lets implement it. Lets monitor compliance. And then lets do the other things that we know is going to make a difference in deinstitutionalizing people from the new institutions. The jails and the prisons so that we can finally treat people with the dignity and the respect that they deserve. And we have a moment of time now because the newest population that are within our ranks are returning veterans from iraq and afghanistan suffering from the quote unquote invisible wounds of war. So any member of congress who said oh, well, those are the mentally ill and those people with addiction, they are not a very Popular Crowd around here. Because you know, they dont stack up in the measurement of political, you know, power in this town. Tell them that what we have been fighting for our whole lives is now what is necessary to save the lives of our returning heroes. And there should not be a democrat or republican out there who says no to the agenda that you take up to capitol hill today. Thank you very much. Thank you so much, patrick, i told you our speakers today were going to be inspiring. And im happy to introduce to you now, a wonderful leader, namis leader, jim payne. Good morning, im so happy to be here, and i join Patrick Kennedy on behalf of the board and say how glad we are that you are serving as executive director. Im very indebted to our special guest here and of course saddened that circumstances at times bring any of us in this room together. I will say that i am happy at this particular moment to in a moment to introduce my dear friend, betsy greer, i do serve as the interim president of nami, i am from virginia, hello to everybody out there from virginia, and betsy, the lo longtime leader, affiliate, im going to introduce betsy to take it from here, to jointly introduce our next speaker. Named in honor of betsys late husband who was namis first legislative director. Good morning. 2014 marks namis 35th anniversary. Richard greer served as snai na fulltime employee, back when nami was a onebedroom apartment on massachusetts avenue. Those were the days when our loved ones were being discharged from state Psychiatric Hospitals and returned to their home communities. They were extremely ill but their families had no skills or support to care for them. In those times, Richard Greer usually didnt come home for supper until 8 or 9 00 in the evening, answering calls from across the nation for people seeking help for their loved ones, what do i need . Where do i find services . What programs help . Whom should i call . It was through those phone calls that Richard Greer found nami foot soldiers to carry the message for better needs for services and programs. He sent them to capitol hill just as you are being asked to go today. Are you ready . This year, through the award is Virginia State senator using the power of his own familys story as a force for change. He used it to educate the virginia General Assembly about the need for better services. He has spoken out national ly hs wo words helped with nami. He lost his son, gus, who struggled with bipolar disorder. As with many families, he tried to get help for his son, but not in time. I want you to know, creigh, i will work hard to help support you and other families. I will work with you so that loved ones in our community with live safely an