It is helpful and necessary to state what we all know to be true through our relationships with family, friends, and colleagues: we are experiencing a mental health crisis in our district. People of all ages, but perhaps most acutely children, seniors, and veterans, are struggling, and Massachusetts lacks the mental health infrastructure to adequately address the gravity of the challenge. The legislature has an important role to play in this area. As your State Representative, I would work to strengthen our system of support, from early diagnosis of mental health needs, to crisis response, to in-patient care, to ongoing support. Specifically, I would work to:

• create a comprehensive emergency response infrastructure for Massachusetts using the federally-created 988 number, to deploy crisis intervention teams
• require insurers to cover at least one annual mental health wellness checkup
• require hospitals to have a mental health practitioner available for emergency room patients
• expedite in-patient admissions for anyone under 18
• add to the short supply of mental and behavioral health professionals in our schools
• raise the reimbursement rate floor for mental health care professionals, to expand the number of practitioners who will accept health insurance