In the wake of mass shootings in places like Newtown, Conn., and Aurora, Colo., many Americans have begun to ask important questions about the way we identify and treat mental illness.
The two of us have long tried to address this challenge — not just as a matter of public safety, but for the benefit of those who suffer from mental illness and for their families.
Jim, often working with Sen. Paul Wellstone, spent much of his career in Congress fighting to end discrimination against those suffering mental illness and addiction — a fight that culminated in the passage of the Wellstone-Domenici Mental Health Parity and Addiction Act of 2008, which expands access to behavioral health care.
Inspired by their example, Al has worked to further the cause. When he arrived in the Senate in 2009, he began to push for full implementation of the Wellstone-Domenici Act, eventually convincing the Obama administration to include it in the gun violence reduction strategy announced by the president last month.
Fully implementing mental-health parity will be a huge step forward. And we're hopeful that the next steps will be passing two additional pieces of legislation Al has authored to improve mental-health care in schools and in our criminal-justice system.
Foremost, it is absolutely essential that we not stigmatize mental illness, especially in such a raw and emotional moment. The vast majority of those suffering from mental illness are no more violent than the general population. And the very small minority who could become violent are much less likely to do so if their illness is identified early and treated correctly.
The Mental Health in Schools Act is all about early detection and treatment of mental illness among children.
In Minnesota today, there are 780 students for every school counselor, although some communities are figuring out how to address the problem — in the Mounds View school district, that ratio has been brought down to 250 to 1, with social workers and psychologists in the mix.
