The Mental Health Reform Act of 2016 is moving through Congress too slowly. It would expand federal programs to help people with mental health challenges find out what help they need and get that help early on, before they plunge into crisis. The act would also boost community-based services and help keep the mentally ill out of our jails, which are now, tragically, our No. 1 setting for treating mental illness.
The act has already passed in the House and in Senate committee. But it has never been brought up for a vote on the Senate floor.
Colorado’s U.S. Sens. CoryGardner and Michael Bennet are both co-sponsors of this bill, S. 2680. Please call or write them and tell them to demand that itbe brought up for a vote immediately. If that vote does not happen in the next few weeks, there is no telling its fate in the next Congress.
Ira Chernus,Longmont
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