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The Inaugural Kennedy Forum: A Force for Change

On October 24, 2013, the inaugural Kennedy Forum was an exciting conference which left me galvanized for advocacy action. I saw many new and old friends, and together we discussed the state of mental health policy today, 50 years after President Kennedy signed the Community Mental Health Act, and how to advance it further toward President Kennedy’s vision. Many thanks go to Patrick Kennedy adn the entire event staff for bringing us together at this landmark forum.

From the opening panel, “How History Regards the Community Mental Health Act,” to the closing panel, “Setting the Agenda to Further President Kennedy’s Vision,” the discussions progressed almost in a narrative form. The most prominent points were:

Since 1963 Community Mental Health Act, the last few decades have seen a policy “battle” for improvement, but advance has happened, as Dr. Herb Pardes recounted. The most notable recent advances have come in the passage of the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act of 2008, which broadly requires insurers to cover mental health claims at the same level as any other claims, and the Affordable Care Act, which further fleshes out parity rules, and adds that insurers must cover some preventive programs. Advance has come as the incremental expression of a bold initial vision, as Dr. Howard Goldman said.

Over these years, however, brain disease has become an even more important issue facing our society. Dr. Michael Yogman observed that the proportion of behavioral health visits in pediatric practices has skyrocketed to about 40%. With all the comorbid disorders that tend to eventually occur with such mental health issues as kids grow, this increase bodes a future catastrophic load on the healthcare system. And as Pam Hyde recounted, the mental health workforce will have to increase significantly beyond today’s numbers to handle this load.

To address the problem of brain disease in our society, we first need a national policy on mental health care, as Dr. Pardes and many others stated. As Drs. Jeffrey Lieberman and Arthur Evans both stated, this policy must include a public health approach. This approach, which is already beginning in communities such as Philadelphia, must offer mental health education in schools, and via media campaigns such as the “OK 2Talk” (initiated by Vice President Biden) and NAMI’s “I Will Listen” campaigns. This type of education is essential to promote understanding and acceptance and dissolve the most difficult barriers to more widespread treatment, stigma and discrimination. This approach must also offer early detection and prevention programs (an example of such a program which may soon expand to a widespread national level is the NAPLS, the North American Prodrome Longitudinal Study).

Second, we need to “mainstream” mental illness care, as Dr. Michael Hogan and others stated. That is to say, behavioral health care must coordinate and integrate with primary care. Each patient must be treated comprehensively as a whole individual.

Third, in providing mental health care, as several consumer advocates present said, practitioners must focus on empowering patients to achieve their personal goals and find their own fulfillment-these are the publish measures of satisfactory outcome (not just absence of symptoms). As this idea has spread, the “recovery” movement among consumers is becoming a “dramatic force” for change, as Dr. Hogan said.

Fourth, as Dr. Lieberman stated, we must support and take advantage of the tremendous potential inherent in brain research today to provide more effective therapies, preventions, and cures in the coming years.

At this stage, the “stars are aligned” in science, policy, and public awareness to improve care, as Dr. Lieberman observed. We must now speak with a unified voice as a mental health advocacy community, to advance brain research and policy, toward the fulfillment of President Kennedy’s vision.

To learn more, and to see media from the conference and the gala in the near future, please visit the Kennedy Forum website.

-Brandon Staglin, One Mind Communications Director