Families. Frankly were a community that cares, we are an organization that provides education, support and advocacy around Mental Health dare in this country. As we have this discussion, our phone lines are a bit different, split up regional. In the tern time zone, or the mountain or pacific time stones, as folks are calling in, some stats on the state of americas Mental Health from namis latest fact sheet in a given year, and almost nearly 60 of an adult with Mental Health illness didnt receive services in the previous year. To put those numbers in perspective, how bad or good is that with previous years . Actually those statistics have remained fairly constant through the years, but what is shocking is if we think about a comparison to cancer. If half of all People Living with cancer had no treatment in the previous year, we week outraged as a country. The fact that over half of our country is living with Mental Health conditions, going without treatment, when treatment should be available and can help people from having a worsened condition, thats truly outrageous. Whether we talk about people getting access to care, one federal issue thats playing out now is continued funding for whats called the Certified CommunityBehavioral Health clinics. Explain what those are. Im glad you brought that up. Certified Community BehaviorHealth Clinics are Mental Health clinics in the community. That particular model is a model thats designed to finance clinics in a way that actually pays for their costs. The great thing about them is that they arable to actually increase the number of providers in those communities, and responsible for supporting data for an array that is so were really concerned, because the funding for those community expires in june of this year, and fortunately senator stabenow and blount have introduced a bill to extend the funding and more of those sites. You think theyre working . Absolutely. Why is funding running out for these clinics . Frankly it was a pilot project. Its been successful. Thankfully congress is recognizing it has been very successful. We expect them to fully fund and expand it. This is something that nami believes should be available in every state, every part of the country. Another issue federal lawmakers are looking at is Mental Health covering. This is just a headline from Bloomberg Business week, as suicide rise, surers find way toss deny Mental Health coverage. Can you talk about that . Its interesting, because the Affordable Care act was one of the primary ways this country started moving to more fair and equitable coverage. Before that, individuals and smallgroup plans didnt necessarily have to cover Mental Health at all. Not only did those plans have to cover Mental Health, but had to covered it at par yesterday. There was a parity law that brought Mental Health coverage to large group plans. While its campaigneded kiefer, we find that plans are still discriminating against Mental Health dare. They found the plan was using madeup criteria for deny claims rather than generally accepted medical criteria providing Mental Health treatment. Why would insurers wants to do that . Is it particularly expensive . Other reasons why . Health plans want to make money and frankly denying care is one way to do it. Would we accept that for a cancer patient . For Heart Disease in why do we allow it for Mental Health care . What are the folks in that buildings over my shoulder doing about that issue . Senator warren and representative joe kennedy has introduced legislation that would enhance the oversight of parity laws, and i think americans and employers need to simply demand it from Health Insurance plans. Nami is the National Alliance on mental illness, easy enough to find on the internet. If you have questions, comments about some of these issues during Mental Health awareness month, you can call in in this segment. Well have this conversation until the bottom of the hour, 9 30 this morning with Angela Kimble, the acting ceo. How long have you been acting ceo. What did you do before that . Its been about a month. Before that i let the africa sudden team. What happened to the previous ceo . The previous ceo resigned. She spent a strong five years and and im honored to be stepping in her shoes. In fact she hired me twice. Years ago doing state policy work, and more recently to head the policy team. What do you plan to do as the leader of nami . Im very excited for whats ahead. Were about to launch a new Strategic Plan and frankly well be focusing on three clear goals. One is, we want everybody to get Mental Health treatment early in life. We want people totes. Taking your calls against this morning. Go ahead, job. Caller im a recovering addict, about four years. One of the main issues i see is Mental Health and addiction have a big stigma around them. Im hoping that thats one of the things that can be looked at and fixed with outreach or other things, just to help out, you kn know. Do you mind talking about figuring everything out and what happened . And how you did that . Are you still with us, josh . Caller yeah, im here. Yeah, go ahead. Caller okay. Like she was saying before the aca, i didnt have insurance and it was hard to get anything taken care of. After i got insurance and took went to a clinics and got on something. I was on ciboxin for a couple years. When youre on it, you have to go through treatment, psychologists, counselors, and just through being in that program, it just helped me realize underlying issues ive always had, and i weaned off the program, and just through that it enabled me to realize why i started to use, and what the problems were. Thanks for sharing your story. Thats so powerful. Thats what is breaking down the stigma in this country. I think when we heard about the death of Anthony Bourdain and kate spade, that struck a chord with so many people. What were realizing in this country is Mental Health conditions are common. One in five adults will experience Mental Health conditions at some point in their lives. Some people throughout their lives. As you said, its very common to have a cooccurring Substance Abuse condition. When people dont get the right treatment at the right time, it makes it harter to treat. Its important for people to reach out. Nami has a campaign this month, its icare, and were encouraging people to share that stories. What has helped you or how you have helped someone, and thats whats changing the has of congress along the way. Do you have a sense of how many people have used that hashtag, shared their story . I dont know how many people have, but were encouraging people. Its about the power of peoples lived experience. More numbers from the fact sheet. You talk about the cooccurring Mental Health and addiction orders. Approximately 10. 2 million americans have that cooccurring disorder. Against all these facts michelle is next out of darby, pennsylvania. Good more. Caller this has gotten out of hand. My husband was in the military, and had ptsd, and he committed suicide, because he wasnt receiving treatment. You have a lot of guys in the military that are desperately in need of Mental Health coverage. Theyre not getting it. Me myself, i didnt have coverage in 2007. By the grace of god, i went to a clinic, and like josh, it was a free clinic. They got me coverage. Im doing well today. Im still in therapy. Its ten years, from 2007. Im still in therapy and doing well, but i still have my bad days. If it wasnt for the Insurance Coverage i get now through the mill tears from my husband passing away, god rest his soul, i dont know where i would be light now. Trump is talking about cutting all these programs out. We cant let that happen. Yes, im a democrat, but its not about being a democrat or a republican anymore if we dont this country is going to fall. Were going to be thanks, michelle in pennsylvania. Michelle, thank you so much. Some of the things you want resonated with me so strongly. I am so sorry for the loss of your husband to suicide. Unfortunately that is a tragedy its actually a crisis in our country. We have well over 40,000 people a year who are dying about i suicide. The vast majority who have lived with Mental Health conditions, and that is just not something we should accept. Im glad you brought up our Nations Service members and veterans and their families. Those serving our country are not only Enter Service often at a time when the majority of mel Health Conditions begin naturally in life. 75 of all lifetime Mental Health conditions occur by age 24. Our military is young and our Service Members are very naturally getting Mental Health conditions or arising. In addition, the very fact of service to our country can also create Mental Health conditions, ptsd. When people undergo things in their life that they cant unsee, the impact is profound. We need to do more. We are losing too many of our Nations Service members and veteran to suicide and Mental Health conditions that arent well treated. Im very grateful, michelle, you have got the treatment that has helped you. Its so important, as you said, for our nation to recognize that this is not a partisan issue, this is a bipartisan issue that affects virtually every american. Michelle said she was concerned about, quote, trump cutting all these programs. Are there specific funding streams or Mental Health programs that are on the chopping block right now . There have been some programs on the chopping block. Im grateful for the fact that congress has actually seen the value of Mental Health and Substance Abuse care. We have been seeing some good increases. There are areas of the administration that are very much focussed on improving Mental Health care. Thats very gratified. At the same time we know last year the administration put forth a rule that would expand Health Care Plans that actually dont have to offer any Mental Health or Substance Abuse coverage at all, shortterm, limitedduration insurance plan. Thats something nami opposed. As michelle pointed out, thats something that would harm on you country. What will happen in that proposed rule . Thats in a courtroom as we speak. Well see what happens. Milwaukee, wisconsin is next. Mark, good morning. Caller i worked for an Insurance Company, and in 2007 i was diagnosed as being bipolar, the disability coverage i had long term only covered for two years, because it was a mental nervous disorder. My employer had me resign and gave me insurance for six months, but i was hospitalized for seven months and was disabled for or in a manic state for almost a year it was very difficult. I was our my disability coverage. I was applying Social Security. I got it a month before my disability coverage ended. I was lucky to at least get Social Security disability. It was disheartening to realize working for an Insurance Company for all those years that their Disability Program only paid for mental nervous disorder for two years. I thought that was terrible. They pay for low back pain for life, cancer for life. They pay for everything else, but they dont understand the importance of mental disorders. Mark, thanks for the call. Mark, you bring up such a great point. Really its shocking to me the disparities that we see in this country around Mental Health conditions is actually shocking. The fact that lower back pain could be covered by disability for life and a twoyear limit for a lasting Mental Health condition thats very profound in its effects on many, many people . That is justin conscienceable. These disparities need to end. Really i feel like they are a vestige of decades, even centuries of discrimination and misunderstanding of the very nature of Mental Health conditions. The question on twitter which drugs are making a difference and are most useful . Thats a great question. The interesting thing, jim is treatments vary according to the person. Who we are finding is that therapies, certainly therapies, particularly therapies like cognitive behavioral therapy, have a strong Evidence Base for helping people with a range of Mental Health conditions. At the same time some people respond very well to medication. Oftentimes a combination. To go even a bit further, oftentimes people really get a lot of support by peers, finding other people like them, learning more about their condition, learning how to manage it themselves. As for what works best, that is often something that is unique to the individual. We all have different brains. One of the things were working on is better diagnostic, more Precision Medicine so we can get the right treatment to the right person at the right time. As we ended sdougs Mental Health, Angela Kimble is our guest from the National Alliance on mentality illness. About ten minutes or so left for your questions and comments. Good morning from river side, california. Caller good morning. Yeah, my question is, raised in a large family such as i was, when i expressed a mental like a mental distress of some kind, like at school or something, my strongwilled father would often just respond with, go suffer quietly. What, in general terms, how do you respond to what i think is too oftentimes that term is just brushing the problem off the table. They dont know how to handle it, so they respond to the child or the young adult, suffer quietly. What do you think . Suffer quietly. Thats just heartbreaking. But you know, i grew newspaper a time when, like you, Mental Health conditions just werent talked about, when people were afraid, and if you think about it, that also was true of cancer. There was a time when it was referred to as the c word. People didnt talk about it out loud. People thought it was a death sentence, and didnt really want to acknowledge it. Today we haves races for the cure. We talked about breast cancer, every form of cancer, and we believe that treatment is possible, and that people can recover. Fortunately the same is starting to happen with Mental Health. People are starting to acknowledge Mental Health conditions are real, theyre conditions of the brain, just like anything else. Sometimes its easy for people to start to think about the fact that epilepsy is a Health Condition of the brain. Parkinsons degree is a condition of the brain. Dementia is a condition of the brain. Theres a whole multitude, including traditional mental illnesses. The more we understand about them, the easy it is for us to acknowledge the pain and acknowledge the gifts as well, and to help people by simply saying, i care. Shirley is next from hopkins, south carolina. Good morning. Caller good morning. Go ahead, shirley. Caller hi, how are you doing . Doing well, whats your question or comments . Caller well, i just wanted to say this country has never had a Great Health Care system, but its fallen way below par now. The only way they seem to be able to address Mental Health is by either putting them in jail, locking them up or just letting people roam the streets. They have closed all of the major Mental Health care facilities, especially in south carolina, where i live. They have a few small institutions which cannot accommodate the amount of Mental Health care patients that we have. I have a brother thats bipolar. I have a grandson thats bipolar. My daughter was an officer with the army because of her son. A lot of the problems we have in this country, criminalwise and otherwise, is because of the Mental Health issues. Very rarely is an addict an addict because he just wants to get high. There are underlying Mental Health problems with them, but they cant seem to get the health care that they need, because theres always not enough money, or they cant go through with a complete and total treatment that they need. I myself suffer from depression since i was 9 years old, but i still could not get you have to go through the system of health care for a period of time in order to get the results you need to get. You have to change medicines here and there, have somebody follow you up. This dun is willing to spend 5 billion to keep drugs out of the country, but theyre doing nothing to curtail the demand for the drug. Shirley, thanks for bringing up those issues and sharing your story. A lot there, and i want angela to have a chance to respond. Shirley, thank you so much. I think you bring up some incredibly important points. The fact that our countrys jails and prisons have become the new Mental Health institutions in our country is atrocious. Thats not something we should accept. Is that new . That is not new. That has been going on for decades. Its grossly unfair. We need Mental Health providers in this country, and we need access to treatment. The reality is half the counties in our country dont have Mentality Health professionals. Years ago there was a program to teach america, to bring up the number of teachers in this country with the recognition that education is so important. Frankly, i feel Like Congress needs to have that same impetus, to increase the number of Mental Health providers in this country and to ensure that everybody has access to that Mental Health dare. No family should have to suffer like shirleys. Arlington, virginia is next. Jody, good morning. Caller i am feeling everything that everybody is saying. My daughter is 23. Shes a registered nurse, she bright, and last july she had a reaction psychotic reaction to prednisone. We have kiter permanente. Despite that fact, the Mental Health treatment they allowed was not appropriate for her. So she just precipitously got worse and worse, and sadly shes been on longterm disability for almost a year. Shes like physically sick, shes not taking dare of hers f herself. Her immune system was down to nothing, so we had to literally borrow money from credit cards, borrow money from family, to put her into the actual treatment that was appropriate for her. Sadly, even though we have kais kaiser permanente, medical coverage, they dont cover the type of treatment she needs. Its like because the treatment they were willing to cover didnt work and she just got worse and errors and worse and worse, they did more harm than good in some ways. They werent appropriate. Its really sad that, even with insurance, its inadequate. The proper care needs to be available to each patient, because like you were saying, you know, its not one size fits all. All the medicines they threw at her werent right. She really needed different types of therapies. Like i said, were paying out of pocket, shes doing well now, but like i said, were really in debt pay fog all of it. Its worth it, you know, because shes our daughter, we love her, and its worth it, but other families, they dont have that option. Jody, thanks for sharing yours and her story as well. Ill give you the final two minutes here. Jody, thank you for sharing that. I admire your dedication to your daughter. I think one of the things it points out is look how much not only families are losing when people dont get the right treatment at the right time, but society. Here your dart had a Bright Future in front of her, now shes in disability and struggling with her recovery, because an shrges plan denied the right care at the right time. Thats something that needs to change. Frankly i think everybody listening to this must understand throughout our country were wasting some of our nations greatest resources, our people, because were not helping them get the help they need. Nami is the National Alliance on mental illness. Nami. Org, check them out online. Angela kimble, appreciate the time. Thank you, john. The reviews are in for the president s book, it recently topped the New York Times new and noteworthy column. And from the new york journal the books and with fathers day this weekend cspans book makes a great gift. He from George Washington to barack obama, explore the life events that shaped our leaders, the challenges they faced, and the legacies they have left behind. Cspans the president s is available as a hard cover or ebook today. The complete guide to congress is now available. It has lots of details about the house and senate for the current session of congress. Contact and bioinformation about every senator and representative, plus information about congressional committees, state governors, and the cabinet. The 2019 congressional directory is a handy spiralbound guy. Order your copy for 18. 95. Hive here will be testimony from senator mike po from secretary of state mike pompeo. This is chaired by senator john cornyn and california senator dianne feinstein. Good afternoon, everyone, i want to thank secretary pompeo for being here today, as well as members of the caucus