May is Mental Health Awareness Month. Given what we do at CHOICE, I’m not sure how much more aware we could be… in fact, we are painfully aware of the sheer numbers of Americans who are out there struggling day in and day out with mental health issues. And these issues vary in scale from manageable to severe and debilitating. Our numbers alone tell the story. We now handle more than 2000 clients each month, helping them manage everything from their housing issues to obtaining medicare benefits to finding the right medical care, to finding and keeping the right job. We are on the front lines. We hear it every day.

Keeping Mental Health Top of Mind

What we don’t hear enough of is the rattling of the cage in which health insurance companies seem to live. Ten years ago, as cited by a recent NPR article, Congress passed the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act with the intention of bringing both mental health and addiction treatment coverage on par with comparable “medical/surgical” benefits. That was the intention and it was a good one. But, you know what “they” often say about good intentions, right?

The issue here is that when Congress passed the bill, they said “we’ve done our part” and washed their hands of the rest. A cursory analysis of health insurance plans throughout the country will show that most are woefully inadequate when it comes to providing benefits for mental health services. The result is fairly logical: too few of those who need it are actually receiving adequate mental health care.

Now, there has been a rash of recent violent attacks in this country after which the whole mental health debate seems to come to the surface; the guy wielding the gun that killed all those people was mentally ill… and then the discussion turns to the gun debate: who should have one and who shouldn’t. Why doesn’t the discussion turn to healthcare? Why aren’t we looking at why so many people out there suffering from mental illness are left to suffer on their own… unable to afford or have access to the proper care? Now, the only reason I bring up the recent spate of gun violence is because that seems to be the only time mental health is at the forefront of the news cycle in this country. We talk about someone committing a violent act because they are mentally ill and that becomes an excuse for their actions.

Know No Limits

Let’s move on from gun violence for a moment. Let’s look at the millions… yes millions… 1 in 5… of people in this country who are limited or even disabled by mental health issues. They don’t, obviously, all go out and commit gun violence. But they ARE limited… they are limited in the joy they have in life… they are limited in their ability to contribute to society in a positive way… they are limited in their ability to maintain relationships… they are limited in their ability to hold jobs, despite many having incredible talents and skills. What would happen if we actually helped them… provided them with the insurance they need to obtain the services that would make them positive and productive members of our society? Helped people to actually reach their potential rather than putting them off to the side and keeping them on the fringes?

So that’s our thought for this Mental Health Awareness month. The bottom line? We need to do a better job as a society to give people the resources they can use to help themselves… to dig out from the deep hole that mental health issues can put them in. Just give them some hope. Give them a strategy. Give them the tools. Watch how far they can go and how fast they can get there.

–Guy Fessenden, Executive Director