Patrick Kennedy

And my wife ran for Congress a couple of years ago, and it really became super apparent to me how much we were missing in this space that she could get 100 bricklayers the day after tomorrow to show up somewhere, but she couldn't get 100 of anything on mental health to do anything for her. On election day, she had 5,000 teachers all throughout the district holding signs and passing out leaflets.

This is a bigger issue than any other issue in the country, but we have no listserv. We have no advocacy movement per se. That's what's really shaped my thinking about this is my own experience. And then, of course, I have lived experience, someone who's dealt with addiction and mental illness, both myself personally and within my family. And I instinctively knew, too, that

This is a bigger issue than any other issue in the country, but we have no listserv. We have no advocacy movement per se. That's what's really shaped my thinking about this is my own experience. And then, of course, I have lived experience, someone who's dealt with addiction and mental illness, both myself personally and within my family. And I instinctively knew, too, that

This is a bigger issue than any other issue in the country, but we have no listserv. We have no advocacy movement per se. That's what's really shaped my thinking about this is my own experience. And then, of course, I have lived experience, someone who's dealt with addiction and mental illness, both myself personally and within my family. And I instinctively knew, too, that

There's huge shame and stigma. And of course, as I said, comparing that to historical battles against institutionalized discrimination against minorities was clear to me that a lot of those implicit biases that you see reflected in the way that we only pay women 74 cents on the dollar or how people of color are disproportionately represented in our criminal justice system.

There's huge shame and stigma. And of course, as I said, comparing that to historical battles against institutionalized discrimination against minorities was clear to me that a lot of those implicit biases that you see reflected in the way that we only pay women 74 cents on the dollar or how people of color are disproportionately represented in our criminal justice system.

There's huge shame and stigma. And of course, as I said, comparing that to historical battles against institutionalized discrimination against minorities was clear to me that a lot of those implicit biases that you see reflected in the way that we only pay women 74 cents on the dollar or how people of color are disproportionately represented in our criminal justice system.

And there are some obvious examples of how we have not made America whole in terms of the way it treats everybody, regardless of sexual orientation, race, gender, so forth. I definitely knew that this issue fit in that paradigm because people were marginalized. There's no funding entrenched in the reimbursement system to take care of these illnesses.

And there are some obvious examples of how we have not made America whole in terms of the way it treats everybody, regardless of sexual orientation, race, gender, so forth. I definitely knew that this issue fit in that paradigm because people were marginalized. There's no funding entrenched in the reimbursement system to take care of these illnesses.

And there are some obvious examples of how we have not made America whole in terms of the way it treats everybody, regardless of sexual orientation, race, gender, so forth. I definitely knew that this issue fit in that paradigm because people were marginalized. There's no funding entrenched in the reimbursement system to take care of these illnesses.

It really is quite shocking when you think this day and age, without all the new advocacy, we wouldn't still be paying any attention to it. frankly, the tragic increase in suicide and overdose, which is getting some public attention just the last few years. So I would say the political environment for these issues is dramatically different than it was when I was in Congress.

It really is quite shocking when you think this day and age, without all the new advocacy, we wouldn't still be paying any attention to it. frankly, the tragic increase in suicide and overdose, which is getting some public attention just the last few years. So I would say the political environment for these issues is dramatically different than it was when I was in Congress.

It really is quite shocking when you think this day and age, without all the new advocacy, we wouldn't still be paying any attention to it. frankly, the tragic increase in suicide and overdose, which is getting some public attention just the last few years. So I would say the political environment for these issues is dramatically different than it was when I was in Congress.

When I was in Congress, I got the parity bill passed because my dad is best friends with Chris Dodd and I grew up knowing Chris Dodd. And when we tried to get the bill passed, Chris Dodd was chairman of the banking committee and

When I was in Congress, I got the parity bill passed because my dad is best friends with Chris Dodd and I grew up knowing Chris Dodd. And when we tried to get the bill passed, Chris Dodd was chairman of the banking committee and

When I was in Congress, I got the parity bill passed because my dad is best friends with Chris Dodd and I grew up knowing Chris Dodd. And when we tried to get the bill passed, Chris Dodd was chairman of the banking committee and

I got Chris, with his help and leadership, to include the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act into the bailout of the big banks, which, as you recall, in 2008 was a must to save our economy from going into another financial Great Depression.

I got Chris, with his help and leadership, to include the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act into the bailout of the big banks, which, as you recall, in 2008 was a must to save our economy from going into another financial Great Depression.

I got Chris, with his help and leadership, to include the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act into the bailout of the big banks, which, as you recall, in 2008 was a must to save our economy from going into another financial Great Depression.

It wasn't because mental health was a big issue politically that we passed this parity law that I had the honor of co-sponsoring with my Republican colleague, Jim Ramstad. It was through the back door, if you will, of this other legislation that we needed to pass that I tacked on the parity bill, thereby getting it to pass.