Throughout Nationwide Psychological Well being Consciousness Month, we honor absolutely the braveness of the tens of tens of millions of People dwelling with psychological well being situations, and we rejoice the family members and psychological well being professionals who’re there for them on daily basis. Remedy works, and there’s no disgrace in searching for it. Collectively, we are going to preserve combating to get everybody entry to the care they should stay full and joyful lives.
As People, we’ve an obligation of care to achieve out to at least one one other and depart nobody behind. However so a lot of our associates, colleagues, and family members are battling psychological well being challenges, made worse by the isolation and trauma of COVID-19. Two in 5 adults report anxiousness and despair, and two in 5 teenagers describe experiencing persistent unhappiness or hopelessness, exacerbated by social media, bullying, and gun violence. Drug overdose deaths are additionally close to document highs, and suicide is the second main reason for loss of life amongst younger individuals. It doesn’t need to be this fashion.
As President, I launched a brand new nationwide technique to remodel how we perceive and deal with psychological well being in America — supporting and coaching extra suppliers, enhancing entry to care, and constructing wholesome environments that promote psychological well being. This work is a core pillar of the Unity Agenda that I outlined in my first State of the Union Tackle. Psychological well being is well being; it impacts everybody, no matter race, gender, politics, or revenue. Selling it is among the large issues that we will all comply with do collectively as People to make our nation stronger.
The USA has lengthy confronted a scarcity of psychological well being suppliers. It takes a mean of 11 years to get therapy after the onset of signs, and fewer than half of People combating psychological sickness ever obtain the care they want. That is very true in rural and different underserved communities. That’s the reason the American Rescue Plan made our Nation’s biggest-ever funding in psychological well being and substance use applications — recruiting, coaching, and supporting extra suppliers on the State and native ranges, together with in our faculties. Final yr, after we handed the Nation’s first main gun security legislation in practically 30 years, it contained measures to additional improve the variety of faculty psychologists and counselors obtainable to our youngsters, to make it simpler for faculties to make use of Medicaid to ship psychological well being care, and to broaden the Licensed Neighborhood Behavioral Well being Clinics that ship 24/7 care. Moreover, we’ve invested in coaching extra first responders to deal with psychological health-related points.
Final yr, we additionally launched 988 because the Nation’s new Suicide and Disaster Lifeline so anybody within the midst of a disaster can obtain life-saving confidential assist instantly. We added devoted counselors educated in supporting LGBTQI+ youth to the 988 lifeline, and for veterans, we made it simpler to achieve the Veterans Disaster Line by dialing 988 and urgent 1 to achieve educated disaster responders. We created a separate Maternal Psychological Well being Hotline to assist moms navigate psychological well being points like postpartum despair, anxiousness, and substance use issues, which have an effect on one in 5 pregnant and postpartum ladies. Far too typically, these issues go undiagnosed and untreated, so we’ve invested in applications that bolster screening and therapy and name particular consideration to them throughout Maternal Psychological Well being Consciousness Week, which we additionally observe this month. Lastly, we’ve handed historic legal guidelines that additional require insurers to cowl psychological well being care as they’d another form of therapy, that decrease prescription drug prices, and that broaden well being protection typically. I’m proud that we’ve seen historic medical health insurance protection good points since I took workplace.
On the similar time, we’re combating to broaden entry to prevention and therapy for substance use issues, together with opioid use dysfunction, which have devastated so many households and communities. This contains increasing entry to psychological well being and substance use therapy in jails and prisons and through reentry to assist individuals once they return house. And final yr, we handed a legislation making it simpler for docs to prescribe efficient dependancy therapy. Anybody struggling ought to know they don’t seem to be alone: We consider in restoration, and we rejoice the braveness of the 23 million People who’ve come to date down that highway.
We’re additionally increasing psychological well being take care of service members and veterans, to higher honor our sacred obligation to the troops we ship into hurt’s method and to take care of them and their households when they’re house. We can not preserve dropping 17 veterans a day to the silent scourge of suicide. My Administration is rising entry to psychological well being care, hiring extra psychological well being professionals, and investing in applications that recruit veterans to assist each other get the assist they want. And we’re working to broaden rental help and job placement applications to assist clean veterans’ return to civilian life. I’ve additionally signed legal guidelines extending counseling, advantages, and different psychological well being assets to first responders and their households to assist them heal from the trauma that they or their family members confronted on the job.
There may be rather more to do. For one, we should lastly maintain social media firms accountable for the experiments they’re operating on our kids for revenue. I’ve referred to as on the Congress to restrict the non-public information that tech firms gather, to ban focused promoting directed at minors, and to require social media platforms to place well being and security first, particularly for youths.
All of us have a task to play in ending the stigma round psychological well being points. It begins by exhibiting compassion, so everybody feels free to ask for assist. If you’re going through a disaster, dial 988 to achieve the Nationwide Suicide and Disaster Lifeline. If you’re a brand new or anticipating mom, you’ll be able to name 1-833-9-HELP4MOMS for confidential skilled recommendation. If you’re feeling overwhelmed or simply want somebody to speak to, ask your healthcare supplier, contact the Substance Abuse and Psychological Well being Companies Administration’s Nationwide Helpline at 1-800-662-HELP, or go to www.FindSupport.gov. If somebody you realize goes by means of a troublesome time, attain out and inform them you might be there for them. We’re all on this collectively.
NOW, THEREFORE, I, JOSEPH R. BIDEN JR., President of the US of America, by advantage of the authority vested in me by the Structure and the legal guidelines of the US, do hereby proclaim Might 2023 as Nationwide Psychological Well being Consciousness Month. I name upon residents, authorities businesses, non-public companies, nonprofit organizations, and different teams to affix in actions and take motion to strengthen the psychological well being of our communities and our Nation.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I’ve hereunto set my hand this
twenty-eighth day of April, within the yr of our Lord two thousand twenty-three, and of the Independence of the US of America the 200 and forty-seventh.
JOSEPH R. BIDEN JR.
