clinical social work association

Dear CSWA Members,

On June 15th, HR 2646, the Helping Families in Mental Health Crisis Act of 2016, a bill that CSWA has been following for the past three years, unanimously passed out of the House Energy and Commerce Committee.

This bill will be voted on by the whole House of Representatives next Tuesday, July 5.  Please email your representative as soon as possible.  It is very important to support this bill which will increase funding for many parts of the mental health system, create an Assistant Secretary of Mental Health in DHHS, and create a Minority Fellowship Program.  While there are other parts of the bill that CSWA would like to modify, getting the bill passed out of the House so that we can continue the discussion is crucial at the moment. The Senate mental health bill has also been passed out of committee and needs to be passed out of the Senate, but is not yet scheduled.  To get the Senate bill scheduled, the House bill must pass.

You can find the email address of your Representative at http://www.house.gov/representatives/find/ . Please send the following message to your Representative: “I am a member of the Clinical Social Work Association and a Constituent.  Please vote for passage of the Helping Families in Mental Health Crisis Act of 2016 on July 5 and improve access to mental health services for our citizens. [Name, License, Address, email]”

As always, please let me know when you have emailed your message.