{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.alexander.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/pressreleases?ContentRecord_id=28A7A85C-ED4C-4095-81A1-B8A1A20418DA", "Alexander: Early Intervention in Mental Health is Critical", "2017-12-13", "2017", "2017-12", "Republican", "House", "TN", "Lamar Alexander", "A000360", "www.alexander.senate.gov", null, null, "legacy", "\u201cSean is one person out of nearly 10 million in the United States with a serious mental health condition. Without treatment, his story could have had a very different outcome\u2026 Over the past few years, this Committee has worked in a bipartisan way to update parts of the federal mental health system for the first time in over a decade\u2026 I look forward to hearing about the progress being made to ensure more people can receive the help they need and have positive outcomes like Sean.\u201d\r\n\r\n\r\nWASHINGTON, December 13, 2017 \u2014\u00a0At today\u2019s oversight hearing on the mental health provisions in 21st\u00a0Century Cures, Senate health committee Chairman Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) today said that early intervention for patients with mental health disorders is critical.\u00a0\r\n\u201cSean Lester is, by all accounts, a typical, Nashville young adult with a full-time job who also attends college,\u201d\u00a0Alexander said. \u201cHowever, just before his 25th\u00a0birthday, he experienced his first schizophrenic experience and has spent ten weeks receiving psychiatric treatment since 2014.\u00a0Sean wrote me, saying, \u201cThis may seem slightly depressing, but my story does not end there. The doctors and staff I encountered at the hospital and at the Centerstone clinic taught me to live productively again in society. I have been free of the hospital for a whole year now. During that time, I have taken medication, returned to work, and even paid off a car! I am currently enrolled at Tennessee State University as a Junior pursuing a degree in Psychology.\u2019\u201d\r\nAlexander continued:\u00a0\u201cSean is one person out of nearly 10 million in the United States with a serious mental health condition. Without treatment, his story could have had a very different outcome. Over the past few years, this Committee has worked in a bipartisan way to update parts of the federal mental health system \u2013 including programs at the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration \u2013 for the first time in over a decade.\u201d\r\nToday\u2019s hearing is the third oversight hearing on the 21st\u00a0Century Cures Act, which included\u00a0provisions from the Mental Health Reform Act\u00a0that\u00a0passed the committee\u00a0on March 16, 2016\u00a0and updated programs at the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMSHA) for the first time in a decade. Dr. Elinore McCance-Katz, the first Assistant Secretary for Mental Health and Substance Use, a position created in Cures, has new authorities through Cures to work with states and federal agencies and to help more Americans receive the treatment they need.\r\n\u201cMost of the services, treatment, and care for people with mental health issues is provided by the private sector, like Vanderbilt, or through programs run by the states. The federal government plays a role through Medicaid and SAMHSA, which provided Tennessee with over $80 million grants last year.\u201d\r\n\u201cPrior to our work on Cures, the coordination between federal\u00a0agencies that provide mental health care was not as effective as it could have been. I hope today we will learn how implementation of these provisions is going. For example, how has coordination improved between federal agencies on the best ways to assist those with mental illness? We hoped that promising research into early intervention programs at the National Institutes of Health would translate into clinical applications for patients\u2026 I look forward to hearing about the progress being made to ensure more people can receive the help they need and have positive outcomes like Sean.\u201d\r\nHere\u00a0are Senator Alexander\u2019s prepared remarks.", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.alexander.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/pressreleases?ContentRecord_id=28A7A85C-ED4C-4095-81A1-B8A1A20418DA"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.6579188629984856, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}