Patrick J. Kennedy: “Denial is the big issue here. And we all know growing up in families where there is alcoholism and addiction or mental…”

we have made progress in normalizing conversations and reducing stigma about mental illness, it is clear, it is so clear

And until there is that same urgency towards enforcing, and until there is that same money backing up our words that these are really equal illnesses, we are really still in denial as a Nation.

This is why it is time to pass the Telemental Health Expansion Act which I introduced, as I mentioned, with Congresswoman Doris Matsui.

When we have an emergency, FEMA comes in. They've got housing, job opportunities, support of this and that. We need a strategy that understands that housing is critical to address the homeless epidemic of people with severe mental illness…