Political Quotes

“I agree. You know, when I think about COVID and all the increased stress on children and young people and, as you said, the increase in number of suicides--all the pressure is on everyone, from those on the frontlines who are taking care of patients in the hospitals and the stress of families and so on. We know that it is even more important that we eliminate the stigma of what it means to ask for help--mental health help--or if you have an addiction to be able to ask for help. It is not enough just to eliminate the stigma; you have to have the service. You have to have the service in the community. It has to be quality services. It has to be funded in a structural way where you are supporting the staff and, again, modeling this after community health centers, which are widely supported--every community in the country, strong bipartisan support. By our picking up that model and basically saying, We need to do that for mental health and addiction as well as physical health, we are just extending something that has shown such success in the community. And now, because of what has happened and all the pressures of COVID and so on, it is even more important that folks who need help can be able to get that. You know I think of someone who has struggled with addiction their whole life and they finally get the courage up; they are going to ask for help. The ability to walk into a clinic and say, ``I need help'' and to have somebody say, ``Come on in''----”