Patrick J. Kennedy, Advocate For Mental Health Addiction

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In October, Kennedy released a book, A Common Struggle: A Personal Journey Through the Past and Future of Mental Illness and Addiction, which details his personal and political battle with mental illness and addiction. The book, part memoir and part call-to-action, explores the history of psychiatric care in this country alongside his private struggles, and outlines a bold plan for the future of mental health in America.

In 2013, Kennedy founded The Kennedy Forum, a think tank focused on advancing evidence-based practices, policies, and programming in mental health and addiction care by uniting mental health advocates, business leaders, and government agencies around a common set of principles, including full implementation and enforcement of the Federal Parity Law. He is also the founder of DontDenyMe.org, a website that empowers consumers and providers to stand up for patient rights under the Federal Parity Law and connects them with essential appeals guidance and resources.

With one in five Americans living with a mental illness, one in 12 living with addiction, and deaths from suicide at the highest they have been in two decades, The Kennedy Forum believed it was critical that mental health and addiction reform took prominence in policy discussions during the 2020 election season. The Kennedy Forum, a nonprofit founded by former U.S Representative Patrick J. Kennedy to advance evidence-based practices, policies and programming in mental health and addiction, sought a partner that could build a movement that would bring mental health and addiction reform to the forefront of national policy talks in the 2020 elections.

In partnership with The Kennedy Forum, CURA Strategies successfully launched Mental Health For US, a nonpartisan initiative ahead of the 2020 election season focused on educating voters and policymakers on barriers to mental health and addiction treatment and recovery resources, while empowering voters to advocate for mental health policies and improving candidate and policymaker health literacy. CURA developed and executed a strategic communications plan with the following goals:

He is best known as the lead sponsor of the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act, (Federal Parity Law), which was passed with bipartisan support, and signed into law by President George W. Bush Oct. 3, 2008. The law provides millions of Americans, previously denied care, with access to mental health and addiction treatment by requiring insurance companies to cover illnesses of the brain, such as depression and addiction, no more restrictively than illnesses of the body, such as diabetes and cancer.

In 2013, he founded The Kennedy Forum, a non-profit organization whose mission is to transform mental health and addiction care delivery by uniting mental health advocates, business leaders and government agencies around a common set of principles, including full implementation of the Federal Parity Law.

Our newest addition to the team, Patrick J. Kennedy, is a former U.S. Representative (D-RI) and renowned mental health advocate. Former Congressman Kennedy represented Rhode Island's 1st congressional district from 1995 to 2011.

After leaving Congress, Kennedy discussed his own experiences with addiction and has since dedicated his life to the mental health and addiction field. He founded The Kennedy Forum in 2013, a non-profit focused on transforming mental health and addiction systems by convening a unique group of stakeholders including mental health advocates, business leaders, and government agencies.

As such, it has never been more important to safeguard the behavioral health of our families and the resilience of our communities. Through this conversation with Patrick Kennedy, we hope to highlight what measures stakeholders across the healthcare system can take to ensure needed support for people with mental and substance use disorders.

When you think about the role that employers in terms of human service providers are playing, how do you view mental health literacy as helping with those, whether it be healthcare, law enforcement, [or] teachers who are working with some of the more vulnerable populations?

Erica: Patrick, thank you so much for your time today. For the thought-provoking discussion and for your challenge for us to prioritize mental health as a nation and for each of us to up our game. We really appreciate all that you do.

Since leaving Congress, Kennedy has dedicated his professional life to advocating for those with mental health and substance use disorders and ensuring that illnesses of the brain, such as depression and addiction, are treated on par with illnesses of the body, such as cancer and diabetes.

To honor Mental Health Awareness Month, axialHealthcare's Andy Thomas sat down with mental health and addiction treatment advocate, former U.S. Rep. Patrick J. Kennedy for an important and personal conversation on new ways to approach recovery and support those struggling with substance use disorder. Both in long-term recovery themselves, Patrick and Andy discuss how their perspectives on the space have been influenced by their own lived experience and connect on a shared mission of spreading the word that recovery is possible.

As one of the world's leading mental health advocates, Patrick Kennedy speaks on topics such as eliminating the stigma of mental illness, brain research, the impact of public policy on our healthcare system, and many other mental health and substance abuse issues.

Patrick J. Kennedy will discuss why mental health is critical to the overall health and wellbeing of all Americans, why the healthcare system needs to adapt to better accommodate mental healthcare, the underlying public policy imperatives of parity, and why we need to invest in innovation. Kennedy will also discuss his own journey toward mental health and recovery, and how he sees the world today.

Patrick Kennedy was so gracious at each and every turn and our audiences loved him! From the student lecture to the mental health professional meeting to the reception and lecture, he took time with everyone, worked hard to meaningfully connect with them in a short time and the questions in each forum could have gone on for another hour. We are so very happy with his time here and appreciative of his warm and personable demeanor. This has been a home run for The New Albany Community Foundation!

APA CEO Arthur C. Evans, Jr., PhD, met with Kennedy soon after their recent testimony during a House Energy and Commerce Health Subcommittee hearing, where H.R. 884 was among the bills before the Committee. APA Advocacy staff also engaged with the Kennedy Forum to discuss the bill and its impact on access to mental health and substance use disorder services. APA Advocacy staff continues to conduct extensive outreach to members of Congress and other advocacy groups to broaden support for H.R. 884.

Rosenthal was a dedicated advocate of ensuring that those with substance use disorders received counseling and focused treatment. "What I know is that addiction is not a moral failing," Rosenthal wrote in an opinion piece for The Hill in 2019.

Patrick J. Kennedy, a former Rhode Island congressman, mental health advocate, and recovering substance user, tweeted that he was saddened to learn of Rosenthal's death. He "was ahead of his time in advocating for insurance coverage for sober living homes, one of the biggest unmet needs in our systems of recovery," said Kennedy.

Inseparable fights for a future where mental health policy, no longer an afterthought, helps our country thrive. Together, we will empower Americans from every town, city, and home to better care for one another by demanding and winning policy that better cares for us all.

In addition to being a Johns Hopkins professor, Shelley currently serves as the president of CityHealth, an initiative of the de Beaumont Foundation and Kaiser Permanente. In addition, she runs the Forsythia Foundation, an environmental health philanthropy, as a consultant.

Dr. Michael A. Lindsey is a noted scholar in the fields of child and adolescent mental health, as well as a leader in the search for knowledge and solutions to generational poverty and inequality. He is the Executive Director of the McSilver Institute for Poverty Policy and Research at New York University (NYU), the Constance and Martin Silver Professor of Poverty Studies at NYU Silver School of Social Work, and an Aspen Health Institute Innovators Fellow. He also leads a university-wide Strategies to Reduce Inequality initiative from the NYU McSilver Institute.

Lippincott is a founding board member and present board secretary of the media watchdog organization Media Matters for America. In 2019, he joined the Board of Directors of Didi Hirsch Mental Health Services, one of the oldest and largest mental health, substance use and recovery, and suicide prevention organizations in Southern California.

Dr. Benjamin F. Miller, PsyD is a national expert in the area of mental health, policy, and ways to integrate mental health into both clinical and community settings. Most recently, Miller was President of Well Being Trust. Prior to joining Well Being Trust, Miller spent eight years as an Associate Professor in the Department of Family Medicine at the University of Colorado School of Medicine where he was the founding Director of Eugene S. Farley, Jr. Health Policy Center. He is currently an Adjunct Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences in the Stanford School of Medicine.

He received his doctorate in clinical psychology from Spalding University in Louisville, Kentucky. He completed his predoctoral internship at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center, where he trained in primary care psychology. In addition, Miller worked as a postdoctoral fellow in primary care psychology at the University of Massachusetts Medical School in the Department of Family Medicine and Community Health. He has written and published prolifically on the need to address specific health policy and payment barriers for successful mental health integration. He has been featured in numerous media outlets including CNN, NBC News, USA Today, New York Times, NPR, PBS NewsHour, and many more. Outside of his job, Dr. Miller enjoys playing music, mountain biking, rock climbing, and painting. He and his family live in Chattanooga, Tennessee. 2b1af7f3a8

Patrick J. Kennedy, Advocate For Mental Health Addiction

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