Happy New Year!

I hope you have had a healthy and hopeful start to 2022.

To that end, I’d love to share exciting updates and news with each of you:

Statement on U.S. Depts. HHS, Labor, and Treasury Addressing Parity in Health Care Coverage
A recent report from the Department of Health and Human Services, Department of Labor, and Department of Treasury provide indisputable evidence that health plans continue to fail to provide equal coverage for mental health services as they do for physical health treatments. This failure is in direct opposition to the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act, co-authored by former Congressman and my husband Patrick. In response to these findings, Patrick released [link removed] this statement to address this deplorable breach of law, calling for Congress to pass language in the Build Back Better Act that would allow the Dept. of Labor to fine health plans for parity health violations.

Van Drew Votes Down Key Bill Supporting Veterans
To help prevent veteran suicide, the [link removed] EVEST Act automatically enrolls veterans in VA health care services when they transition out of the military. It has the backing of not only veteran-focused organizations such as Paralyzed Veterans of America, Disabled American Veterans, Nurses Organization of Veteran Affairs, and the Veterans Policy Institute, but also the support of the American Psychological Association. This crucially needed legislation passed the House, with bipartisan support but [link removed] without Van Drew’s vote , earlier this month – taking us one step closer toward easing the stressful adjustment from active duty to civilian life and increasing mental health resources available for our returning veterans.

An Inflection Point for School-Based Mental Health: Key Steps States Can Take to Serve All Students
Recently, the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, and Children’s Hospital Association declared a national state of emergency in child and adolescent mental health. In response, Effective School Solutions CEO Duncan Young and I were motivated to co-author an op-ed detailing powerful steps that states can take to better serve all students now. We lay out the need for multi-tiered systems of support (MTSS), universal mental health screenings, and more. You can find the full statement on K-12 Dive [link removed] here .
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States Ring in New Year with Investments in School Mental Health Workforce
The COVID-19 pandemic has brought forth universal changes for all. We’ve born witness like never before to the cracks in our system and the ground that needs to be covered to account for what we lack. One of these fractures has markedly been mental health in schools, and the methods states engage to reverse rising youth mental health conditions. In response to the increase in visibility of this fracture, I detailed the ways in which states have sought to boost their workforce equipped to address the youth mental health crisis in my latest post as Education Director of The Kennedy Forum. You can read the article [link removed] here .

My favorite part of any new year is the possibility for new possibilities. Each one presents the opportunity for a fresh start, new ideas, and reinvigorated determination. I hope you’ll join me in putting my best foot forward to serve our communities in 2022.

All the best,
Amy Kennedy

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Amy L. Kennedy | PO Box 563, Brigantine NJ 08203



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