![]() In 1995, she began hosting an annual one-day meeting on mental health policy issues facing Georgia, known as the Rosalynn Carter Georgia Mental Health Forum. Carter continues to advocate for mental health in her home state. Carter returned to Georgia and have lived in the same home in Plains since 1961. Mental health advocacy beyond the White HouseĪfter leaving the White House, President and Mrs. Since then, the fellowships have awarded more than 225 journalists in the United States and abroad who have produced mental health projects in the media that more accurately and effectively report on mental health and substance use. In April 1997, The Carter Center established the Rosalynn Carter Fellowships for Mental Health Journalism, the flagship program of the organization to combat stigma here and abroad. ![]() In fact, the topic for the very first symposium she held, with the assistance of the Emory University Department of Psychiatry, was stigma. Carter advocated for mental health support and treatment, she concluded that one of the greatest obstacles to people seeking treatment and receiving the services they need is the stigma and discrimination tied to mental health and substance use conditions. House of Representatives subcommittee in favor of the Wellstone Domenici Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act, calling for mental illnesses to be covered by insurance on par with physical illnesses. On July 10, 2007, Rosalynn Carter testified before a U.S. Carter testified again with David Wellstone, son of the late Senator Paul Wellstone, ensuring the passage of the Pete Domenici and Paul Wellstone Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act of 2008. Carter and former First Lady Betty Ford testified before Congress in 1994 on this issue and Mrs. When a health insurance plan has parity, it means behavioral health conditions are treated in the same way as other medical conditions.Ī lack of parity means that many people, including children, are unable to afford behavioral health treatment. ![]() Carter has gathered colleagues and allies to promote parity for insurance coverage for mental health and substance use conditions. The greatest obstacles to treatmentįrom her time working on the first-ever President’s Commission on Mental Health while in the White House, Mrs. It also provided an opportunity to address the mental health effects of mass tragedies like Hurricane Katrina and the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. The event launched three Surgeon General reports on mental health, including one on the mental health of children, and another addressing gender, race and ethnicity. Through the Carter Center’s Mental Health Program, she hosted an annual national symposium on mental health policy from 1985 to 2016. Carter’s 50 years of advocacy on mental health issues during 20. Carter worked closely with commission members and on October 29, 1971, the commission issued its final report, “A Mental Health Improvement Plan for Georgia.”īecause of this seminal date, The Carter Center is honoring Mrs. Soon after Jimmy Carter won the state election, the Governor’s Commission to Improve Services for Mentally and Emotionally Handicapped Georgians was created. Taking the fight for mental health from Georgia to the White House ![]() Carter on a course that would consume her work for 50 years – advocating on behalf of people who have mental illnesses and substance use issues, and their families. This life-changing moment in 1970 set Mrs. “The scope of the problem overwhelmed me.” “I’d been worrying about those in institutions and their families, but how many others were struggling to care for a loved one at home, without access to any professionals at all?” recounted Mrs. The woman said she had a daughter who lived with a mental illness and that she and her husband struggled to make ends meet and care for their child. Carter stood at the entrance to a cotton mill in Atlanta, waiting for people to get off of work, she recalled in her 2010 book, “ Within Our Reach.” Founded in 1842, it was the largest mental hospital in the world, with a patient population of over 12,000. One of the dormitories of the former Central State Hospital in Milledgeville, Georgia.
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