PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) – On Monday, Congresswoman Andrea Salinas announced a new initiative to make mental health a top priority in Congress.
Mental Health Mondays aim to shine a light on mental health through floor speeches, social media posts and messages to Oregonians, Representative Salinas (OR-6) said in a press release.
According to Salinas, 27% of adults in Oregon have a mental health condition or illness and 20% of children face mental health challenges in the state.
“I feel like there are too many Oregonians who are suffering, and we really haven’t gotten our arms around the problem that feeds into a lot of other social and emotional problems as well,” Salinas told KOIN 6 News.
Part of her initiative includes tackling the stigma behind mental health issues and its connection to other issues in the state.
“Mental health is the nexus between problems facing our state, everything from drug addiction to houselessness, overrun emergency departments, increasing numbers in child welfare cases and the missed days of school and work. And those are just some of those institutional problems,” the Democratic rep. said.
Salinas emphasized the need to take on institutional barriers to mental health care which includes Oregon’s lack of trained mental health care providers.
“For some people, [mental health is] a talking point, it’s a ‘Oh, let’s parking lot this issue, it’s really big, it’s really hard.’ I want to make a true commitment to my term here as really focusing on some of those institutional barriers,” Salinas said.
The Congresswoman said she will form a group of stakeholders to help address the issue, which will include those facing mental illness or addiction, mental health care providers and peer support specialists.
During her first Mental Health Monday House floor speech, the representative stated, “for too long, we’ve allowed stigma to shame people into silence – and that silence has cost lives. It’s my hope that, by raising awareness, we can make strides in care, treatment, and recovery for those struggling with their mental health.”
In her floor remarks, she also highlighted the disproportionate barriers to mental health care faced by Black people.
“Lack of access to culturally-responsive care makes treatment inaccessible to many Black and Brown individuals. And Congress must work to bridge that gap,” Salinas said.
Other Oregon lawmakers have spoken out or taken steps to address mental health care in the state. In late January, Governor Tina Kotek rolled out her budget proposal for the next two years — asking for nearly $279 million to go to addiction treatment, overdose prevention and peer support services. This would be funded, in part, by Measure 110, which decriminalized most street drugs and directed money to addiction programs.
Kotek also wants to put $50 million towards increasing staffing at the Oregon State Hospital with another $195 million towards continuing behavioral health center investments.
Kotek said her budget works to address this by increasing local residential treatment options, improving jail diversion services, enhancing intervention and outreach and investing in the workforce for these sectors.
Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler has also urged lawmakers to take action to address mental health. Ahead of the 2023 Oregon legislative session, Wheeler sent a letter to state legislators, including Governor Kotek, in December — asking for changes to forcibly committing people in crisis, including lowering the bar to do so.
The Oregon Judicial Department has a committee working on suggestions, but Wheeler says the state can’t wait for those recommendations to land in 2025.
Wheeler says the state needs to act now to lower the threshold for civil commitments and change the length of time a person can be held who is experiencing meth or substance-induced psychosis. He’s also asking to allow looking further back into a person’s mental health history and expand the number of facilities and staff for mental health and substance abuse treatment.
Oregon Senate Majority Whip Lew Frederick echoed the need to address mental health services in an interview with KOIN 6 News.
“Healthcare continues to be an issue, especially dealing with mental health, and how we recruit, retain and support the folks who are dealing with mental health issues throughout the state,” Frederick said. “And getting the staffing for people to be able to talk with folks about addiction and alcohol support issues.”
Speaking with KOIN 6 News, Salinas added, “I feel like for too long, we’ve had this stigma around mental health, behavioral health and addiction and we really need to come clean with that and really start to address it head on and let people know that it’s a condition that is very pervasive here in Oregon, so that’s really why I’m dedicating my Monday’s to mental health.”