The International Transformational Resilience Coalition (ITRC) today released a letter to Congress calling for the introduction and enactment of the "Resilience for All Act of 2021." The letter is endorsed by over 80 national, state, and local mental health and human services organizations from across the nation, and by over 240 individual professionals. The letter can be found on page three of this document.
Overview: The "Resilience for All Act of 2021" will, for the first time, make the prevention and healing of mental health and psychosocial problems through community-based, age and culturally-appropriate, population-level initiatives a national priority. It will also establish an Office of Mental Wellness and Resilience in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and a grant program run by the new CDC office to fund community-based mental wellness and resilience building initiatives nationwide.
"The Covid-19 pandemic exposed the limitations of the crisis and illness, single-person, clinical treatment approach to addressing mental health and psychosocial problems," said Bob Doppelt, Coordinator of the International Transformational Resilience Coalition (ITRC). "The significant number and diversity of national, state, and local organizations and individuals that endorsed the letter calling on Congress to introduce and enact the "Resilience for All Act of 2021" shows that professionals nationwide see the need and want the federal government to support the engagement of entire communities in preventing and healing psychological and emotional distresses and traumas."
"The organizations with which I work, including the Climate Psychiatry Alliance, the American Association for Community Psychiatry, and the American Psychiatric Association, are all in alignment with regard to federal funding to support resilience implementation at the community level," said David A. Pollack, MD, Professor Emeritus for Public Policy, Oregon Health and Science University. "We see such work as the essential public health equivalent of providing mass vaccination to prevent or mitigate serious infectious disease outbreaks, only in this case we are talking about ways to prevent the negative mental health outcomes of acute and longer term climate change events."
"In Tarpon Springs we found that the best way to address and prevent violence, childhood trauma, and other huge societal challenges is to engage community members to develop solutions." said Robin Saenger, Founding Director of Peace4Tarpon in Tarpon Springs Florida. "Community initiatives such as ours are needed nationwide. The Federal government can play a key role to support these efforts by enacting the "Resilience for All Act of 2021."
"Nurses are extremely traumatized and stressed today due to the Pandemic and the disasters happening across the nation," said Cara Cook, Director of Programs with Alliance of Nurses for Healthy Environments. "Individual self-care is important, but it takes a community to prevent and heal these problems and that is why we want Congress to move forward with the "Resilience for All Act of 2021."
"Ample data confirms the benefits of building community-wide resilience based on an understanding of the impact of adverse experiences and subsequent health outcomes," said Theresa Barilla, Founder and Board President Emeritus of the Community Resilience Initiative in Walla Walla, WA. "Physical, mental, and emotional gains along with school and work performance improve when communities focus on protective factors and resilience strategies. The sense of urgency with continued perturbations to community function clearly endorse passage of the “Resilience for All Act of 2021” now for the framework for action needed."
"My organization works in the U.S. and internationally responding to human made and natural disasters," said Elaine Miller-Karas, Co-Founder and Director of Innovation at the Trauma Resource Institute. " We have seen a systemic lack of preparedness throughout the United States to respond to the mental health challenges people face during and after disasters. Underserved populations and those living in poverty especially suffer. This policy is urgently needed to support coordinated community-based initiatives and should be embraced as a national priority."
"While there is increasing focus on building more resilient physical infrastructure, we’ve not paid nearly enough attention to the psychological consequences of the rising natural disasters and other adversities we face," said Dr. David Shern, Senior Associate, Department of Mental Health Bloomberg School of Public Health, Vice Chair Campaign for Trauma Informed Policy and Practice, and former President/CEO of Mental Health America. "It is critical that these population health issues be addressed systematically and quickly. Fortunately, we have tools to address this challenge, but need policies to implement them. The "Resilience for All Act" is one of the essential policies."
"Individualized clinical treatment will remain important," concluded Doppelt. "However, it assists people only after they show symptoms of pathology and does not engage whole communities in proactively building the skills, strengths, resources, hope, and other protective factors that are vital to help everyone prevent and heal mental health and psychosocial problems. To address this glaring omission Congress urgently needs to introduce, enact, and fund the "Resilience for All Act of 2021."
See the attached entire media release and letter to Congress with all of the signers
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