Congresswoman Johnson received the 2017 Legislator Award from Mental Health America for the work she performed in fighting for fair solutions and resources to help those with mental illness. Mental Health America also awarded Representative Tim Murphy (R-PA), Senators Chris Murphy (D-CT) and Bill Cassidy (R-LA) for their efforts in authoring, contributing to, and passing the legislation surrounding mental health.
“It is an honor to receive this award with my colleagues—Rep. Tim Murphy and Senators Bill Cassidy and Chris Murphy, who worked tirelessly in helping shape how we address mental illness in our communities,” said Congresswoman Johnson. “Because of our backgrounds and our previous work in Congress, we were all determined to move the needle on mental health in America.”
“What my colleagues and I noticed were a lack of resources available to those in need, the inability to receive treatment during the earlier stages of mental illness, and the visibility of mental illness in our prisons and homeless population. In December 2016, provisions of the Helping Families in Mental Health Crisis Act were included in the 21st Century Cures Act, which was passed in the House and Senate and signed by President Barack Obama to counter some of the issues faced by the severely mentally ill. This will serve as a basis of mental health reform moving forward and will help us to fix our broken mental health system, refocusing programs and removing unnecessary barriers to care. There is still much more work to be done and I will continue to work and fight for additional mental health and substance use disorder reforms to improve public health for our deserving nation.” - Congresswoman Eddie Bernice Johnson
