WASHINGTON, DC (June 7, 1999) -- Congresswoman Rosa L. DeLauro (D-CT) touted two New Haven mental health programs for young people as models for the nation as she participated in the White House Conference on Mental Health.

The Comer School Development Program (SDP), designed at the Yale Child Study Center, implements a three-pronged approach to address school management, mental health, and crisis management needs in schools.

"The Comer model is a proactive, collaborative approach to providing mental health services to our young people," said DeLauro.  "Bringing teachers, parents, administrators, and mental health experts together is the best way to respond to students' mental health needs."

The Child Development and Community Policing Program (CD-CP), also designed through the Yale Child Study Center, establishes partnerships between police and mental health professionals to help children who are witnesses to or victims of violence.  Through a Justice Department grant program, the CD-CP is being replicated in ten cities across the nation.

"Police officers are often the first to engage children whose lives have been touched by violent crime.  It's critical that officers and mental health professionals work together so we can reach these children and help them to deal with their experiences," DeLauro said.

DeLauro, a panelist for a breakout session entitled "Mental Health as a Public Health Issue," discussed the Comer SDP as part of her address on the integration of mental health services into elementary and secondary schools.  The SDP model, created and directed by Dr. James Comer, is currently used in over 800 schools nationwide.

"Though mental illnesses are often misunderstood, their affects are well known," said DeLauro.  "Failure to address mental illness at an early is a vast waste of human potential.  Implementing solutions that are targeted to young people increases the opportunity for successful diagnosis and treatment."

According to the National Association of School Psychologists, there is only one school psychologist for every 2300 students.  The SDP mental health teams, or clinics, are composed of teachers, parents, administrators, and mental health experts.  Together, they evaluate and treat children with specific mental and psychiatric disorders.  Crisis management teams train teachers and staff how to manage a traumatic event -- such as school violence -- and how to link outside resources in the community such as police, social services, physicians, and others.

"If we are serious about addressing mental health as a public health issue, we must engage community resources and reach children where they are -- in their schools, in their neighborhoods, or in the justice system," DeLauro said.  "Congress must make the commitment to ensure that schools have the resources to provide comprehensive services for children -- and to take the step toward parity in insurance coverage for mental illness."

DeLauro is the author of the Equitable Treatment for Neurobiological Disorders Act, which would provide fair and equal coverage for mental illnesses.   The bill would require health care plans to provide coverage in a manner that 1) is no more restrictive than coverage provided for other major physical illnesses; 2) provides adequate financial protection to the person requiring medical treatment; and 3) is consistent with effective and common methods of controlling health care costs for other major illnesses (e.g. copayments, deductibles).

"People with neurobiological disorders deserve the same care and treatment that is available to people who suffer from other severe illnesses," said DeLauro.  "Illnesses of the brain should have coverage that is equal to coverage of other severe illnesses."

The White House Conference, chaired by Tipper Gore, is an attempt to address the issues affecting the 50 million Americans who suffer from mental illness every year, and the friends and family who are affected.  The conference focused on several topics, including: advances in science and research; community approaches to recovery; structural barriers to mental health service delivery (including financing and proximity to resources); the criminal justice system; education and training of health care and other service providers; community responses to crises; and ways to view mental health as an issue that affects all Americans.

"I hope today's conference will give us the impetus to move forward on this important issue," DeLauro said.