Newtown Families Tout Progress of Federal Mental Health Bill

Some family members of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting victims in Connecticut are cheering the recent committee passage of a bipartisan, federal mental health bill that’s moving through Congress.

Much of the legislation, known as the Mental Health Reform Act, updates grants for various mental health-related initiatives. That includes grants for early childhood mental health intervention and treatment programs, telehealth child psychiatry efforts and the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline and initiatives.

The Senate Health Education Labor and Pension Committee advanced the bill last week. The panel does not have jurisdiction over funding the bill.

Connecticut Sen. Chris Murphy, one of the bill’s co-sponsors, said he hopes money will be found for the legislation, based partly on input from Connecticut patients and advocates.

Murphy appeared in Hartford, Connecticut, on March 18 with the Newtown families.