Bill > S4388

This bill, the Mental Health Equity Act of 2020, aims to address mental health issues for youth, particularly youth of color. The key provisions include: 1. Establishing an Integrated Health Care Demonstration Program to provide grants to Federally qualified health centers, rural health clinics, or behavioral health programs serving a high proportion of racial and ethnic minority groups to establish interprofessional health care teams that provide scientifically-based integrated behavioral health care. 2. Requiring the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities to conduct a study on mental health disparities in racial and ethnic minority groups and the impact of community violence, adverse childhood experiences, and other psychological traumas. 3. Providing grants to develop and disseminate curricula or core competencies addressing mental health disparities among racial and ethnic minority groups for training programs in social work, psychology, psychiatry, and other mental health professions. 4. Directing the Department of Health and Human Services to develop and implement an outreach and education strategy to promote behavioral and mental health and reduce stigma among racial and ethnic minority groups. 5. Authorizing additional funding for the National Institutes of Health and the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities to conduct research on racial and ethnic disparities in physical and mental health. 6. Reauthorizing and increasing funding for the Minority Fellowship Program and establishing a Commission to examine the effects of smartphone and social media use on the emotional, physical, and academic well-being of adolescents. 7. Prohibiting the use of federal funds for conversion therapy and discouraging states from funding such practices.

Health and Social Services

https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/senate-bill/4388/all-info