Mental health is healthcare.

One of the major pillars of my campaign is expanding access to mental health services so that every community in America has meaningful, local access to care. Anxiety, depression, and suicide are affecting millions of Americans, often in silence. These struggles are intensified by financial uncertainty, natural disasters, identity-based discrimination, trauma, and the daily stressors of modern life.

We cannot continue to overlook this crisis.

I will fight to:

 

• Expand federal funding to establish community-based mental health centers nationwide

• Increase reimbursement rates so providers can serve more patients

• Invest in school-based mental health services for children and teens

• Expand telehealth access for rural and underserved communities

• Integrate mental health care into primary healthcare systems

Access must be affordable, accessible, and stigma-free.

We must also rethink how we respond to mental health emergencies.

Police officers are not trained mental health clinicians. Yet too often, they are the first responders to individuals experiencing a mental health crisis. This mismatch in training has, in many cases, led to tragic outcomes that could have been prevented with proper clinical intervention.

I support co-responder models in which trained mental health specialists accompany law enforcement when responding to mental health-related calls. In appropriate cases, mental health professionals, not armed officers, should lead the response. This approach protects individuals in crisis, supports law enforcement, and reduces unnecessary escalation.

Mental health deserves the same seriousness and urgency as physical health. No family should lose a loved one because help was unavailable or improperly delivered.

A healthy nation is not only physically strong; it is mentally strong.

And I will fight to ensure that care is within reach for everyone.