Tag: mental

Final Review: Hillary Clinton’s Comprehensive Platform

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Before the majority of Americans head to the polls on Tuesday, the campaign has heated up in the battle between Hillary Clinton and Republican Donald Trump. Clinton has outlined a comprehensive platform while what has been offered by Trump little substance and foundation. Clinton’s platform is built on a career of public service and an understanding of domestic and foreign policies. While everyone may not agree with all of platform points, taken as a whole it is clear that she has put together a solid plan to more the country forward and ensure that everyone has an opportunity to live up to their full potential.

When Clinton has introduced a major platform topic, we add it to the Platform category of the website. Looking through Clinton’s speeches and policy proposals, a clear plan emerges. From Clinton’s kickoff rally in June 2015 to the announcement of her plan to combat bullying just a few weeks ago, a list of Clinton’s platform speech topics and announcement dates are below:

For all the latest, follow our Scheduled Events page and follow Clinton on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, and Instagram. Also, be sure to subscribe to the campaign’s official Podcast, With Her.

Chelsea Clinton Campaigns for Hillary in Colorado

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Chelsea Clinton campaigned for her mother in Aurora, Colorado on Tuesday where she spoke with supporters about Hillary Clinton’s blueprint for America. Chelsea discussed her mother’s plans to create new jobs by investing in American manufacturing and infrastructure, reducing gun violence by introducing mandatory background checks, and expanding access to mental health care. At the beginning of her speech, Chelsea was briefly interrupted by protesters, but she simply responded, “Love trumps hate, and we’re going to prove that November 8.” She concluded by asking everyone to vote. A video from the event will be added when/if available.

For all the latest, follow our Scheduled Events page and follow Clinton on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, and Instagram. Also, be sure to subscribe to the campaign’s official Podcast, With Her.

News Source: Aurora Sentinel

Kaine Calls Gun Violence a “Public Health Crisis” in Op-Ed

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On Tuesday, an op-ed by Tim Kaine was published by Time magazine in which he talks about gun violence and its threat to the public. Read the full editorial below.

Tim Kaine: Gun Violence Is a Public-Health Crisis

Time Magazine

November 1, 2016

In every elected office I have held over the past 20 years, gun violence has been a serious issue. When I was mayor of Richmond, Virginia, our city had one of the highest homicide rates in the country. When I was governor, our commonwealth experienced the worst campus shooting in U.S. history. And as I serve in the U.S. Senate and our country falls victim to one mass shooting after another, Congress has yet to pass any commonsense gun safety legislation. Like many Americans, I own a gun and am a proud supporter of the Second Amendment, yet my experiences have shown me that supporting the right to bear arms should never stop us from ensuring our communities are as safe as possible.

The worst day of my life was April 16, 2007. I had just arrived in Japan for a two-week trade mission. There was a knock on my hotel room door to inform me of an active shooter on the campus of one of my state’s universities, Virginia Tech. Half a world away, I watched the horrific tragedy unfold on television and made plans to return home as soon as possible. Thirty-two innocent lives— from all around the world, from all walks of life, students and professors alike—were lost that day. Seventeen others were shot and wounded, and another six were injured leaping from classroom windows to escape the carnage.

In the months and years that followed, we worked across the state to take concrete steps to reduce gun violence. The shooting revealed glaring weaknesses in campus security protocols at colleges and universities, in mental health standards, and in the system for background checks before gun purchases, so I convened a multidisciplinary panel to identify actionable solutions. We changed standards for mental health treatment and increased funding for community services while improving campus security and efforts to assist college students suffering from mental illness.

I also worked to make improvements to our background check system, issuing an executive order to ensure that those declared mentally ill and dangerous would be entered into a national database and barred from purchasing weapons. Unfortunately, efforts to close the gun show loophole—which allows anyone, including felons, potential terrorists, and domestic abusers, to purchase weapons without any background check—were undermined in the Virginia legislature, largely under pressure from the National Rifle Association.

When I arrived in the U.S. Senate in January 2013, our country was again reeling from another devastating tragedy: on December 14, 2012, twenty children and six adults were gunned down at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut. A group of Democrats and Republicans came together after this tragedy to draft compromise legislation that would have closed the gun show loophole and encouraged states to help strengthen the existing background check system. After months of debating, I was sure that this time would be different, that this time my colleagues would have the courage to stand up to the NRA and pass meaningful gun control reform to make our entire country safer. But the same special interests that prevented us from closing the gun show loophole in Virginia in the wake of Virginia Tech were at it again. Ultimately, a minority in the Senate prevented a majority from passing this meaningful, commonsense gun safety legislation.

More recently, in December 2015, the Senate failed to stand up to the NRA and rejected another commonsense bipartisan measure that would have made it illegal for people on the no-fly list to be prohibited from purchasing weapons. If someone has been deemed too dangerous to be allowed on an airplane, why should they be permitted to purchase a firearm?

We have to make a decision about what matters to us. When gun deaths in Virginia outnumber automobile deaths, we have to treat this like the public health crisis it is. Will we have the courage to stand up to a gun lobby that no longer represents the views of American gun owners but instead represents the gun manufacturers?

An overwhelming number of Americans—many of them gun owners—support commonsense efforts to reduce gun violence like background checks, but the NRA and the gun lobby vehemently oppose any efforts to make our country safer and to promote responsible gun ownership. It is in the gun manufacturers’ financial interest to sell as many guns as they can to whomever they can, whenever they can and wherever they can. That motive is what blocks so many states and even Congress from passing background check laws that would keep us safer.

Gun violence has been ever-present throughout my time in public service, but my past experiences have taught me that no matter how tough our problems may be, they pale in comparison to the combined will of the American people who are determined to make our communities safer. I look forward to the day when we, as elected officials and as Americans, live up to our responsibilities and put an end to this crisis.

Tim Kaine is a U.S. Senator from Virginia and Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton’s running mate.

Excerpted from Guns in the Hands of Artists, copyright © 2016 by Jonathan Ferrara. First hardcover edition published Nov. 1, 2016, by Inkshares. All rights reserved.

For all the latest, follow our Scheduled Events page and follow Clinton on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, and Instagram. Also, be sure to subscribe to the campaign’s official Podcast, With Her.

News Source: Time

HFA Releases Issue Based Video Series

Earlier this week, Hillary for America released a series of issue based videos featuring African Americans talking about issues that are important to them. Topics covered include education, voting rights, criminal justice, health care, racial justice, LGBT rights, mental health, income inequality, and more. Each video is a powerful reminder about why the election is important. Watch the video series below.

For all the latest, follow our Scheduled Events page and follow Clinton on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, and Instagram. Also, be sure to subscribe to the campaign’s official Podcast, With Her.

Details: Hillary Clinton’s Comprehensive Presidential Platform

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Since launching her campaign in April 2015, Hillary Clinton has outlined a number of major platform points in a series of speeches. As we near the election, the campaign has heated up in the battle between Clinton and Republican Donald Trump. With a little over a month to go, it is important that Clinton continue to deliver substantive speeches and combat a Trump platform that offers no substance or foundation. Clinton’s platform is built on a career of public service and an understanding of domestic and foreign policies. While everyone may not agree with all of platform points, taken as a whole it is clear that she has put together a solid plan to more the country forward and ensure that everyone has an opportunity to live up to their full potential.

When Clinton has introduced a major platform topic, we add it to the Platform category of the website. Looking through Clinton’s speeches and policy proposals, a clear plan emerges. From Clinton’s kickoff rally in June 2015 to the announcement of her plans to protect the rights of disabled Americans earlier this month, a list of Clinton’s platform speech topics and announcement dates are below:

For all the latest, follow our Scheduled Events page and follow Clinton on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, and Instagram. Also, be sure to subscribe to the campaign’s official Podcast, With Her.

Read: Hillary Clinton’s Comprehensive Platform

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Since launching her campaign in April 2015, Hillary Clinton has outlined a number of major platform points in a series of speeches. As we near the election, the campaign has heated up in the battle between Clinton and Republican Donald Trump. With a little over a month to go, it is important that Clinton continue to deliver substantive speeches and combat a Trump platform that offers no substance or foundation. Clinton’s platform is built on a career of public service and an understanding of domestic and foreign policies. While everyone may not agree with all of platform points, taken as a whole it is clear that she has put together a solid plan to more the country forward and ensure that everyone has an opportunity to live up to their full potential.

When Clinton has introduced a major platform topic, we add it to the Platform category of the website. Looking through Clinton’s speeches and policy proposals, a clear plan emerges. From Clinton’s kickoff rally in June 2015 to the announcement of her plans to protect the rights of disabled Americans earlier this month, a list of Clinton’s platform speech topics and announcement dates are below:

For all the latest, follow our Scheduled Events page and follow Clinton on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, and Instagram. Also, be sure to subscribe to the campaign’s official Podcast, With Her.

Clinton Unveils Comprehensive Agenda on Mental Health (Updated)

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Hillary Clinton announced her comprehensive plan to better treat people living with a mental illness. The current mental health treatment policies have been criticized for not properly treating patients. Highlights of Clinton’s plan include the expansion of early intervention programs, a national suicide prevention initiative, increased training for police in dealing with the mentally ill, providing mental health care for those who commit non-violent crimes, expanding employment opportunities, and increasing investments in research for the brain and behavioral research. An outline of the plan is below, and the full plan can be read on The Briefing.

  1. Early Diagnosis and Intervention
    • Increase public awareness and take action to address maternal depression, infant mental health, and trauma and stress in the lives of young children
    • Scale up efforts to help pediatric practices and schools support children facing behavioral problems
    • Help providers share information and best practices
    • Ensure that college students have access to mental health services
  2. Federal Support for Suicide Prevention
    • Create a national initiative around suicide prevention across the lifespan that is headed by the Surgeon General
    • Encourage evidence-based suicide prevention and mental health programs in high schools
    • Provide federal support for suicide prevention on college campuses
    • Partner with colleges and researchers to ensure that students of color and LGBT students are receiving adequate mental health coverage
  3. Integrate our Healthcare Systems and Expand Community-Based Treatment
    • Foster integration between the medical and behavioral health care systems (including mental health and addiction services), so that high-quality treatment for behavioral health is widely available in general health care settings
    • Expand reimbursement systems for collaborative care models in Medicare and Medicaid
    • Promote the use of health information technology to foster coordination of care
    • Promote the use of peer support specialists
    • Encourage states to allow same-day billing
    • Support the creation of high-quality, comprehensive community health centers in every state
    • Launch a nationwide strategy to address the shortage of mental health providers
  4. Improve Outcomes in the Criminal Justice System
    • Dedicate new resources to help train law enforcement officers in responding to encounters involving persons with mental illness, and increase support for law enforcement partnerships with mental health professionals
    • Prioritize treatment over punishment for low-level, non-violent offenders with mental illnesses
  5. Enforcing Mental Health Parity
    • Launch randomized audits to detect parity violations, and increase federal enforcement
    • Enforce disclosure requirements so that insurers cannot conceal their practices for denying mental health care
    • Strengthen federal monitoring of health insurer compliance with network adequacy requirements
    • Create a simple process for patients, families, and providers to report parity violations and improve federal-state coordination on parity enforcement
  6. Housing and Job Opportunities
    • Expand community-based housing opportunities for individuals with mental illness and other disabilities
    • Expand employment opportunities for people with mental illness
    • Expand protection and advocacy support for people with mental health conditions
  7. Brain and Behavioral Science Research
    • Significantly increase research into brain and behavioral science research
    • Develop new links with the private and non-profit sectors
    • Commit to brain and behavioral science research based on open data

UPDATE (8/30/16): Hillary for America announced that Clinton and Tim Kaine spoke with the mental health policy community including patients, advocates, researchers, policy experts, physicians, counselors, and service providers. The conference call featured people from across the country and allowed Clinton to speak about her plan and hear feedback from experts.

Following the meeting, Clinton said, “I have heard heartbreaking stories for years about these incredible challenges, but during this campaign, it has seemed like a floodgate has opened from parents and students, from veterans, nurses, doctors, police officers. But I’ve also heard stories of hope and courage – people getting the help they needed, being able to lead happy, healthy, and thriving lives. And cities and states are deploying innovative programs, and that’s what we want to hear more of. We’ve got to break through and break down the stigma and shame. We’ve got to make clear that mental health is not a personal failing. Right now, it is our country which is failing people with mental health issues.”

Kaine said, “I am really happy that today when our campaign rolled out this proposal with respect to comprehensive mental health improvement, that we decided one group of people that we really want to talk to is college students. Most mental health challenges do first present themselves during adolescence or college. So, while even a mental health challenge of an adult later in life may become more manifest, there are early signs about it. One in four college students today do acknowledge that they are dealing with mental health challenges at some point along the way. And it is very important that we are aware of that and that we make clear that it’s normal, there is no stigma associated with it. And we want to make sure that there are appropriate resources, innovative resources, community-based resources so that people can access help, and that the response of society is treatment rather than judgment or pretending that it doesn’t exist.”

For all the latest, follow our Scheduled Events page and follow Clinton on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, and Instagram. Also, be sure to subscribe to the campaign’s official Podcast, With Her.

News Source: The Briefing, USA Today

Hillary Clinton Campaigns in Oakland, Vallejo, and Sacramento

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On Sunday, Hillary Clinton was in northern California where she began the morning by attending Sunday services at the Greater St. Paul Church in Oakland. She spoke with the congregation briefly saying that, if elected president, she will ask herself everyday, “What can I do that day to make it possible for every child to live up to their God-given potential?” Clinton spoke about a number of key issues she would like to address including raising the minimum wage, creating jobs, reducing gun violence, and reforming the criminal justice system. She said that America is at its best when everyone works together to achieve a common goal, and divisive politics is not helping anyone. She vowed to work with members of both parties to continue the progress of the last eight years. A video of Clinton’s address is below:

Clinton then attended a round table discussion with city leaders in Vallejo. Meeting at a local restaurant, Clinton first spoke about a number of topics she believes to be central to the 2016 election. She spoke about her plans for immigration reform, criminal justice reform, education, and health care. She then listened to the concerns of local city leaders and business owners. Each day, Clinton has held at least one round table discussion because she believes they are important. “I do think it’s important to hear from people directly,” she said. Clinton stressed the importance of a community to work together toward common goals, and she said that while the state and federal governments have a role, local decisions are very important. A video from the event is below.

Her final event was a rally in Sacramento where she spoke to a crowd of supporters at Sacramento City College. During her speech, Clinton took a number of shots at Republican nominee Donald Trump, but she did so while covering a number of key platform points. She spoke about her plans to grow the economy and create jobs, assist those with mental health, help those suffering from addiction, and combat climate change. Clinton concluded by asking for voters’ support in Tuesday’s primary. A video from the event will be added when/if available.

For all the latest, follow our Scheduled Events page and follow Clinton on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.

News Source: SF Gate, KCRA, The Mercury News

Hillary Clinton Unveils Plan to Help Military Families

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On Tuesday, Hillary Clinton released her plan to assist military families. The plan unveiled today builds upon a previously introduced plan to build upon the Department of Veteran Affairs and ensure veterans receive proper support after they have left the military. The plan includes provision that will not only ensure that the members of our military are supported, but their spouses and children will as well. You can read the full details of the plan on The Briefing, and an outline of the plan is below:

  • Realign the Demands of a Military Career in Service to the Nation to Accommodate 21st Century Family Realities While Maintaining a Strong Force
  • Ensure that family leave policies meet the needs of our military families
  • Increase access to child care for all service members in the Active Duty and Reserve who need it
  • Let service members and their families take a knee
  • Create the ability to serve in different ways
  • Officially include life-cycle and family considerations in permanent moves
  • Back Military Spouses as they Pursue Education, Seek Jobs, Build Careers and Secure their Finances
  • Enhancing opportunities for military spouse employment and breaking down antiquated rules, such as onerous state credentialing, that lead to military spouse under-employment
  • Reforming the assignment process to better support dual-military couples
  • Standing side-by-side with families through transition out of the military
  • Enhance military families financial planning and protection
  • Creating flexibility around military moves
  • Ensure Military Children Receive a High-Quality Education and the Resources to Succeed
  • Keep Defense Department schools strong and focused
  • Elevate public schools with high number of military children
  • Preserve and protect the Post-9/11 GI Bill, making it a lasting part of the nation’s social contract for those who serve and their families
  • Enhance the Exceptional Family Member Experience
  • Bring Key Resources for Military Families in to the Information Age
  • Move resources into higher gear with on-line technology
  • Increase virtual access and information for families and surrounding communities
  • Champion efforts to care for our military members and families
  • Ensure continued focus on mental health for military members and families
  • Remain committed to extended leave policies
  • Continue to support Gold Star Families
  • Continue and Build on the Obama Administration’s Effort to Elevate Military Families in the White House and Across Government
  • Create a standing President’s Council on Service Members, Veterans, and Military Families
  • Establish “Joining Forces” as a permanent part of the Executive Office of the President
  • Direct senior White House and Department of Defense civilian and military leadership to conduct a series of town hall meetings to hear directly from service members and their families about their needs
  • Personally request and receive a thorough report and 12-month implementation plan on priority areas for improvement based on these town halls

Meanwhile, Clinton attended two fundraisers today. The first was in East Brunswick, New Jersey and included a conversation with Clinton and Senator Cory Booker. In New York City, Clinton attended an event at the Sheraton New York Times Square Hotel. The event included a conversation with her, former Attorney General Eric Holder, and actress Julianna Margulies.

For all the latest, follow our revamped Scheduled Events page and follow Clinton on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.

News Source: The Briefing

Hillary Clinton Campaigns in Pennsylvania

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On Friday, Hillary Clinton spent the day in Pennsylvania leading up to next week’s primary. She attended events and visited with voters across the state. She began in Philadelphia where she spoke with Lilly Ledbetter, then in Jenkinstown, she spoke with a number of voters at a local cafe. During the conversation, she presented a number of her plans to continue economic growth, introduce new jobs, improve health care, and lower the cost of higher education. She then went to the Pittsburgh area where she had dinner at Primanti Brothers restaurant in Market Square where she spoke with supporters about labor unions, the minimum wage, and the struggles of the middle class.

In the evening, Clinton held an organizing event at Dunmore High School in Scranton. She had a populist tone as she referenced a number of local examples and bringing additional jobs to the area. She spoke about a number of her platform points and was largely positive in her outlook, “I believe we can still make it in America. We will knock down the barriers, and we will raise the minimum wage.” Clinton also spoke about her plans to expand mental health care and combat the heroin epidemic in the Northeast. She said, “Two things I hear most about are mental health and addiction. When I shake the hand of a mother, father, brother or sister of a mental health patient, they look at me and tell me they need help.” A video from the event will be posted when/if available.

Clinton was not alone on the campaign trail Friday. Secretary of Labor Tom Perez was in Reading, Pennsylvania where he spoke with a group of Hillary supporters. In Providence, Rhode Island, Planned Parenthood president Cecile Richards spoke with a group of supporters.

For all the latest, follow our revamped Scheduled Events page and follow Clinton on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.

News Source: WPXI, Times Leader, CBS Pittsburgh, CBS Philly, Montgomery Media,