About the Alignment for Progress: A National Strategy for Mental Health & Substance Use Disorders
The National Strategy exists as one element of the Alignment for Progress Movement. The Strategy is the first-of-its-kind, comprehensive set of policy recommendations for federal policymakers. No matter which congressional committee or federal agency, every part of the federal government has a role to play as demonstrated by the recommendations in the National Strategy.
The Time To Act Is Now
We find ourselves in a critical moment of need—and of opportunity. In the aftermath of a global pandemic and amid ongoing economic uncertainty, the United States is experiencing an unprecedented mental health and substance use crisis.
The Strategy should serve as a guidepost for federal policymakers and agencies looking for concrete, actionable, and scalable recommendations to improve our mental health and substance use systems.
We envision the advocacy and policy-making communities aligning behind these recommendations to make transformative progress in the mental health and substance use care systems: Advocates by championing recommendations aligned with their own missions and policymakers and staff leveraging these recommendations to make improvements to the our systems of care, enforcement of parity, and implementation of coverage across all types of insurance coverage.
Assumptions And Language
The language of mental health and substance use care can be highly stigmatizing. The Recovery Institute has gone so far as to create an Addictionary to help people explore language and understand what is stigmatizing and why.
The Kennedy Forum has taken great care to use language and naming respectfully. However, preferences are as unique as the individuals this terminology describes. The same is true with the choice of person-first language and the language used to describe a social or racial group. We welcome feedback on our use of language in this National Strategy.
Methodology
After conducting a thorough review of the federal policy landscape, The Kennedy Forum team created this first-of-its-kind compilation of policy recommendations needed to transform our mental health and substance use systems of care. The recommendations have been sourced and vetted from numerous organizations, advocates, and experts across the country in order to capture a robust set of recommendations for lawmakers and federal agencies to act on. Based on consultations with partners, surveys, and reviews of existing policy recommendations from stakeholders across the MH/SUD space, The Kennedy Forum selected and grouped recommendations based on our understanding of the needs and challenges in coverage, policy, and access to care. We further separated these recommendations into high-level areas of focus so that users of this National Strategy can hone in on areas that align with their organizational goals.
Alignment for Progress Leadership
Patrick J. Kennedy
During his time in Congress, Patrick J. Kennedy co-authored the landmark Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act (Federal Parity Law), which requires insurers to cover treatment for mental health and substance use disorders no more restrictively than treatment for illnesses of the body, such as diabetes and cancer. In 2013, he founded The Kennedy Forum, a nonprofit that unites advocates, business leaders, and government agencies to advance evidence-based practices, policies, and programming in mental health and addiction.
Partners of The Alignment for Progress
The National Strategy and this database would not be possible without the partnership of advocates, experts, and thought-leaders from communities across the country. Each of our partners bring unique insights, community participation, and cultural competency to strengthen the Strategy and ensure it serves all Americans. We remain grateful for these invaluable contributions and remain committed to instilling these values in each step of the Alignment for Progress Movement.