Community Mental Wellness and Resilience Act of 2022
This bill requires the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to award competitive grants to consortia that represent various community entities (e.g., schools, businesses, and health and human services providers) for carrying out community mental wellness and resilience programs that use a public health approach.
[Congressional Bills 117th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 9201 Introduced in House (IH)]
<DOC>
117th CONGRESS
2d Session
H. R. 9201
To amend the Public Health Service Act to direct the Secretary of
Health and Human Services, acting through the Director of the Centers
for Disease Control and Prevention, to promote mental wellness and
resilience and heal mental health, behavioral health, and psychosocial
problems through age and culturally appropriate community programs, and
award grants for the purpose of establishing, operating, or expanding
community-based mental wellness and resilience programs, and for other
purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
October 18, 2022
Mr. Tonko (for himself, Mr. Fitzpatrick, and Ms. Castor of Florida)
introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on
Energy and Commerce
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To amend the Public Health Service Act to direct the Secretary of
Health and Human Services, acting through the Director of the Centers
for Disease Control and Prevention, to promote mental wellness and
resilience and heal mental health, behavioral health, and psychosocial
problems through age and culturally appropriate community programs, and
award grants for the purpose of establishing, operating, or expanding
community-based mental wellness and resilience programs, and for other
purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Community Mental Wellness and
Resilience Act of 2022''.
SEC. 2. GRANT PROGRAM FOR COMMUNITY MENTAL WELLNESS AND RESILIENCE
PROGRAMS.
Title III of the Public Health Service Act is amended by inserting
after section 317U (42 U.S.C. 247b-23) the following:
``SEC. 317V. GRANT PROGRAM FOR COMMUNITY WELLNESS AND RESILIENCE
PROGRAMS.
``(a) Grants.--
``(1) Program grants.--
``(A) Awards.--The Secretary, acting through the
Director of the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention, in coordination with the Assistant
Secretary for Mental Health and Substance Use and the
Administrator of the Health Resources and Services
Administration, shall carry out a program of awarding
grants to eligible entities, on a competitive basis,
for the purpose of establishing, operating, or
expanding community mental wellness and resilience
programs.
``(B) Amount.--The amount of a grant under
subparagraph (A) shall not exceed $4,000,000.
``(2) Planning grants.--
``(A) Awards.--The Secretary, acting through the
Director of the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention, in coordination with the Assistant
Secretary for Mental Health and Substance Use and the
Administrator of the Health Resources and Services
Administration, shall award grants to entities--
``(i) to organize a consortium that meets
the requirements of subsection (c);
``(ii) to perform assessments of need with
respect to community mental wellness and
resilience; and
``(iii) to prepare an application for a
grant under paragraph (1).
``(B) Amount.--The amount of a grant under
subparagraph (A), with respect to any consortium to be
organized for applying for a grant under paragraph (1),
shall not exceed $15,000.
``(b) Program Requirements.--A community mental wellness and
resilience program funded pursuant to a grant under subsection (a)(1)
shall take a public health approach to mental health to strengthen the
entire community's psychological and emotional wellness and resilience,
including by--
``(1) collecting and analyzing information from residents
as well as quantitative data to identify--
``(A) protective factors that enhance and sustain
the community's capacity for mental wellness and
resilience; and
``(B) risk factors that undermine such capacity;
``(2) strengthening such protective factors and addressing
such risk factors;
``(3) building awareness, skills, tools, and leadership in
the community to--
``(A) facilitate using a public health approach to
mental health; and
``(B) heal mental health and psychosocial problems
among all adults and youth; and
``(4) developing, implementing, and continually evaluating
and improving a comprehensive strategic plan for carrying out
the activities described in paragraphs (1), (2) and (3) that
includes--
``(A) evidence-based or promising best practices
for--
``(i) enhancing local economic and
environmental conditions, including with
respect to the built environment;
``(ii) becoming trauma-informed and
learning simple self-administrable mental
wellness and resilience skills;
``(iii) engaging in community activities
that strengthen mental wellness and resilience;
``(iv) partaking in nonclinical group and
community-minded recovery and healing programs;
and
``(v) other activities to promote mental
wellness and resilience and heal individual and
community traumas; and
``(B) age-appropriate and culturally appropriate
methods to engage people in building social
connections.
``(c) Eligible Entities.--
``(1) In general.--To be eligible to receive a grant under
subsection (a)(1), an applicant shall be a consortium of
entities including 1 or more representatives from at least 7 of
the categories listed in paragraph (2).
``(2) Categories.--The categories listed in this paragraph
are the following:
``(A) Grassroots groups, neighborhood associations,
and volunteer civic organizations.
``(B) Elementary and secondary schools,
institutions of higher education including community
colleges, job-training programs, and other education or
training agencies or organizations.
``(C) Youth after-school and summer programs.
``(D) Family and early childhood education
programs.
``(E) Faith and spirituality organizations.
``(F) Senior care organizations.
``(G) Climate change mitigation and adaptation, and
environmental conservation, groups and organizations.
``(H) Social and environmental justice groups and
organizations.
``(I) Disaster preparedness and response groups and
organizations.
``(J) Businesses and business associations.
``(K) Police, fire, and other agencies and
organizations involved with community safety, security,
and the justice system.
``(L) Social work, mental health, behavioral
health, substance use, physical health, and public
health professionals; public health agencies and
institutions; and mental health, behavioral health,
social work, and other professionals, groups,
organizations, agencies, and institutions in the health
and human services fields.
``(M) The general public, including individuals who
have experienced mental health or psychosocial problems
who can represent and engage with populations relevant
to the community.
``(d) Priority.--In awarding a grant under subsection (a)(1) or
(a)(2), the Secretary shall give priority to applicants proposing to
carry out a community mental wellness and resilience program that uses
a public health approach to mental health to develop, implement, and
continually evaluate and improve age and culturally appropriate
education, skills training, and other services that use a strength-
based approach to enhance the capacity for mental wellness and
resilience for all types of toxic stresses and traumas among all adults
and youth in the community.
``(e) Report.--
``(1) Submission.--Not later than the end of calendar year
2028, the Secretary shall submit a report to the Congress on
the results of the grants under subsection (a)(1).
``(2) Contents.--Such report shall include a summary of the
best practices used by grantees in establishing, operating, or
expanding community mental wellness and resilience programs.
``(f) Definitions.--In this section:
``(1) The term `public health approach to mental health'
refers to methods that--
``(A) take a population-level approach to promote
mental wellness and resilience to prevent problems
before they emerge and heal them when they do appear,
not merely treating individuals one at a time after
symptoms of pathology appear; and
``(B) address mental health and psychosocial
problems by--
``(i) identifying and strengthening
existing protective factors, and forming new
ones, that buffer people from and enhance their
capacity for psychological and emotional
resilience; and
``(ii) taking a holistic systems
perspective that recognizes that most mental
health and psychosocial problems result from
numerous interrelated personal, family, social,
economic, and environmental factors that
require multipronged community-based
interventions.
``(2) The term `community' means people, groups, and
organizations that reside in or work within a specific
geographic area, such as a city, neighborhood, subdivision,
urban, suburban, or rural locale.
``(3) The term `community trauma' means a blow to the basic
fabric of social life that damages the bonds attaching people
together, impairs their prevailing sense of community,
undermines their fundamental sense of safety, justice, equity,
and security, and heightens individual and collective fears and
feelings of vulnerability.
``(4) The term `protective factors' means strengths,
skills, resources, and characteristics that--
``(A) are associated with a lower likelihood of
negative outcomes of adversities; or
``(B) reduce the impact on people of toxic stresses
or a traumatic experience.
``(5) The term `mental wellness' means a state of well-
being in which an individual can--
``(A) realize their own potential;
``(B) constructively cope with the stresses of
life;
``(C) work productively and fruitfully; and
``(D) make a contribution to their community.
``(6) The term `psychosocial problem' refers to how an
individual's mental health or behavioral health problem
disturbs others such as children, families, communities, or
society.
``(7) The term `resilience' means that people develop
cognitive, psychological, emotional capabilities and social
connections that enable them to calm their body, mind,
emotions, and behaviors during toxic stresses or traumatic
experiences in ways that enable them to--
``(A) respond without negative consequences for
themselves or others; and
``(B) use the experiences as catalysts to develop a
constructive new sense of meaning, purpose, and hope.
``(8) The term `toxic stress' means exposure to a
persistent overwhelming traumatic and stressful situations.
``(g) Authorization of Appropriations.--To carry out this section,
there is authorized to be appropriated $30,000,000 for the period of
fiscal years 2024 through 2028.''.
<all>
Introduced in House
Introduced in House
Referred to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce.
Referred to the Subcommittee on Health.
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