Community Mental Wellness and Resilience Act of 2023

Subjects: Health


<html><body><pre>[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 1452 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

&lt;DOC&gt;






118th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                S. 1452

 To promote mental wellness and resilience and prevent and heal mental 
    health, behavioral health, and psychosocial conditions through 
  developmentally 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 SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                              May 4, 2023

     Mr. Markey (for himself, Mr. Merkley, Mr. Blumenthal, and Mr. 
  Whitehouse) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 
  referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To promote mental wellness and resilience and prevent and heal mental 
    health, behavioral health, and psychosocial conditions through 
  developmentally 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 2023''.

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 317V, as added by section 2201 of the PREVENT Pandemics 
Act (Public Law 117-328) the following:

``SEC. 317W. GRANT PROGRAM FOR COMMUNITY MENTAL WELLNESS AND RESILIENCE 
              PROGRAMS.

    ``(a) Grants.--
            ``(1) Planning grants.--
                    ``(A) Awards.--The Secretary, acting through the 
                Director of the Centers for Disease Control and 
                Prevention, in consultation with the Assistant 
                Secretary for Mental Health and Substance Use and the 
                Administrator of the Health Resources and Services 
                Administration, shall award grants to eligible 
                organizations--
                            ``(i) to organize a resilience coordinating 
                        network;
                            ``(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 (2).
                    ``(B) Amount.--The amount of a grant under 
                subparagraph (A), with respect to any eligible 
                organization seeking such a grant shall not exceed 
                $250,000.
                    ``(C) Eligible organization defined.--In this 
                paragraph, the term `eligible organization' means an 
                organization that--
                            ``(i) is a nonprofit or community-based 
                        entity eligible to be a part of the resilience 
                        coordinating network under subsection (c); and
                            ``(ii) has documented support from at least 
                        3 other such entities.
            ``(2) Program grants.--
                    ``(A) Awards.--The Secretary, acting through the 
                Director of the Centers for Disease Control and 
                Prevention, in consultation 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 resilience coordinating networks, 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 $500,000 each year 
                over a period not to exceed 4 years.
                    ``(C) Rural set aside.--
                            ``(i) In general.--Of the funds 
                        appropriated to carry out this section for a 
                        fiscal year, 20 percent of such funds shall be 
                        reserved to award grants to community mental 
                        wellness and resilience programs in rural 
                        areas.
                            ``(ii) Rural area described.--For purposes 
                        of clause (i), a rural area is a region outside 
                        of an urban or suburban area.
                            ``(iii) Inclusion.--For purposes of clause 
                        (ii), a rural area may include individuals and 
                        organizations from multiple towns in the county 
                        or region involved.
    ``(b) Program Requirements.--A program carried out using funds 
awarded under subsection (a)(2) shall take a public health approach to 
mental health prevention and promotion, using the best available 
evidence, to strengthen the entire community's psychological and 
emotional wellness and resilience, including by--
            ``(1) collecting and analyzing information from residents 
        of the community 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) detect, prevent, and heal mental health, 
                behavioral health, and psychosocial conditions 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 utilizing developmentally, linguistically, and 
        culturally appropriate evidence-based, evidence-informed, 
        promising-best, or indigenous practices for--
                    ``(A) engaging residents in building social 
                connections, including across cultural, geographic, and 
                economic boundaries;
                    ``(B) enhancing local economic, social, and 
                environmental conditions, including with respect to the 
                build environment;
                    ``(C) becoming trauma-informed and learning simple 
                self-administrable mental wellness and resilience 
                skills;
                    ``(D) engaging in community activities that 
                strengthen mental wellness and resilience;
                    ``(E) partaking in nonclinical group and community-
                minded prevention and recovery programs; and
                    ``(F) other activities to promote mental wellness 
                and resilience and prevent or heal individual and 
                community traumas.
    ``(c) Resilience Coordinating Network.--
            ``(1) In general.--In this section, the term `resilience 
        coordinating network' means a network that is composed of 1 or 
        more representatives from at least 5 of the categories listed 
        in paragraph (2).
            ``(2) Categories.--The categories listed in this paragraph 
        are the following:
                    ``(A) Grassroots groups, community-based 
                organizations, neighborhood associations, and volunteer 
                civic organizations.
                    ``(B) Elementary and secondary schools, high-needs 
                schools, institutions of higher education, including 
                community colleges, job-training programs, and other 
                education or training agencies or organizations.
                    ``(C) Youth serving organizations, such as youth 
                after-school and summer programs.
                    ``(D) Parental, 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 emergency response 
                groups and organizations.
                    ``(J) Businesses and business associations.
                    ``(K) Organizations involved with community safety, 
                security, and the justice system.
                    ``(L) Social work, mental health, behavioral 
                health, substance use, physical health, public health, 
                and other professionals, groups, organizations, 
                agencies, and institutions in the human health and 
                social services fields.
                    ``(M) The general public, including individuals who 
                have experienced adverse mental health or behavioral 
                health conditions who can represent and engage with 
                populations relevant to the community.
    ``(d) Technical Assistance.--The Secretary shall provide, directly 
or through grants to, or contracts with public or private entities, to 
eligible organizations and resilience coordinating networks technical 
assistance--
            ``(1) in developing applications for grants under paragraph 
        (1) or (2) of subsection (a); and
            ``(2) by sharing best practices learned from resilience 
        coordinating networks.
    ``(e) Report.--
            ``(1) Submission.--Not later than December 31, 2028, the 
        Secretary shall submit a report to 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, 
        and the outputs and outcomes achieved.
    ``(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, intervene before they become more 
                severe, 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, emotional, and 
                        behavioral wellness and resilience for 
                        adversities;
                            ``(ii) taking a holistic systems 
                        perspective that recognizes that most mental 
                        health, behavioral health, and psychosocial 
                        conditions result from numerous interrelated 
                        personal, family, social, economic, and 
                        environmental factors that require multipronged 
                        community-based interventions; and
                            ``(iii) using the best available evidence 
                        to take action and implement strategies that 
                        support mental health prevention and recovery 
                        efforts.
            ``(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, or 
        urban, suburban, or rural locale.
            ``(3) The term `community trauma' means a traumatic event 
        or events that are shared by a community and that have lasting 
        adverse effects on the health and well-being of the community.
            ``(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 experiences positive emotional 
        functioning, pursues self-defined goals, establishes and 
        maintains meaningful relationships, and feels a sense of 
        meaning and purpose. At the individual level, well-being is 
        based on fundamental social, cognitive, and emotional skills 
        that help individuals react, cope, and adapt in healthy ways to 
        stress, uncertainty, adversity, trauma, and change. At the 
        community level, well-being is influenced by the social, 
        economic, educational, and environmental factors and conditions 
        that either enhance or diminish well-being within the 
        community.
            ``(6) The term `psychosocial problem' refers to social and 
        environmental structures and processes that adversely effect 
        and influence an individual's mental state.
            ``(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 prolonged, 
        severe, and stressful situations with no period of recovery or 
        support.
    ``(g) Authorization of Appropriations.--
            ``(1) In general.--To carry out this section, there is 
        authorized to be appropriated $36,000,000 for the period of 
        fiscal years 2024 through 2028.
            ``(2) Limitation.--Of the amount made available to carry 
        out this section for a fiscal year, not more than 5 percent of 
        such funds may be used to carry out subsection (d).''.
                                 &lt;all&gt;
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