Dear Friends,

I am pleased to share with you exciting end-of-the-year news that has the potential to positively impact DBSA, peer support, and those we serve. On Tuesday, the leaders of the House and the Senate released a 4000+ page spending bill, known as the Omnibus. Upon review of the bill, we learned that legislation to fund peer support groups and train peer support specialists, as well as a bill requiring new Veteran peer specialists to be employed at every VA facility, is included.

As the training vendor of choice for the VA, DBSA can expect to see an increase in our training offerings and as a national leader in providing virtual peer support groups, DBSA will be in a position to apply for government grants that will fund those groups and provide training for the facilitators.

On December 20, 2022, we distributed a press release thanking members of Congress for their support. You can read the release here: https://www.dbsalliance.org/about/media/news-releases/

Background on DBSA’s Involvement & Influence

These mental health provisions were included thanks to DBSA’s active involvement over the past 2-3 years. In April 2020 as we pivoted to providing virtual support groups because of the pandemic, our advocacy team led by Phyllis Foxworth and our policy firm, Thorn Run Partners, developed a strategy to secure long-term funding for these groups. The team sent an email to every member of Congress detailing the need for peer support during this crisis and the need for funding. Two members of Congress—one representative and one senator responded and asked us to work with their staff to write legislation that was introduced in both chambers. While that session of Congress closed in January 2021, the legislation was introduced in the new Congress.

In April of this year House staff reached out to DBSA and asked us to provide oral testimony at a House hearing on mental health. As a result, the legislation was included in the Mental Health package that passed the full House and was sent to the Senate to pick up for consideration. The team quickly arranged meetings with all of the influential Senate staff seeking sponsors for the legislation. As a follow-up to those meetings, the team reached out to chapter leaders asking them to send letters, detailing why this legislation was so important. All chapter leaders contacted responded and sent letters to their senators.

In tandem, the team was building off of the success of working with congressional champions who supported the Veteran PEER Act of 2018 to expand that law requiring two new Veteran peer support specialists at all 157 VA facilities. The legislation was included in the STRONG Act that passed the House and was sent to the Senate.

As the waning days of this Congress came to a close, we began putting in place a strategy for these two major pieces of legislation to be picked up in the next Congress that convenes in January 2023.

However, I am thrilled to report that strategy will not be necessary. On Tuesday, December 20, 2022, the leaders of the House and the Senate released a 4000+ page spending bill, known as the Omnibus. Upon review of the bill, we learned that both the legislation to fund peer support groups and train peer support specialists, as well as the bill requiring new Veteran peer specialists to be employed at every VA facility had been included.

As the training vendor of choice for the VA, DBSA can expect to see an increase in our training offerings and as a national leader in providing virtual peer support groups, DBSA will be in a position to apply for government grants that will fund those groups and provide training for the facilitators.

 

Sincerely,

Michael Pollock
CEO, Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance