In Case You Haven't Heard…

In the Democratic presidential debate on Jan. 14 in Des Moines, Iowa, mental health was mentioned four times for less than a minute, WWMT in West Michigan reported Feb. 3. Every debate so far in the Democratic nomination process has been much of the same. There have been no, or few, references to mental health, and a lack of substance behind any mention. “We want simple, kind of bumper‐sticker answers to complex policy questions,” Peter Wielhouwer, a political science professor at Western Michigan University. “As we're thinking about the way candidates campaign, part of what they want to communicate is that they have plans, that they've got an idea that they want to bring forward, but they can't make it too complicated,” he said. “And many, many of the policy questions, especially related to mental illness, mental health — physical health, for that matter — are quite complicated.” Still, people like Frank Mumford, president of the Kalamazoo Chapter of the National Alliance on Mental Illness, say mental health needs to be more of a focus on a national stage in order to help correct problems in the system and help ensure preventative care is available to those who need it.