During her time in the White House and beyond, the former first lady spearheaded numerous legislative, policy, and advocacy efforts designed to promote mental health and eliminate stigma. Among them, she:
1979 Testified before Congress on behalf of the Mental Health Systems Act, which passed in 1980 and was set to provide major funding to community mental health centers. (Most of that funding was stripped away when President Ronald Reagan took office in 1980, and it didn’t return until the passage of the Affordable Care Act in 2010.)
1985 Initiated the Rosalynn Carter Symposium on Mental Health Policy, annual meetings held for 32 years, some of which resulted in books. The symposia convened representatives of major mental health organizations, including APA, as well as consumers, to investigate key topics such as mental illnesses and the elderly, financing mental health services and research, and stigma.
1987 Founded the Rosalynn Carter Institute for Caregivers, which promotes research, education, and training to help foster caregiver well-being and coping skills.
1991 Created and served as chair of The Carter Center’s Mental Health Task Force, which brought together influential individuals, including APA leaders, to identify policy initiatives and set the agenda for The Carter Center Mental Health Program and annual symposia.
1996 Created the prestigious Rosalynn Carter Fellowships for Mental Health Journalism, which has helped to train more than 250 journalists in how to use storytelling to reduce stigma and promote understanding of people with mental illness.
2008 Lobbied for the passage of the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act of 2008, which required insurance companies to cover mental illness on par with medical conditions.
2009–2010 Testified before Congress on behalf of the Affordable Care Act.
Today Influenced the creation of the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline, the establishment of new federal funding for research on mental illness, and the strengthening of the federal rule requiring insurance companies to pay for mental health care.
