[Congressional Bills 117th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 5251 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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117th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 5251

   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 SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                           December 14, 2022

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

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 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 and environmental 
                        resilience, 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, combat climate 
                        anxiety, 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 nonprofit or 
        community organization that has entered into, or will use 
        planning funding awarded under subsection (a)(2) to enter into, 
        a consortium with entities 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, 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) Agencies and organizations involved with 
                community safety.
                    ``(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.''.
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