Rosalynn Carter’s Mental Health Advocacy Lives On
Rosalynn Carter’s Mental Health Advocacy Lives On
Grandson Jason Carter pays tribute to his grandmother’s legacy and gives an update on Jimmy Carter during annual mental health forum.
Nearly six months after former First Lady Rosalynn Carter died, her legacy was once again honored Tuesday for her work in mental health during the 28th Rosalynn Carter Georgia Mental Health Forum held at the Carter Center in Atlanta, Georgia.
The Carter’s oldest grandson, Jason Carter, opened the forum describing his grandparents’ dedication to mental health solutions. His grandmother, died at 96 not long after being diagnosed with dementia.
“For my grandmother and grandfather, the work was some of the most important in part because it was based in this state,” he said.
He went on to thank the attendees for the outpouring of support he and his family received after his grandmother’s death and for the “celebration that she earned.” He also provided a brief update on former President Jimmy Carter, who he said he joined a couple weeks ago to watch an Atlanta Braves ball game together.
“My grandfather is doing okay. He has been in hospice as you know for almost a year and half now. And he really is, I think, coming to the end,” Jason Carter said.
“My grandfather is doing okay. He has been in hospice as you know for almost a year and half now. And he really is, I think, coming to the end,” Jason Carter said. “There is a part of this faith journey that is so important to him and there’s a part of that faith journey that you can only live at the very end. I think he’s been there in that space.”
Jason Carter also shared this exchange he had with his grandfather:
“Pawpaw … people ask me how you are doing and I say, ‘I don’t know.’ And, [Jimmy Carter] said, ‘Well, I don’t know myself.’”
Then Jason Carter turned his focus back to his grandmother and the mental health work The Carter Center continues in her name.
The forum emphasized inclusivity, equity and resilience in mental health advocacy. Panelists discussed critical issues, confronting systemic barriers and talked about a how to chart a path forward to a more effective mental health system for Georgians that could also be applicable throughout the country.
“The care giving associated with mental health is so crucial and fundamental to the work we all do in this room” Jason Carter said, adding that his grandmother’s legacy, which included her care giving advocacy, demonstrated “a 55-year effort to tackle mental health issues.”
And, it made a difference.
“My grandmother began her efforts on mental health with the people who were suffering from the most extreme types of mental illness in the system that this state and many others had,” Jason Carter said. “One of her most gratifying moments was the truly broad bipartisan support that now exists … to address mental health parity.”
In Georgia, suicide is the third leading cause of death among youth ages 15 to 24, and in 2020, 45% of Georgia’s children from ages 3 to 17 had difficulty accessing or were unable to access mental health treatment and counseling, according to The Carter Center.
Proof that Mrs. Carter’s vision for mental health lives on was in an update about Georgia’s recently implemented 988 crisis line during the forum. In 2020, federal legislation was passed to establish the 988 crisis line. In 2022, Georgia saw a dramatic increase in call volume with 20,000 calls per month, said Commissioner Kevin Tanner of the Georgia Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities during the forum. The state also reported dispatching about 2,000 mobile crisis teams per month, a service that deploys crisis teams to people in communities throughout the state.
While these efforts go a long way to reach people in areas that have had little to no resources, Tanner said there’s still work to be done to continue building out the system in Georgia. It begins with continuing to get the word out about the 988 crisis line.
“That’s a challenge for us,” he said. “It’s important for people to be able to access that care when they need it.”
Tanner noted that the state is currently seeing a disproportionate number of calls into 988 from rural Georgia and the reasons include a lack of resources and stigma around mental health, something he, like Rosalynn Carter, hopes to see change as more people talk about mental health as simply a health issue.
Other mental health goals in Georgia discussed include future plans to build out eight additional crisis centers over the next 10 years and investing in the mobile crisis team to reduce response times.
“988 is more than just a number; it's about an entire system of care,” Tanner said.
Some of the closest women to Rosalynn Carter also spoke during the forum about the former first lady’s unwavering dedication to addressing mental health. In fact, Mrs. Carter’s work on mental health began in Georgia, said Kathy Cade, vice chair of The Carter Center’s Board of Trustees and longtime aide to the former first lady.
Cade shared a story about Mrs. Carter who, during her husband's campaign for Georgia governor, met a woman outside a factory gate early one morning. The woman told Mrs. Carter she was going home to take care of her child who was struggling with serious mental illness.
“What that story says about Mrs. Carter is her compassion for people who are vulnerable that really was the hallmark of what motivated her to become a mental health advocate,” Cade said, adding that what made the former first lady so successful advocating for mental health was that “she never took ‘no’ for an answer.”
“What that story says about Mrs. Carter is her compassion for people who are vulnerable that really was the hallmark of what motivated her to become a mental health advocate,” Cade said, adding that what made the former first lady so successful advocating for mental health was that “she never took ‘no’ for an answer.”
At that time, Cade said, Rosalynn Carter asked her husband when he was a candidate for governor what he was going to do to improve the services for people in Georgia. He responded, according to Cade, that he was going to create a commission and put her in charge of it and ‘Georgia would have the best services in the country’.”
Later, after Jimmy Carter was elected president in 1977, Mrs. Carter spoke at the annual meeting of the National Mental Health Association where she pledged that her husband was going to create a presidential commission on mental health. Three weeks after he entered office, he signed an executive order to do just that, Cade said.
Mrs. Carter thought she was going to be the chairperson of that commission, but she could not because of a federal law that stated a president could not appoint any family member to either a paid or unpaid position in the government, according to Cade.
“Mrs. Carter was asked how she felt about that and she said, ‘I just learned today that I couldn’t be the chair. I’ve been told I’m going to be an honorary chair,’” Cade recalled. “She said, ‘I think I can be a very active honorary chair and I intend to be.’”
That moment, according to Cade, was groundbreaking.
It was the first time a presidential commission had appointed a member who had lived experience. In this case, a commission member who had a history of mental illness was appointed. It was picked up by the press and served as an initial stigma-shattering moment. Cade noted that Mrs. Carter later in life would say that stigma has begun to lift.
“It still strikes me that … we have work to do, that stigma still exists and is a very powerful force and holding progress back in our field,” Cade said.
The Rosalynn Carter Georgia Mental Health Forum, established in 1995, is held each May to address timely mental health policy issues facing the state. Consumers, service providers, policymakers, advocates, and media from across Georgia are invited to participate in open discussions on diverse, pressing topics.
Throughout Mrs. Carter’s 55 years advocating for mental health solutions, she made notable headway as outlined in this abbreviated timeline by The Carter Center. Her achievements include:
In May of 1979, then First Lady Rosalynn Carter testified before congress for the Mental Health Systems Act, which was signed into law Oct. 7, 1980.
In May 1979, Mrs. Carter became the first sitting U.S. first lady to address the World Health Assembly about findings of the President’s Commission on Mental Health and her ongoing fight to reduce stigma and improve mental health care in the U.S. She emphasized that mental health is an integral part of overall health as well as a basic human right.
In November 1979, Mrs. Carter went to Los Angeles to urge Hollywood leaders to tell positive stories that would help diminish the stigma against people with mental illnesses.
In September 1991, Rosalynn Carter established the Carter Center Mental Health Program.
In March 1994, former First Ladies Betty Ford and Rosalynn Carter testified before Congress in support of including mental health and substance abuse treatment benefits in the national health care reform plan.
In September 1996, the Committee of International Women Leaders for Mental Health held its first meeting, in conjunction with a meeting of their ministers of health. Eight first ladies and nine personal representatives signed a joint statement committing to advance mental health in their nations.
In April 1997, the Rosalynn Carter Fellowships for Mental Health Journalism were established at The Carter Center.
In 1998, Mrs. Carter wrote the book "Helping Someone with Mental Illness: A Compassionate Guide for Family, Friends, and Caregivers."
In November 2000, the Surgeon General's Medallion was awarded to Mrs. Carter.
In February 2003, Rosalynn Carter told the New Freedom Commission on Mental Health convened by President George W. Bush that recovery from mental health conditions was the most significant change in the mental health field since the Presidential Commission during Jimmy Carter’s administration.
In July 2007, Mrs. Carter testified before the House Committee on Education and Labor Subcommittee on Health, Employment, Labor, and Pensions on the need for parity for mental health and substance use disorders in insurance coverage.
In April 2010, Rosalynn Carter wrote the book "Within Our Reach: Ending the Mental Health Crisis."
In September 2018, at the direction of Rosalynn Carter, the Carter Center’s Mental Health Program launched a School-based Behavioral Health Initiative in Georgia with the aim of making access to mental health services as common as school lunches.
In January 2020, The Carter Center’s Mental Health Program began leading the Georgia Parity Collaborative, with key stakeholders at the state and national level, to advance evidence-based policy change to achieve parity in Georgia.
In May 2021,Mrs. Carter received the World Health Organization Director-General’s Award for Global Health during the opening ceremonies of the 74th World Health Assembly.