Garcia Wilburn joins fellow Behavioral Health Commission legislators to discuss final 2024 report, opportunities for legislative action

Today (Oct. 1), State Rep. Victoria Garcia Wilburn (D-Fishers) joined the three other legislators serving alongside her on the Indiana Behavioral Health Commission (BHC) and Commission Chair Jay Chaudhary to discuss the BHC's final 2024 report and its policy recommendations for improving behavioral and mental health in Indiana.

Garcia Wilburn passed a law in 2023 to require all first responders undergo mental health and resiliency training and plans to work on additional behavioral health legislation during the 2025 legislative session.

Garcia Wilburn released the following statement on today's press conference:

“The work of the Behavioral Health Commission is meaningful to me both as a clinician and researcher. I was extremely proud of the bipartisan fashion of today's press conference with State Sens. Michael Crider and Andrea Hunley and State Rep. Cindy Ledbetter, because behavioral health progress need not be partisan.

“Today, I talked about the importance of growing the behavioral and mental healthcare workforce pipeline in the short and long term. We need to create a system that works for those operating within it in a sustainable way. All 92 counties, including Hamilton and Marion Counties, are designated mental health workforce shortage areas.    

“Indiana has several barriers that prohibit certain healthcare providers from providing the behavioral health services they could be administering, so we need to work to break down the institutional silos and licensing issues that are keeping us from making progress while still ensuring patients receive quality care. I also personally want to work to provide more support to our frontline first responders so that we continue to fight the high rates of suicide, burnout and PTSD that these professions face. Finally, we need to make sure that students know that behavioral health careers are scientific, evidence-based professions that they can pursue, especially as we contemplate the high school diploma redesign.”