I wanted to take mental illness and emotional disorders out of the closet, to let people know it is all right to admit having a problem without the fear of being called crazy. If only we could consider mental illness as straight forwardly as we do physical illness, those affected could seek help and be treated in an open and effective way.
Rosalyn Carter
In a world of cynicism and greed, Rosalyn Carter was the best of us, working tirelessly to make things better for so many, particularly those who suffered from mental illness. There were few public figures who advocated as strongly.
She was truly the First Lady of mental health.
As someone who has struggled with mental health issues, I owe a debt of gratitude for the awareness she raised on this often-secreted issue.
Rosalynn and Jimmy Carter are seen at the latter’s Georgian senate campaign headquarters in Atlanta in September 1966. (The Associated Press)
Just as Rosalynn fought alongside her beloved husband Jimmy on campaigns to end racial stigmas in the South, she continued to fight, on so many fronts to change the way Americans think about the mentally ill working tirelessly for over 50 years to reduce the stigma of mental illness.
Rosalynn Carter’s mental health advocacy started in 1966 with an early morning encounter outside a Georgia cotton mill during her husband’s first campaign for governor.
As she waited to greet the overnight shift of workers, the first person emerging from the mill was a woman covered in lint and looking weary. She asked the woman if she’d be able to go home and get some rest, but the woman told her no, she had to care for her mentally ill daughter, relieving her husband while he went to work.
Rosalynn Carter thought about the encounter all day. That evening, she slipped into a receiving line to shake hands with her husband, Jimmy, at a campaign event.
“He took my hand and said, ‘What are you doing here?’ and I said, ‘I want to know what you’re going to do about mental health issues,’’’ she said. As he made his way to the next person in line, he answered, “We are going to have the best program in the country, and I’m going to put you in charge of it.”
And that he did.
First Lady Rosalynn Carter circa the 1970s. (Photo by Images Press/IMAGES/Getty Images)
Four years later, Jimmy Carter was elected governor and as the first lady of Georgia, she made this her primary focus.
Mrs. Carter served on the Governor’s Commission to Improve Services to the Mentally and Emotionally Handicapped to improve mental health services in the state.
The commission helped totally overhaul Georgia’s mental health system, and as Rosalynn wrote: “When people ask, ‘What was the most rewarding thing you did as first lady of Georgia?’ I always answer, ‘My work with the mentally ill.’”
When he was elected president in 1976, she served as honorary chair of the President’s Commission on Mental Health to examine national mental health care, ultimately helping to champion the passage of the Mental Health Systems Act of 1980, a measure that provided grants to community mental health centers.
But after her husband lost to Ronald Reagan in November 1980, the incoming administration abandoned an approach that she said would have improved mental health services.
In November 1980, as Jimmy says, he was involuntarily retired from the White House, and my mental health legislation was gone. The next President abandoned it. It wasn’t perfect, but it could have made a considerable difference. It was one of the biggest disappointments of my life.
Even more distressing was the fact that 25 years later, a second Presidential Commission under George W. Bush concluded, in 2002, that the mental health system in the United States was in a shambles. Mental health advocacy remained a major part of Rosalynn’s work as well. She wrote several books on the subject with co-author Susan K. Golant, and through the Carter Center launched the Rosalynn Carter Fellowships for Mental Health Journalism.
In 2007, she successfully lobbied for and testified in Congress on behalf of, a law ensuring that health insurance covers mental illness equally with other illnesses.
Rosalynn Carter 1927-2023
Today there is still so much more work to be done regarding mental health and nothing would we honor Mrs. Carter’s legacy more than by continuing her important work.
You Might Also Enjoy