The Campaign for Mental Health Reform, a collaborative effort of 18 national mental health organizations, used MINDS ON THE EDGE as a centerpiece for a Capitol Hill legislative briefing on October 7th in Washington, D.C. This was the third in a series of three events that CMHR held in the fall to focus attention on mental health issues in the context of the health care reform legislation that is on the front burner for Congress. Legislators and hill staffers as well as thought leaders in the health policy community attended the briefing.

The agenda for the event was to raise awareness of complex challenges facing the mental health system that will remain unaffected by health care reform and offer solution-oriented approaches that have been implemented in various parts of the country.

Justice Stephen Breyer agreed to be the keynote speaker at the breakfast briefing even though the event coincided with the new session of the Court. Susan Dentzer, formerly of the PBS NewsHour and currently Editor-in-Chief of Health Affairs, the nation's premiere health policy journal, moderated the panel discussion integrated with the screening. Bringing their expertise to the panel discussion on this topic were MINDS panelists Dr. Thomas Simpatico, Director of the Division of Public Psychiatry at the University of Vermont School of Medicine, Sam Tsemberis, Founder of Pathways to Housing, and Estelle Richman, who at the time was Pennsylvania's Secretary of Public Welfare.

DVDs were distributed to all attendees.

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