First-Ever Report on Mental Health Sparks Quick Response from Advocates

The U.S. Surgeon General's office issued its first-ever report on mental health on December 13, making it an historic day for advocates across the country.

Joseph A. Rogers, executive director of the Mental Health Association of Southeastern Pennsylvania, responded to the groundbreaking report in an Op/Ed piece that appeared in the December 16 Philadelphia Inquirer.

Rogers said that the report should serve as a call to action for everyone involved with the mental health advocacy movement.

"The report, and what it has to say about how we must do away with the 'disparities in the availability of and access to [mental health] services,' has validity to just about anyone involved in this enormous, diversified field. But the report is just that, a report. It does not contain a plan for action or propose a way of doing the things it says ought to be done."