Mental health bill a blessing
Marathon bombing survivors applaud move
Surviving the trauma of attacks like the Boston Marathon bombings may have just gotten better.
Survivors and advocates agree Congress just took a meaningful step to help clear a path for victims.
“My hope is that going forward people after disasters or terrorist attacks like the bombing will be able to get that mental health support and will not have to have those doors closed in their faces,” said Boston Marathon bombing survivor Manya Chylinski, at an event celebrating the passage of the Post Disaster Mental Health Response Act at Harvard Street Neighborhood Health Clinic in Dorchester early Tuesday afternoon.
Following a long struggle to receive treatment for her trauma after the bombing, Chylinski reached out to U.S. Rep. Ayanna Pressley with an idea and sparked the proposal signed into federal law in December.
The act, Pressley explained Tuesday, is a “technical fix” expanding access to FEMA’s short-term mental health resources for people affected by tragedies like the bombing.
Previously only survivors after “major disasters” declarations were eligible for the FEMA trauma resources — provided through the Crisis Counseling Assistance and Training Program — and those after “emergency” declarations like the marathon bombing were not. The act removes the distinction.
There have been over 4,000 emergency declarations in the past decade, according to Pressley’s team.
“Those who have experienced trauma from tragedies like the Boston Marathon bombings know what it’s like to walk away from a tragedy with invisible wounds and to suffer in silence,” Pressley said. “The (act) aims to change that by expanding mental health and trauma resources to survivors of even more disasters.”
Absent visible wounds, the bombing survivors explained, there was “no clear path” to diagnose and address crippling PTSD, brain injuries and other effects of the trauma.
Survivors remembered being turned out of an ER, being turned away from private therapy, working through language and income barriers, and spending months searching for any help at all.
Chylinski said in addition to identifying and treating trauma in survivors more quickly after these types of catastrophic events, she hopes the resources bring conversations and attention around mental health wounds.