U.S. Congressman Drew Ferguson (R-Ga.) yesterday spoke on his legislation, the Behavioral Intervention Guidelines (BIG) Act, a bill to support students’ mental and behavioral health. The BIG Act was offered as an amendment to H.R. 7666, the Restoring Hope for Mental Health and Well-Being Act, and passed in the U.S. House of Representatives by a vote of 320-103.

This legislation will enable the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, in consultation with the U.S. Department of Education, U.S. Department of Justice, U.S. Department of Homeland Security, and a wide array of stakeholders, to develop best practices for the proper use and implementation of behavioral intervention programs to help communities identify the earliest signs of violence to self or others.

Click here to watch Ferguson’s remarks on the House Floor

“We have seen over the past couple of years, a significant rise in mental health issues with our students – whether it’s in high school, whether it’s in middle school or whether it’s in college,” Ferguson said on the House Floor. “We have seen the effects of the pandemic, but a lot of other things have created this mental health crisis of our children around America and what our children need are resources, and they need resources at a very early stage.”

“And what the BIG Act does is it accumulates best practices from different schools around the country, and it makes sure that we intervene with students early. We want to get these young people the resources that they need. There are couple of things about this we think are very important. Number one, early intervention has been proven to show that we can prevent a catastrophic event.”

“We want students to be healthy and happy and functioning, but what we would also like to do is limit the interaction with the law enforcement, and we want to make sure that the students are getting these resources across the board. So, this body passed the BIG Act last year and they did it with wide bipartisan support. However, the Senate did not take this bill up, so I say, let's do it again. Lets pass it as a part of this important package.”

Original source can be found here.