ATLANTA — Twenty-eight years ago, former First Lady Rosalynn Carter founded her namesake forum that gathers at the Carter Center each year to tackle many of the most stigmatized topics in mental health.
This year’s Rosalynn Carter Mental Health Forum is the first since Carter’s death in November. It marks a moment to honor a pioneer of the mental health movement and focus on continuing her work.
The Cecil B. Day Chapel inside the Carter Center was filled with a diverse group of people, from those with lived experience to the First Lady of Georgia, Marty Kemp.
Even in her absence, the conversation continued as if Carter were in the room.
A video replayed an interview as Carter mentioned her desire for her “mental health work to continue.”
The Carter Center says it plans to ensure that it does. Eve Byrd, Director of the Center’s Mental Health Program, said an unprecedented number of people registered to attend this year, either in person or online.
“[Carter] would be thrilled that so many people are making this a priority,” Byrd said. “We hope that a larger group, a more diverse group, not the same old mental health community, become engaged in this.”
The forum this year hosted five panels:
- 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline Rollout in Georgia
- Mental Health for Georgia Veterans and Service Members
- School-Based Behavioral Health from a Community Lens
- Serving Youth in Diverse Communities
- Rosalynn Carter’s Menta Health Legacy and Impact
In opening remarks, Carter's oldest grandson and Carter Center Board of Trustee, Jason Carter, gave an update on former President Jimmy Carter. He said his grandfather is “doing okay” and nearing the end of his “faith journey.”
After a recorded message from Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens, the panels kicked off.
First Lady of Georgia Marty Kemp sat with Commissioner Kevin Tanner with the Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities to discuss the rollout of 988, Georgia’s call or text suicide and crisis line that went live in 2022.
According to Tanner, the crisis line receives 20,000 calls per month. Based on those calls, 2,000 mobile units are dispatched to people in mental health crises each month.
Right now, the crisis line responds based on the area code of the phone number dialing in, but with so many people moving to Georgia, that doesn’t always reflect a caller’s true location.
The Carter Center recently sent a letter to the FCC asking for improvements to 988 nationwide so that callers can be connected to a local provider. Commissioner Tanner is also working to improve this.
Kemp laid out all the money earmarked for mental health in the Governor’s recent budget.
Other panels included leaders from agencies across the state, including Ser Familia, two metro Atlanta HBCUs, and the Department of Veterans Services.
The full live stream is available to watch online.