‘He wanted a hug.’ CT leaders address mental health crisis after rescue on I-95
May is Mental Health Awareness Month. This year, Connecticut passed sweeping reforms to protect suicidal kids from artificial intelligence chatbots.
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Connecticut leaders called for more action to address a growing mental health crisis on Tuesday.
It comes just days after a dramatic rescue on Interstate 95 in Groton, caught on police body camera, made national news.
“PLEASE DON’T DO IT”
It’s a call Officer Bryan Albee will never forget – a man threatening to jump 150 feet off the Gold Star Bridge.
“Please don’t do it, my man. I’m here with you,” Albee told the man on body camera footage. “Let’s figure it out.”
A simple hug convinced the man to come down.
“You know what he wanted? He wanted a hug,” said state Rep. Cristin McCarthy Vahey (D-Fairfield).
A week after the rescue, McCarthy Vahey joined Gov. Ned Lamont at the state Capitol to mark Mental Health Awareness Month.
“We’ve been thinking about mental health across the board,” Lamont told reporters. “We’ve got more access and more mobile vans, but I want to ask each and every one of you to look out for your friends.”
NEW PROTECTIONS FOR KIDS
Connecticut lawmakers just passed sweeping new rules for artificial intelligence chatbots that can encourage kids to harm themselves. Starting next year, chatbots will have to add technology to detect suicidal users – and refer them to a hotline.
“Unfortunately, we’ve seen there have been a number of cases across the country where children have died by suicide because of the unregulated chatbots,” said state Sen. James Maroney (D-Milford). “In Florida, a young boy named Sewell Seltzer was encouraged to ‘come home,’ which he interpreted to mean to take his life and he did so.”
Social media platforms also face new rules.
Sites can no longer use algorithms to feed teens content without parental consent. When minors open the app, they'll get a pop-up warning about the mental health dangers of social media. And youth accounts will no longer receive notifications between 9 p.m. and 8 a.m.
“I’ve sat with children who stopped believing the world was safe, with parents who did everything that they could,” said Dr. Javeed Sukhera, chair of psychiatry at the Hartford Healthcare Institute of Living.
The legislation is awaiting Lamont's signature.
MENTAL HEALTH TREATMENT
Connecticut now requires mental health “parity” for insurance coverage.
“When your insurer covers a broken leg, it has to cover a broken mind in the same way,” Mental Health Connecticut public policy manager Christian Damania. “The same standards, the same access, with no exceptions.”
But patients complained that insurers aren’t following the law, so last year, the parity law was expanded to include fines.
“There are major health insurers in this state who are now, right now, not compliant with the law,” said Attorney General William Tong. “And we will hold you accountable.”
IF YOU NEED HELP
Anyone experiencing a mental health crisis, or who sees someone in crisis, can click HERE or call 911, 211 or 988, the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline.
