It is a gorgeous Spring day today.

But an event I attended Friday night reminded me of a memory I have on the first day of school each year, and I can't get that thought out of my head. In 1984, I was about to begin my sophomore year at the girls' Catholic high school I attended. Patti, a girl from the class behind me at my elementary school who would be a high school freshman that fall, was going to carpool with us. As my Mom and I scurried about with last minute back-to-school preparations, the telephone rang.

I don't remember how my Mom explained the call to me. But I vividly recall what the message was. Patti had killed herself that morning. Although Patti was more of an acquaintance than a close friend, I knew her well enough to suspect that it was a combination of fear and perfectionism and self-doubt that led to her decision that morning. I knew her well enough to know that the extinguishing of her light was a loss, not just to her family, but to all of us. Oh, how the world missed out as a result of that loss, as Patti was smart and dedicated and funny and I cannot help but think about the difference it would have made for her to inhabit the world as an adult. Although this happened nearly 23 years ago now, I think of it every single fall when the kids are returning to school, for this is my memory of the first day of school.

Why am I writing about this on a beautiful spring day? On Friday night, I heard Patrick Kennedy (yes, that is Senator Ted Kennedy's son) speak. Patrick is a Congressman from Rhode Island who has experienced his share of drug, alcohol and mental health issues, miraculously winning reelection on multiple occasions despite those troubles. Patrick is on a mission now, one that is surely intended, in part, to redeem him for the effect of his troubles on his loved ones and constituents. The mission? The Campaign to Insure Mental Health and Addiction Equity, in which he hopes to require insurance companies to include coverage for mental health and addiction issues on par with the coverage they offer for other illnesses. Patrick made a compelling case Friday night for his mission, making points like these:

As Blue Cross Blue Shield of Rhode Island CEO James Purcell said: Imposing limits on mental-health and addiction coverage is “bad medicine, bad law, and bad insurance.” For these reasons, equalizing benefits has been shown in virtually every state that has done it, and in the huge federal employees’ insurance program, to have negligible impact on overall health costs.

And while the costs are low, the benefits are immeasurable. Tuesday we heard from courageous consumers who came forward to share some of the hardships, and victories, of their families in coping with mental illnesses and addictions. For many, access to treatment is the difference between life and death. We pay for the status quo, as individuals and families, in broken relationships, lost jobs, failed schooling, and, most tragically, 30,000 suicides each year. Nearly twice as many people in America take their own lives each year as are victims of homicide.

We also pay as a society through our special-education budgets, our emergency rooms, our criminal-justice systems, homelessness and unemployment. As Providence Police Chief Dean Esserman forcefully argued on Tuesday, we measure our failures in homicide, suicide, and incarceration rates.

Treat Mental, Physical Illness Equally, Providence Journal, Jan. 26, 2007, by Patrick Kennedy and Jim Ramstad.

Kennedy and Ramstad (a Republican from Minnesota) intend to reintroduce a law to help establish parity in funding and are conducting forums like the one I attended to let the American people understand the need for change. There are practical reasons--like the cost of confining prisoners whose root problem is substance abuse, the delays in hospital emergency rooms caused by patients there with mental health and substance abuse problems, and the increased cost of insurance that results from the physical harms caused by such problems, among other things. But another reason to require insurance to cover those with mental health and substance addiction problems, in addition to those with broken bones and cancer, is that it is the right thing to do.

Please let your Representative in Congress know that you, too, are interested in parity for mental health and addiction treatment and that you want them to act in support of this new bill. Here's how you can find out who represents you--it will only take a few minutes for you to contact them by email!