Modern Marias: Dafna Michaelson Jenet

MDCC CEO Dr. Sandra Mann interviews CO State House Rep. Dafna Michaelson Jenet

Our “Modern Marias” Series

Maria Droste Counseling Center was named after a sister of the Good Shepherd, who lived back in the 1800s who went out into the community to care for those in need.  Maria embodied the spirit of social work, long before the field even existed.  As such, her life and work inspired those who founded Maria Droste..  

Nearly 35 years later, Maria’s legacy continues to inspire us. Today, we want to acknowledge the modern day Marias who devote their lives to advancing our community. Whether it be by advocating for changes in policy, speaking out in ways that destigmatize mental health, reducing barriers to accessing care, or working directly with those furthest from opportunity to access their goals, our Modern Marias are influencing change in individual lives and in systems. We are inspired by their passion and their dedication to their work. Join us in learning what has influenced them and why their contributions are vital to the future of Maria Droste Counseling Center and are community at large.  

Modern Maria: Dafna Michaelson Jenet

We proudly kick off this series with a candid interview with Colorado State House Representative Dafna Michaelson Jenet, whose passion for promoting mental health awareness and access to care through policy change is personal. She has been leveraging the strength of that passion and the power of her voice to impact the lives of Coloradans for decades.  And she’s been a personal inspiration to our CEO, Dr. Sandra T. Mann, who conducted this interview.

Dr. Mann: Your work on the Public and Behavioral Health House Committee for Colorado speaks to our mission of reducing barriers and providing access to service for some of the most vulnerable populations around Colorado. Your support for mental health legislation really opens a lot of doors for those seeking service and care. We thank you for taking the time to participate and talking about some of the struggles folks around Colorado are experiencing.

Rep. Michaelson Jenet:

I’m so seriously honored! 

Sandy Mann

The legislative work you do to promote mental health is inspiring, what sparked your interest in mental health legislation? 

Dafna

I think growing up with a mother who really struggled with mental illness and then a son who also really struggles with mental illness has made me focus on understanding how pervasive it is and that there’s help available. We look at serious mental illnesses and many times we shy away or we’re afraid or we don’t understand.  But I believe that there are solutions available.

I myself have Major Depressive Disorder, a serious mental illness, and know that with therapy and medication I am able to function well in my community. S I want everybody to have access to those things.  And I also know that not everybody is going to want access to those things.   ‘How do we make therapy palatable?’ How do we make therapy something that’s an idea in a person’s head to do from the very young to the very old, that therapy does benefit me. And so my focus has really been on access to therapy and increasing the amount of therapy available in the community and it, I think, all stems from personal experience with my mom and my kid.

Sandy Mann

Tell us how you got  into this work from the advocacy standpoint and the way that you serve today? I know you wrote your book on, It Takes a Little Crazy and you traveled around experiencing our nation.  Were there folks who were inspiring to you in that process?

Dafna

So it was 2009 and I traveled to all 50 states, one state each week for the 52 weeks of the year and interviewed up to 10 people in each state.  They were people who really looked at a problem in their community and inserted themselves to create the solution.  And I feel like that is the key recipe to community problem solving.  It’s seeing yourself in the problem and becoming part of the solution.  So that was very, very, very inspiring to me.  It took me 6-7 years to write the book.  And it took me at least that long to digest all that I experienced in that year. 

But, what was going on in my life at the moment was…2 key things…one is my son was struggling mightily. He had attempted suicide when he was nine years old in the 4th grade and we were not getting him an appropriate IEP [Individual Education Plan].  We were not getting appropriate educational testing and everything was off. The school was not doing for him what I felt, legally, he should have a right to.  I was trying to figure out how to get him the help that he needed and we considered suing Denver public schools.

I started going down that road, which was really hard for me and felt wrong.  There was so much discomfort in that process that we did not continue to pursue it.  At the same time, I’m volunteering at two of our juvenile correctional facilities, Betty Marler and Ridgeview, and I’m working with the boys.  One day I was a Junior Achievement volunteer and I was doing the popcorn exercise, which is a really great program where they have to come up with a flavor of popcorn.  They have to come up with a marketing plan.  They have to come up with the cost to produce and the pricing.  And it’s a lot of fun.

Before I went in, I asked how many of the kids have learning disabilities and I was told something to the effect of “oh, none”. I don’t know if he didn’t understand the question that I was asking, but I looked at those kids and I saw my son.  Every single one of those kids had learning disabilities, just like my son.

And the question that I have is constantly burning for me, “What if those kids had been identified early? What if they had gotten help early?  What if they had gotten educational testing early, mental health testing early,  therapy early?  How many of those kids would still be in our juvenile correctional facilities?”

One day, I made a joke to a friend that I’m looking at colleges for my daughter and prisons for my son because I was sure that he was on that pipeline. I knew then when I made that joke gutturally that I had to do something. That I had to be involved in some way, that I could not sit back.  Since I didn’t want to sue the system, what if I became the system.  That pushed me to run for State House versus when I was asked to run for office, which I think you maybe know the story.

I was in the grocery store one Sunday morning and it was right after I had, you know, published my book like everything was done and the cashier, who also was one of our City Council members said to me, “Hey Dafna, and I need you to run for office.”

I’m in my pajamas, you know, it was Sunday morning.  I needed milk, like, whatever.  But he was specifically asking me to run for City Council.  Then, I became aware of the fact that there was a State House seat available.  I realized that the problems I wanted to solve had to be on the State House level and not City Council level issues.  They were state legislative issues. And so I ran for office.

Sandy

So Glad you did.

Dafna

Thank you.

 

Sandy

In honor of Women’s Mental Health Month we want to hear how this journey has been for you with that identity.  How has being a woman shaped your process, or maybe challenged you in some ways?

Dafna

Being a woman in this environment can have its challenges.  For our legislative community, we have 50% women in the legislature, so we’re 50/50.  Yet, the process still feels very male dominated and I’m trying to figure out how to describe that?

We get mansplained a lot.  It’s the reality, but I don’t think that it is as hard as it was for my sisters who preceded me. I love and feel very proud that I’m part of a 50 percent female legislature.  You know, and we’re majority women in the house where I am and it’s great and I love working with women.  I love working with men too, but it’s really neat to be able to work with women legislatively.  I think we process differently than our male counterparts.

Sandy

You’ve shared some of your own history with mental health and some of your own experiences. What do you think is significant about women’s mental health in particular, that is important to support, legislate, and advocate for? 

Dafna

A couple of things.  Let’s talk about young women. Young women are really good at hiding their symptoms, their diseased state and not getting help until it’s too late or it’s not too late, but it’s very long down the process.  I think that we need to work with women in the community, starting from people like myself, talking openly about my serious mental illness.  For other young women to be able to say, hey, you know, I suffer from those things too…and there’s help for me.  I think that that’s the key component. . . .

If women talk about it more and we are open about it and we talk about it to the next generation–although I think the next generation is far more open than we are already–I believe that we start creating the culture of therapy and that culture of therapy, I believe is what gets us to start reducing suicide rates and suicide attempts.

Sandy

Thank you.  It  is daunting to see the statistics of those struggling with mental health and imagine the worst that can happen for our children.  We also know that there are some good things happening and there’s some possibilities of support, right?  And there’s some resiliency that’s there.  So what gives you hope for our young folks?

Dafna

Oh my goodness, let me tell you what gives me hope.  East High School walking out on Friday and visiting the capitol.  We have a great picture.  There are pictures online of the kids waiting to get in through security, so they came in an orderly fashion, but there were very many of them.  And it was wonderful.  We have a great picture of our room filled with kids sitting on the floor, engaging in the democratic process.

So (legislative aide) Danielle Ryan said to the kids at one point, “we want to hear from you.  Like what is on your mind.”

It took a little bit to get them going.  But once they started, they were like, ‘ I want this legislation, and I want you to stop me from having to go through gun violence experiences every week…multiple times a week. And they’re standing up for themselves.  So I love seeing that.  I also love when students come in and know about the I Matter program, and they’re telling their friends about I Matter, and they’re just figuring out ways to get their kids, their friends, access to therapy because I Matter isn’t so much about going through that particular program.  It’s knowing that YOU matter.  Therapy can be a solution to the problem that you’re facing.  Or can help you on that path to resolution.  And so whether they go to therapy through I matter, they go to Maria Droste, or they go to their family therapist.  Wherever they go to get therapy, we just want them to know that therapy is a great thing. Access to therapy can be the key to a productive and happy life.

Sandy

You’ve been very active in mental health bills. What bills are you sponsoring this year that you’re excited about? 

Dafna

I’m really excited about House Bill 1003. House Bill 1003 would create a universal screening program in our schools from 6 through 12th grade and so this would be a rollout program for schools that wanted it and wanted to be involved and we would be screening for therapy and the student would get either a referral to therapy, which they could go to I matter, they can go to their family therapist or they can go to Maria Droste, but they would get a screening that said, ‘hey, you know, we think you’re a great candidate for therapy and that might be of use to you.’  So really getting therapy out in front of our students and making sure that they are as aware as possible.  That’s a pathway that they can take.

Sandy

There’s also the drug coverage for serious mental illness bill 1130?

Dafna

That’s going to be in appropriations this Friday, which is very exciting.  It means it’s moving on to its second step.  The bill is to reduce step therapy because step therapy would require the insurance company to come in and say, ‘OK, we don’t really think you should take what your doctor is recommending, but why don’t you try this medication first?’  ‘Oh, and if that doesn’t work, why don’t you try this medication first?’ ‘Oh, if that doesn’t work, why don’t you try this medication first?’ Oh, if that fails.  ‘OK, you can go on your doctor’s medication.’

So we’re trying to limit it to one step, so there’s still a step in there, right, because sometimes that generic works, but a lot of times it doesn’t and we need to reduce the amount of time between a patient getting a generic or what the doctor recommended.

Sandy

Are there any ways that these bills or other ones that you’re familiar with could help women specifically?

Dafna

The biggest thing that I would say is that there was a national article published by the New York Times that came out that said that young girls and young women are struggling at an outrageous amount.

House Bill1003 I think specifically is needed for young girls. We had testimony for 1003 and for other bills, one of which ran through Public and Behavioral Health and Human Services.  The goal was putting the 988 mental health number and associate number on school ID’s and these young girls were coming in and saying, “I have five to six of my friends calling me, texting me, at night,  in the middle of the night saying, “I am going to take my life like I don’t know what to do and they’re not equipped for that.  So, when that article came out, everyone I know sent it to me and I think this adds a lot of pressure on young girls and I think there has always been this to some extent. But I think a lot of the political discourse in the last couple of years has been the confirmation of (Supreme Court Justice) Brett Kavanaugh and the general rhetoric that comes about that is, you know, ‘he was in high school.”  I’ve heard from a lot of young girls that they do not feel safe in their schools. 

So I think 1003 is really important for addressing those challenges.

 

Sandy

Whether it’s women or young people, or anyone with marginalized identity, would you agree that in terms of advocating for these folks, you would suggest that we ask and listen as opposed to relying on the system to help?

Dafna

Yeah, I think you know, we spend a lot of time listening and we hope that the solutions that we put forward are a direct result of ideas that were brought to us by people in the community with lived experience. We talked to people with lived experience throughout the process of all of our legislation and in 1003 in particular. I know I focus on youth a lot.  I’m kind of a “mommy legislator”. That’s how I view myself.  In 1003 in particular the kids that we have talked to are desperate for this.   They want this for their friends.  They want this for themselves, even though any of them could go on I matter right now and have a free screening.  Taking away that need to take that step and actually having a human to human interaction.  That’s priceless.

Sandy

You’ve  had your own trajectory, you’ve talked about  moving into this work as a woman.  What would you say to a woman, or maybe one of these young girls that you’ve talked about who needs a voice in this? For anyone that is interested in getting involved with mental health advocacy but doesn’t necessarily know where to start? 

Dafna

First of all, I welcome anybody in my office and they can always reach out to us with their ideas or if they wanna help or if they want to testify or if they want to volunteer. There are many, many opportunities for getting involved. That’s number one.   

Number two, is having a voice within your community.  So, for kids with your school board in particular and talking about mental health and asking for mental health to be taught in schools, that’s an area where for sure young people can get involved.  I encourage them to do so when they come to my office.  I always tell them to go to their school boards and ask for what they want to learn because we are a local control state and every school board really heavily influences the curriculum in their region.

There are other programs that people can partake in such as Teen Mental Health First Aid, which is a program for teens, youth. Then there’s Mental Health First Aid, which is a program for adults to work with youth and mental health first aid.

Becoming familiar with the lexicon and knowing where to go for help and being comfortable asking the question, ‘are you thinking about suicide?’  These are important things to learn, and I would recommend that anybody take any of those classes.  They’re usually available for free through community mental health centers.  That’s a great way to be engaged.

Sandy

Those are all of our questions and we appreciate your time today. Is there anything else you want to add?

Dafna

I’m really honored.  Thank you for thinking about me.

Sandy

Of course, you’re a pioneer in this area.  And we think about you when we think about mental health advocacy.

 

For more information on Rep. Jenet’s efforts to support mental health in Colorado:

http://dafnaforcolorado.com/

• HB23-1003 – School mental health assessment
• HB23-1130 – Drug coverage for serious mental illness

To learn more about how you can support mental health care and services for Coloradans, regardless of their ability pay please visit:

https://mariadroste.org/community-engagement/support-donate/