New MN campaign aims to end stigma of mental illness

Last week's shooting in Connecticut spurred debate about mental health care in the U.S. While we don't know exactly what was wrong or why the shooter did what he did, one of our recent guests on The Daily circuit noted that there was likely some kind of mental illness at play for someone to kill so many people.

We wanted to take a few minutes today to discuss a new effort here in Minnesota related to mental health. About two weeks ago Regions Hospital in St. Paul opened a new $36 million mental health building. The new building includes 100 beds with private rooms for patients. Officials noted that the opening came as demand for mental health services continues to grow.

But in addition to that bricks-and-mortar opening, Regions, HealthPartners (which runs Regions) and NAMI-Minnesota launched a new campaign to destigmatize mental illness.

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