Schools

Jim Ramstad Lends Name to a Cause Near His Heart

Personal experience and determination led the former Minnesota congressman to partner with the Richfield school.

Tucked away on the southeastern edge of Richfield is , a nonprofit college turning out psychologists, treatment counselors, life coaches and other mental health professionals.

While the school wants to provide the best education it can to its students, it’s also looking to become a force and resource in the community. To further this mission, the school has teamed with former U.S. Congressman Jim Ramstad to create the Jim Ramstad Community Services Center.

“What we’re trying to do is to treat diseases of the brain the same as diseases of the body,” Ramstad told Richfield Patch. “That is what the Adler Graduate School is all about, that is what the center is all about and that’s what my passion is all about.”

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Ramstad, a Republican who represented Minnesota’s third congressional district, is known for his strides in bringing more attention to the needs of those with mental illness and chemical dependency. He partnered with Sen. Paul Wellstone in 1996 to produce the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equality Act, which required insurance companies to treat mental health on an equal basis with physical illnesses. Twelve years later, the bill was signed into law.

However, his passion for the cause—and the community services center at Adler—comes from personal experiences.

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“I happen to be a grateful, recovering alcoholic of 30 years myself,” he said. “I have more than a policy interest in this, I have a personal interest. I know hundreds and hundreds of people who need this kind of help.

“But for the grace of God and the access that I had to treatment, I would not be alive and sober today,” he added. “And I would not have been able to serve for 18 years [to bring the legislation forward].”

The community services center will serve as a learning and working environment for students, but will also be open to the Richfield community.

“We’re still gathering momentum,” , president of Adler Graduate School, said. “[The center is] really meant to facilitate insurance companies to be more creative and flexible in their work with citizens and create a great deal more accessibility for the entire population.

“I don’t know if the mental health field has done a good enough job of serving the whole community,” he added. “And that’s how we stay relevant.”

While the finished product is a distance away, Canvas Health—formerly Human Services Inc.—has already agreed to rent roughly 10,000 square feet from Adler and be part of the center. The organization has more than 40 years of experience in mental health and crisis intervention services.

Ramstad’s role in the center hasn't been determined, but he told Patch that, at the very least, he hopes to teach at the school. In addition, Ramstad is working with former Congressman Patrick Kennedy, the nephew of President John F. Kennedy, and also with One Mind for Research, which brings together science, technology, financial resources and knowledge to create an "unprecedented understanding" of brain disease.

“The fight for access to treatment is certainly not over, but we’ve took a great step forward,” Ramstad said. “I remember Pres. Kennedy saying, ‘You don’t have to be in public office to do public service.’ And we’re working to continue this.”

For more information on Adler Graduate School, go to alfredadler.edu. For more information on One Mind for Research, go to 1mind4research.org.


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