Legislators need to get phone calls and emails from their constituents, ideally with individualized content, to get them to notice that anyone cares. Call their offices directly!
And whatever social media you like to use, use it! (Facebook, Instagram, BlueSky, X/Twitter, LinkedIn, etc.)
Suggested hashtags:
#MApoli (this tag is widely used for Massachusetts political topics)
#PsyPactMA #PsyPactNow
#MentalHealth #MentalHealthAccess #MentalHealthAwareness
#Telehealth #MAPsychologists
And tag your legislators directly -- if you can't find them on social media (many go by @RepLastName or @SenLastName), search for their own campaign websites.
If your legislator is one of the key ones right now, call them by name, in public, and say how much we need them to act!
Here are some example bits of language to include:
No one should be forced to lose their therapist just because they move to another state, whether to go to college, get another job, take care of family emergencies, or even just enjoy summer vacation.. But in Massachusetts, that’s exactly what happens — because we still haven’t joined PsyPact, the interstate compact that 43 other states already use to protect continuity of care and client choice.
Massachusetts is behind the curve. Forty-three other states have already joined PsyPact, a bipartisan solution that makes mental health care far more accessible across state lines and greatly increases the options for vulnerable clients who need high-quality specialty care.
Both sides of the Joint Committee on Public Health reported the bills favorably. Now, we are in the fiscal-review stage -- both the House Committee on Health Care Financing and the Senate Committee on Ways and Means need to understand that the direct cost of these bills is trivial (just $10 per participating psychologist per year, capped at $6000 -- that's couch-cushion money!) and that they streamline administrative burdens such that it will likely save money.
Go to www.masspsychaction.org to find out if your legislators are on the relevant committees. If they are, call or email their offices today and urge them to move the law forward. If not, ask your friends who live in those key towns to speak up, and ask your own legislators to talk to their colleagues and get them moving!