Rep. Patricia Anne Dillon, MPH, D-New Haven, was recognized June 16 by the Yale Department of Psychiatry for her longstanding support of mental health services in Connecticut.
Dillon, a lecturer in the department, was presented with a plaque by John H. Krystal, MD, Chair of the Yale Department of Psychiatry, during his annual State of the Department address at the Connecticut Mental Health Center.
The plaque read:
"Representative Dillon is recognized for her deep and abiding commitment to alleviating the burden of mental illness and addiction in our State. Her unwavering and long-standing advocacy for the clinical, educational, and research missions of the Connecticut Mental Health Center is one of many ways in which this commitment is expressed. As teacher to generations of Yale medical students and psychiatry trainees and as friend and advisor to leaders of the Department of Psychiatry, her impact is recognized broadly and appreciated deeply."
Dillon is a Deputy Majority Whip of the House, and serves on the Appropriations, Judiciary, and Environment committees. She chairs the health subcommittee of the Appropriations Committee.
She has long been an advocate for services to help those suffering from addiction and mental illness, and has been a staunch defender of the mission of the Connecticut Mental Health Center in New Haven. Her work has assisted victims of crime and newborns, and she has written programs for disease prevention, universal child immunization, school-based health clinics, community health centers, and lead poisoning prevention.
She has shaped much of Connecticut's AIDS policy, family violence policy, injury prevention, addiction and mental health policy, and has been a consistent, effective advocate for the disabled. She co-authored Connecticut's HUSKY plan for children to cover the mental health needs of children, and she established an initiative for mental health needs of National Guard and reserve families.