DANBURY — U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy came to Danbury on Monday to tout legislation he sponsored to overhaul the nation’s mental health system.

More than 200 people gathered at The Family and Children’s Aid Child Guidance Center on West Street to hear the senator give a summary of his bill, which has bipartisan support.

“It’s time that the federal government start helping you, rather than getting in the way, and we're going to push as hard as we can early next year to move this through the Congress,” Murphy said. “I am more optimistic than ever before that we’re going to get this done.”

Murphy was joined Monday by U.S. Rep. Elizabeth Esty; D-Conn.; state Rep. Bob Godfrey, D-Danbury; John Clark, president of Western Connecticut State University; and Dr. John Murphy, president and CEO of the Western Connecticut Health Network.

Murphy, a Democrat, and Sen. Bill Cassidy, a Republican from Louisiana, initially co-sponsored the legislation when it was introduced in July. The bill has 12 additional ponsors, six Republicans and six Democrats.

The collective will to fix the mental health system stems in part from high-profile shootings across the country since Dec. 14, 2012, when a gunman killed 20 children and six educators at Sandy Hook Elementary School

Murphy acknowledged the link on Monday, but expressed reservations about tying mental health reform to gun violence.

“While we’d be fools to reject the interest that we have in mental health reform because of the violence that we’ve seen around the country, we have to be careful not to have this conversation re-stigmatize a group of individuals, a group that we’ve been fighting hard on their behalf to remove that stigma for a long time,” Murphy said.

“The reality, as you know, is that there is absolutely no inherent connection between mental illness and predilection to violence,” he said. “People who are mentally ill are much, much, much more likely to be the victims than they are to be the perpetrators.”

Murphy wants to reduce the fragmentation of the mental health system, which has seen a shrinking number of beds and a growing shortage of medical professionals.

His legislation calls for the appointment of a new assistant secretary for mental health and substance abuse disorders within the federal Department of Health and Human Services. The bill would add new funding for early intervention programs and mental health research.

It would allow patients to receive primary care and mental health care on the same day, rather than having to schedule appointments on different days because of Medicaid billing restrictions.

The federal budget office has not estimated the cost of Murphy’s bill, but a similar one in the House has been estimated to cost at least $45 billion over 10 years.

Still, Murphy’s approach drew support from many of the attendees.

“I like the idea of streamlining things so you don’t run into all the red tape,” said Dennis Bieber, a social worker. “Let’s create access to make it easier for our children and families to get their needs met.”