In a new study published in the Community Mental Health Journal, we highlight the crucial role of frontline caregivers, often referred to as “Behavioral Health Support Specialists.”
Courage is the defining quality of people with mental and behavioral health challenges, who brave daunting internal and external challenges to seek help. Courage is also the key ingredient in the philanthropic work America needs to overcome the mental health crisis now besetting the nation.
We interviewed representatives of 17 national, regional, and local foundations—with assets ranging from just under $1 million to $12 billion (and a mean of $2.2 billion, median of $130 million)—regarding their experiences funding mental and behavioral health projects.
Digital apps can bridge the gap between the fractured, unsustainable status quo to the inclusive, equitable, healthier future. By focusing on social returns while the market focuses on financial returns, philanthropy can catalyze these transformative innovations, reaching millions, even tens of millions of patients needlessly suffering without treatment, and shaping the future of both technology and mental health.
Students are struggling with mental health issues due to COVID and its aftereffects. While the youth mental health crisis is well-publicized, solutions are in shorter supply. This article by Shalene Gupta describes the crisis and notes efforts by a client-funded project called The Path Forward, a multi-stakeholder, national-local push to promote evidence-based, data-driven practices and policies with the best chances of increasing equitable access to quality mental health care and accelerating integration of mental health and addiction care into the broader health system.
Forty-four percent of the U.S. working population of doctors were experiencing burnout in 2017, according to the latest numbers from a national, longitudinal, triennial study. The consequences of this are high: negative clinical outcomes, loss of empathy, decreased quality of care, and medical errors. Burnout among doctors is linked to chronic diseases like heart disease and diabetes and, perhaps most chillingly, suicide at twice the rates of the general population.