A Bi-Directional Approach To Bring Together Public Health and Mental Health

Mental Health America is hosting its annual National Policy Institute on Tuesday, June 7, 2022. This is a virtual meeting that will answer the questions: How can the U.S. take a public health approach to mental health and how can policy support overall wellness – for the workforce, for youth, and for everyone in between?

Through six sessions over a three-hour virtual meeting, Mental Health America’s National Policy Institute will inform policymakers and other stakeholders about:

• How federal agencies can better work together to support public mental health, and what data collection and data analysis contributes to responding to crises,

• What missing components of a robust public mental health workforce should be employed that other countries use,

• What is needed to ensure key messages from public health officials are aligned and effective,

• What structural support is needed to build and sustain a strong equitable public workforce that includes behavioral health professionals and paraprofessionals,

• How financing should be modeled to support better public mental health, and what prevention research has emerged on mental health,

• What community-based models promoting mental wellness should be funded and integrated, and;

• How young leaders have led changes in local, state, and federal government to better meet rising youth mental health needs.

MHA’s National Policy Institute will also recognize a young person for their dedication to advocacy over the last year with the 2022 Youth Advocacy Award.