MENTAL HEALTH
SITUATION:
Majority of those in need of mental health assistance go untreated.
SIGNIFICANCE:
Decisive & transformative change to U.S. mental health landscape is possible.
Politicians, public administrators, advocates, policy experts must focus on objectives.
SOLUTIONS: [POSSIBLE SOLUTIONS TO MENTAL HEALTH PROBLEM IN AMERICA]:
Adopt the recommendations in this Rand Report:
U.S.is at a time of promise for historic transformation in mental health care.
Report describes the landscape of mental health in the United States.
Identifies opportunities for change, & makes evidence-based recommendations.
Authors provide analysis and recommendations in 15 areas
Recommendations Extracted from the Rand Report:
- Promote systematic community mental health education & diversion strategy
- Integrate behavioral health expertise into general health care settings.
- Link homeless individuals with mental illness to supportive housing.
- Strengthen mental health parity regulation and enforcement.
- Reimburse evidence-based behavioral health treatments at their true cost.
- Establish an evidence-based mental health crisis response system.
- Establish national strategy to finance & disseminate evidence-based early interventions for serious mental illness.
- Expand scholarships & loan repayment programs – stimulate workforce growth.
- Improve the availability and quality of peer-support services.
- Expand access to digital and telehealth services for mental health.
- Focus on patient outcomes in treatment planning & assessments of care quality.
- Define and institutionalize a continuum of care in states and communities.
- Launch a national care-coordination initiative.
MORE SOLUTIONS FROM RAND REPORT: [To mental health situation ]
Increase mental health service utilization by those in need:
Education initiatives, meeting individuals where they are, and supportive housing.
Access should be available to them in their community without undue financial burden.
Services must be affordable, available, accessible, and acceptable.
Communities to be equipped to provide a well-coordinated & evidence-based continuum
Need to guide individuals to level of care that corresponds to their level of illness & care,
Promote effective channels of communication and coordination within the continuum,
Establish payment structure that rewards evidence-based practices within continuum.
Relationship of Mental Health to Community Crime
