Chief executives of the nation’s top 14 leading mental health advocacy organizations and professional associations today announced the formation of a unified coalition that will engage with governors and key elected officials in 50 states to introduce a roadmap for accelerating effective mental health as the nation struggles to weather the COVID-19 pandemic.

The leadership group is a first-of-its-kind, solutions-focused collaboration among the top mental health organizations to address the crisis and offer state and regional officials a blueprint for systematic reform. The partnership establishes and rallies a rarely seen solidarity in the mental health space, and speaks to the urgency of the mental health emergency, reminiscent of previous collaborations established to address major health crisis, including cancer in the 1970s and the HIV/AIDS in the 1980s.

The 7-pillar roadmap for recovery includes focus on early intervention, emergency crisis response, leveling of racial and economic inequalities in healthcare, integrated health and mental health care, parity in payment by health insurance plans, evidence-based standards of treatment, and engagement of a diverse mental health care workforce, peer support and community-based programs.

“One Mind is proud to stand with our nation’s other leading mental health organizations in urging elected officials to create a system that reaches everyone with the care they deserve — care that continuously improves its outcomes, through integration with research across health systems and universities.” – Brandon Staglin, One Mind President

Read the Unified Vision Document

Read the op-ed from Patrick J. Kennedy and Tom Insel

Read the coalition launch press release