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One Mind Statement – President Biden’s Mental Health Strategy

One Mind Statement – President Biden’s Mental Health Strategy
by Brandon Staglin, President, One Mind

In his State of the Union Address, for the first time in decades, an American President has called out the mental health struggles inherent in every American family, with a thorough plan to support their needs. With a spring in our stride, One Mind celebrates President Biden’s Strategy to Address Our National Mental Health Crisis. We are proud to stand among the nation’s community of mental health advocacy leaders that has, in unity, made this momentous step possible.

As a central part of his Unity agenda, the President has put forward a 22-point plan based on three strong pillars: Strengthen System Capacity, Connect Americans to Care, and Support Americans by Creating Healthy Environments. With our population struggling at unprecedented levels, One Mind stands in support of the plan across all three pillars.

We are supportive of the entire plan but especially enthusiastic about these four points in the plan:

  1. Expand early childhood and school-based intervention services and supports. Because half of all mental illness begins by age 14, and can derail human potential across the lifespan, it is critical to expand and improve services for children and youth. Now, youth are struggling with mental health as never before. With two decades of leadership in early intervention research now evolving into our ASPIRe Initiative, One Mind is excited to see the President’s support for growth in such services.
  2. Invest in research on new practice models. Though the emerging, One Mind-championed gold-standard of care for youth serious mental illness provides better outcomes than any model before, our nation must continue to innovate to empower recovery as the commonplace outcome it should be.
  3. Invest in behavioral health navigation resources. Families afflicted with mental illness commonly face a tortuous maze when seeking care for their loved ones. There must be a better way. One Mind’s Strong 365 program provides an innovative model to improve care connection, and potential to expand such models cannot come too soon.
  4. Promote the mental well-being of our frontline health workforce. With brave mental health providers overworked and exhausted as the population’s pandemic-wracked needs skyrocket, it’s critical to care for them so they can show up as their best selves to care for their patients. One Mind at Work is a leader in this space, and it’s encouraging to see the President support a call for more.

One Mind will continue to align with advocacy nationwide to ensure the maximum benefits of the President’s plan for families everywhere, now and for years to come. We encourage you to contact your Congressional representative in support of the President’s mental health agenda. Now the real work begins!