Mental Health Awareness is Just the Start

Written by Walker Tisdale

May is Mental Health Awareness Month.

According to the folks at Wikipedia, the purpose of Mental Health Awareness Month is to raise awareness and educate the public about mental health and mental illnesses. It’s been estimated there are 18.1% of Americans who suffer from depression, schizophrenia, and bipolar disorder. The designated month is to raise awareness of the realities of living with these conditions; and strategies for attaining mental health and wellness.

In my opinion, this month should also be about action steps and strategic planning at local and national levels especially. In 2021, we are past the fundamental stage of awareness raising as there are crisis level issues in nearly every state regarding shortages in mental health personnel, endemic homeless with mental health co-morbidities, largely ignored mental health needs of the prison population, and rampant under-funding of public services at state and local levels. There is work to do.

Mental heath and behavioral health associations and professional groups could leverage their massive memberships to advocate at the national level for state reciprocity on licensure so there is a national licensure for social workers, counselors, etc. This alone would impact social worker and counselor retention in the field and likely reduce drastic compensation disparities state by state.

These awareness months come and go and there is little national action to show for the commemoration of the month. For 2022, let’s be proactive as a nation and discipline to push our representatives elected and non-elected to act on our behalf. Together we can make a difference. We must.

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