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Virginia leaders have publicly released a free resource designed to shift the conversation about mental health toward the social factors that drive both wellness and illness. Those who are promoting the Virginia Wellbeing Dashboard hope their efforts will ultimately encourage more funding support for initiatives targeting social determinants of health. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The attorneys general of 13 states and the District of Columbia filed a lawsuit against TikTok Oct. 8, stating that the app's addictive design features are doing damage to the mental health of children and teens. The goal of the suits, the attorneys general said, is to stop TikTok from using addictive features, impose financial penalties, and collect damages for users who say the app has harmed them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Direct payments to provider agencies for worker recruitment/retention and increased funding for behavioral health services are among the key strategies states have been deploying in increasing numbers to boost the mental health and substance use treatment workforce, according to a newly published report. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

New data published in the Journal of Correctional Healthcare suggest a steadily increasing need for behavioral health services in jail settings and a growing presence of psychotropic medication treatments in response. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Most adults see K‐12 schools as an important resource for mental health support for students, but fewer believe that school personnel have all the necessary training to be of maximum help, results of a newly released opinion poll suggest. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An effort modeled after the Crisis Intervention Training (CIT) that law enforcement officers receive is equipping other criminal justice system professionals in Collier County, Florida, with knowledge to improve their interactions with individuals who have serious mental illness and/or substance use disorders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A new analysis from the Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF) takes a deep dive into the factors associated with racial disparities in mental health care, citing issues such as stigma and problems finding providers of similar backgrounds as major contributors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield (BCBS) of New York published an inaccurate provider directory for people searching for mental health providers, otherwise referred to as "ghost networks," alleges a new class‐action complaint filed last month in U.S. District Court. The lawsuit states that these directories are not only an inconvenience for people searching for mental health providers; but that it is far more "insidious and costly." [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A behavioral health organization and a provider of virtual classrooms and online solutions have collaborated to offer patients evidence‐based mental health and addiction treatment through an interactive and online option. Officials, who announced the partnership in September, said the effort delivers personalized individual and group treatment plans in a secure, compliant and engaging online space. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Colorado's community mental health providers say they are experiencing many of the downsides that can come with a period of dizzying change. Facing declining Medicaid rolls, a shifting payment model and no prospects for new state funding to support restructuring, the state's provider community is calling the current environment a "perfect storm" of crisis that could engulf patient care. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As observances of World Mental Health Day were marked last week on Oct. 10, organizations and provider groups moved forward with efforts to raise awareness about mental health around the country and mobilize efforts to support individuals experiencing mental health issues. Many released new reports on workplace mental health and offered virtual and in‐person resource awareness activities and events. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A voter‐approved criminal justice reform initiative that has generated nearly $500 million for mental health and related services over the past decade in California could be rolled back significantly when the state's voters return to the polls next month. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Community‐based programs are critical to improving equitable access to mental well‐being around the country and to achieving important outcomes for communities, according to panelists at a Mental Health America conference session on Sept. 20 in Washington, D.C. (see related story beginning on page 1). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mental Health America's (MHA's) conference attendees — including thousands of mental health advocates, people with lived experience and their families, and clinical leaders — learned firsthand last week of the Biden administration's plans to invest millions to integrate behavioral health services into hundreds of community health centers around the country. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Most adults have said they believe that their faith or spirituality is important for their mental wellness, according to a survey released by the American Psychiatric Association (APA) assessing the relationship between faith and mental health. Additionally, a majority of the individuals who responded to the poll would pursue mental health care if it were recommended by their faith leader. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Approximately 20% of the perinatal population will suffer from a maternal mental health disorder, but less than 20% of the perinatal population ever receives mental health treatment, attendees heard during a congressional briefing on maternal health and suicide in the perinatal population held on Sept. 10, on World Suicide Prevention Day. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Momentum to break down the historical barriers that have impeded mental health treatment access in the Latinx population is coming from a committed group of young people with rich lived experiences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

When leaders of a charitable foundation asked the presidents of 13 liberal arts colleges to identify an area of common need for funding, there was little hesitation in the response. "Very quickly all of the presidents agreed that mental health was the largest challenge facing these institutions," Lori Collins‐Hall, senior vice president and chief operating officer at Sterling College in Craftsbury Common, Vermont, told MHW. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A newly announced round of state grant funding will allow some mental health providers in Connecticut to complete much‐needed capital improvements, at a time when these providers also would like to see a boost in state support to meet everyday service‐related needs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A New York City‐based outpatient mental health treatment provider that opened for business in January is establishing a care model that seeks to integrate new clinical approaches with the tried‐and‐true. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Observing Georgia's leadership in pioneering the certified peer specialist movement and its role in paving the way for Medicaid reimbursement for peer support services, the Georgia Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities (DBHDD) has released a new documentary that highlights the journeys of peer specialists in the state and their impact on recovery and support. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This month's announcement of a $2.5 million federal investment to develop multistate health provider licensure compacts signals a continued and significant push to embrace telehealth as a key vehicle for easing the workforce shortage in mental health and other health disciplines. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the two years since the implementation of the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline, more than 10 million texts, calls and chats followed, according to U.S. Health and Human Services (HHS) leaders who marked the event with a press call on July 16. The Biden‐Harris administration, they said, provided more than $1.5 billion in total investment for the crisis line. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) last week charged the founder and CEO of a California‐based digital health company and its clinical president for allegedly participating in a fraud scheme involving medication for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). The move has prompted an official Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) health advisory warning of disrupted access to care among individuals taking prescription stimulant medications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This month's convening of child‐serving agency officials from nine states offered a rare opportunity for policy leaders in mental health, child welfare and Medicaid to strategize together toward system improvement. Attendees of the Children's Behavioral Health State Policy Lab reported that while the nine state teams identified some immediate steps that they can take to improve service coordination, the most impactful actions to improve child outcomes would likely take shape over a much longer period. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the past several years, the perception of the role of an election official or poll worker has transitioned from a noble form of civic expression to a highly politicized position that could place the individual at personal risk. With the nation's politically charged atmosphere around elections unlikely to calm anytime soon, The Carter Center is renewing attention to its resource guide for the mental well‐being of election officials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Leaders of an expanding mental health support program for refugee and migrant populations in Georgia said they learned a powerful lesson about client needs during the initiative's pilot implementation. They had assumed clients would mainly want to talk through the trauma they had experienced in their home countries, but they learned instead that these individuals' stressors weren't much different from all of ours. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Groups of teenagers in Worcester, Massachusetts, are being immersed in a program that exposes them to what a career in mental health practice would look like. Leaders of the initiative said that heightened awareness about mental illness will benefit participating youths even if they decide not to forge a career path in mental health services. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Observing the need to identify a set of evidence‐based, evidence‐informed and promising practices to address maternal mental health care, a first‐ever national strategy released last week by a federal task force is calling for a seamless integration of perinatal mental health and substance use care across medical, community and social systems that increases equity and access. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A multi‐year effort by the New York state behavioral healthcare com‐munity to achieve parity between Medicaid and commercial health insurance has finally come to fruition as indicated in the state's final budget, allowing New Yorkers to access mental health and addiction care in their local communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The National Council for Mental Wellbeing (National Council) hosted its annual conference, NATCON 24, with nearly 6,000 mental health and addiction treatment providers, CEOs, clinicians, advocates, health care professionals and others in what is considered the largest mental health and substance use conference in the country, on April 15‐17 in St. Louis, Missouri. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A New York‐based organization, considered a global leader in professional education and training for psychedelic therapy research, is collaborating with a biotechnology company to develop an FDA‐approved botanical psilocybin pharmaceutical candidate to support an upcoming randomized clinical trial. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fulfilling gaps in mental health service delivery and care, while collaborating with state, payer and stakeholders, are at the heart of a Minneapolis‐based organization's mission to understanding what its community needs and wants and offering creative solutions to address those needs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A contribution of more than $1 billion by Massachusetts' nonprofit hospitals and health maintenance organizations (HMOs) in 'Community Benefits' expenditures illustrates the progress that mental health and other health care providers are making in addressing social determinants of health in their communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The availability of telehealth indisputably preserved access to mental health care for many individuals during the COVID‐19 pandemic, but the impact that telehealth has had on cost has remained less clear. A new analysis released by KFF (formerly known as the Kaiser Family Foundation) suggests that private insurance payment rates for telehealth services in mental health continue to be similar to rates for in‐person treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL) last week released a new report citing such legislative concerns for the new year as the health workforce and youth mental health, Medicaid, artificial intelligence and prescription drugs. All are key topics NCSL's policy experts anticipate will occupy state lawmakers' time in 2025 legislative sessions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The rising suicide rates in the U.S. emphasize the need for effective prevention, researchers stated emphasizing the importance of their new study to determine the impact of telehealth — which they said has transformed access to mental health care — on suicide outcomes which is unknown. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Responding to the growing demand for mental health care services by strengthening the pipeline of behavioral health professionals and creating job opportunities for people in recovery from a mental health or substance use disorder, Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine has recently announced two programs to serve both needs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Observing that social media has become a pervasive presence in everyday life, including among youths, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC's) nationally representative Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS) in 2023 included for the first time an item assessing U.S. high school students' frequency of social media use. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As Nov. 5 approaches, a new survey uncovering the mental health impacts of the forthcoming presidential election has found that stress and anxiety are on the rise and that the majority of respondents feel the upcoming election has somewhat negatively impacted their mental health. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]