The pandemic exacerbated an already untenable mental health crisis, which continues to worsen by the week. In March 2021, Congress passed the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA), which included much-needed federal investments and opportunities to advance mental health policies and resources at the state and local levels. However, these investments are timebound and insufficient to fully address the structural, systemic, and policy changes required to make appropriate and effective mental health services equitably available to all.

In a new brief, Christine Johnson-Staub and Isha Weerasinghe offer a set of principles policymakers and other stakeholders can consider as they implement ARPA’s mental health provisions. They provide an overview of opportunities within the law and suggest immediate and longer-term policy recommendations that help to lift the longstanding barriers people of color and other historically disenfranchised populations face in accessing mental health services.

State policymakers and other stakeholders must fully utilize these ARPA resources to address the immediate and worsening crisis and make the case for long-term policy changes and investments that address the racial inequities and other gaps in our mental and behavioral health systems.

If you have any questions, please contact Christine Johnson-Staub at [email protected] or Isha Weerasinghe at [email protected].