May is Mental Health Awareness Month. CLASP’s mental health work centers on systems and policy change with an explicit focus on how race and ethnicity affect a person’s interactions with systems and services. We are working to reimagine how our national, state, and local mental and behavioral health systems could better serve people living in households with low incomes. The following resources offer insight into key issues, strategies, and principles surrounding mental health.
To Address the Youth Mental Health Crisis, Policymakers Must Advance Racial Equity: Julia Collins urges federal and state policymakers to equitably address the mental health crisis that is disparately affecting young people of color. She advocates for policymakers to transform our mental health system into one that is culturally and socially responsive so that it may be accessible and meet the needs of Black, Indigenous, and youth of color.
Whitney Bunts and Kayla Tawa discuss the detrimental effects of banning critical race theory (CRT) and its impact on social emotional learning (SEL). Their blog, Unfounded Outrage over Critical Race Theory Risks Social Emotional Learning emphasizes that to combat and dismantle systems of power, schools must build culturally and racially affirming environments for both students and teachers. By embracing culturally and racially affirming practices, schools will be able to respond to the needs of all the students and understand these needs from a human perspective.
Back in February, Whitney Bunts and Kayla Tawa highlighted the importance of stopping the ban on critical race theory (CRT) in their blog, How Abolishing Critical Race Theory Preserves White Power. Historically, white people have preserved their power by hoarding knowledge or banning the access of knowledge to Black people and allies. Policymakers must stop the ban on CRT and protect the health and wellbeing of all students, especially BIPOC students, LGBTQIA+ students, and students with disabilities.
Check out A View from the Classroom: How Policymakers Can Improve Teachers’ Mental Health by Julia Collins. Teachers are experiencing a mental health crisis that’s pushing them out of the profession. Federal, state, and district policymakers must focus on lasting solutions, such as improving wages, professional development, and making sure the teachers’ voices are included in policy decisions on every level.
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 level. However, these investments don’t fully address the structural, systemic, and policy changes required to ensure appropriate and effective mental health services are equitably available to all individuals and communities. Christine Johnson-Staub and Isha Weerasinghe’s brief, Supporting Mental Health Policies and Practices through the American Rescue Plan offers a set of principles policymakers and other stakeholders can consider as they implement ARPA’s mental health provisions.
State examples—
During the 2022 legislative session, Georgia increased funding for access to mental health services to a record amount of $183 million in the state budget.
At the local level, several counties are investing ARPA investments for mental health resources including in CA, CO, MA, NY, OH, WA, and WI.
This month, Nia West-Bey joined Active Minds and The Trevor Project to create and release CALM, a tool for repairing relationships following statements or actions that create intentional or unintentional harm against stigmatized or culturally marginalized groups. CALM gives people who commit microaggressions – whether intentionally or unintentionally – the tools to correct the situation, prevent further mental distress, and help to create a more equitable world.
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