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Mental Health America Blog
Mental Health America Blog - Chiming In
By Paul Gionfriddo, MHA President and CEO
I was sitting at home doing some writing in 2012 when I turned on the noontime news. There was only a small news item at first – there had been a shooting at a Connecticut elementary school in Newtown, and there were at least a couple of confirmed casualties....
By Kelly Davis, MHA Director of Peer Advocacy, Supports, and Services
The holiday season can be a time of joy, community, and connection, but many people experience an increased sense of loneliness and isolation during this time of year. Whether it is in a crowded room or at home by yourself, loneliness is painful.
While you might want to reach out to friends, family, and loved ones, sometimes it feels better to talk to someone with...
By Denise Egan Stack, LMHC, OCD Foundation
Anxiety in school is a widespread problem at every grade level.
Research shows that up to 25% of students struggle with clinical anxiety which can significantly impact a student’s ability to learn and perform up to their capacity.
Anxious students may have:
- high absenteeism rates
- difficulty processing and...
By Priya Sridhar, Public Policy Student, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
In the age of increasing work and life separation, how do we reconcile human needs for care and support within workplace cultures of fast-paced productivity? Vocations vary far too widely in operations to standardize mental health supports or provision of resources. Unlike schools or courts, places of work (even within the same sector) are...
By Paul Gionfriddo, MHA President and CEO
A newly released national report has bad news. There is a continuing increase in deaths from suicide for both men and women.
The report, released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), reflects an increase in suicide rates from 10.5 to 14 per 100,000 people between 1999 and 2017, with increases in all age groups up to age...
By Nathaniel Counts, MHA Senior Policy Director
Yesterday, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) issued a proposed rule on Medicare Advantage and Part D Drug Pricing. While Mental Health America (MHA) supports CMS’s overall goal of lower health care costs for individuals,...
By Kelly A. Davis, MHA Director of Peer Advocacy, Supports, and Services, and Nathaniel Z. Counts, MHA Senior Policy Director
Today, the Government Accountability Office (GAO), a group that helps Congress oversee the federal government, issued a report on “Leading Practices for State Programs to Certify Peer Support Specialists.” For those who remember, peer support was one of...
By Nathaniel Counts, MHA Senior Policy Director, and Paul Gionfriddo, President and CEO
Mental Health America (MHA) is celebrating some big policy wins in the latest guidance just released from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS).
While the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) is the lead mental...
By Taylor Adams, MHA Programs and Operations Manager
Every year, I make a promise to myself to begin thinking about holiday gifts long before the season starts – usually with little success.
Luckily, I am a huge fan of small gifts that are relatively inexpensive and easy to find last minute. I would even argue that gift cards can be meaningful despite its unsentimental reputation.
These little gifts can be assembled into a thoughtful care package that...
By Caren Howard, MHA Advocacy Manager
“Self-sufficiency” has always been a basic principle of U.S. immigration law. To be admitted to the United States and to qualify for eventual citizenship, an individual must show that he or she has a reasonable prospect of earning a living, or that someone – such as a relative – can provide his or her support. If an individual can’t show this, and is likely to become a “public charge,” he or she generally is not admitted.
After decades of operating under this policy, the Administration recently published a...
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