Mental Health America HSC 310 David Olsen January 24,2011 Mental Health America Mental Health America (formerly known as the National Mental Health Association) is the country’s leading nonprofit dedicated to helping all people live mentally healthier lives. With more than 320 affiliate nationwide, we represent a growing movement of Americans who promote mental wellness for the health and well being of the nation, every day, and in a time of crisis (2007 Mental Health America). As an organization, Mental Health America has been around for nearly a century. We began work in 1909 when Clifford W. Beers, a young business man who struggled with a mental illness and shared his story with the world in his autobiography “A Mind …show more content…
There are so many services offered in Mental Health America I could go on and on. These services provide help for just about any cause and have trained highly professionals to meet our needs. Mental Health America Contribute Today, protecting and strengthening our ‘mental health’ could not be more important. With our quick pace, 24/7 culture, we face more stress from our daily lives than before. Many of us work extended hours or multiple jobs, and take fewer vacations. In fact, one in three American employees is chronically overworked. The line between work and home life is often blurred so home is no longer a place of rest. Sleep and exercise feel like luxuries. We are eating poorly more often. We are constantly bombarded with information. We are also more disconnected from family, friends, and neighbors, and less engaged in our communities than we use to be. Trusting in one another has steadily declined over the last 30 years. Children aren’t immune either; many are racing from on activity to another without any downtime.(2007 Mental Health America.) Mental Health America contributes to the successful management of health care resources. Mental Health America wants our nation’s schools, businesses, health care systems to have knowledge and resources they need to respond to the mental health of their constituencies and achieve their missions. Americans to afford prescription drugs and treatment for there diseases.
The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration is a governmental organization that is dedicated to helping those affected by things such as mental illness, substance abuse, helping veterans etc. In addition they also offer resources that can help people on the journey of recovery. Other resources are listed to helping mental health professionals, and families find the right treatment, both for clients, and their families. Furthermore, they also help by advocating for people who need these resources. The National Institute of Mental Health is another organization federally funded, that focuses on topics related to mental health. According to their strategic objectives, they want to find out the reason behind behaviors, then move
Due to the State of California cutting back on spending towards people with mental illnesses it affected a lot of people. Some of the people with a mental illness could no longer cover the costs to care for themselves and ended up becoming homeless because of it. Mental health is a serious concern in communities that needs to get resolved or worked on rather than cutting back funding for this issue. In California alone “more than 2 million children, adults, and seniors are affected by potentially disabling mental illnesses every year in California” (mhsoac.ca.gov). There should be adequate funding to make sure that people diagnosed with a mental illness and can
As Americans it becomes natural to undermine those with a mental illness. As a fact, many adults and children deal with mental illness each and everyday. There are many stories that have been told to Americans about depression, anxiety, along with bipolar disorders, with the outcome usually being a negative consequence. For the 1 in every 5 citizens that deal with a mental illness each year. Americans have neglected the fact that many adults and children deal with mental issue(s), the citizens that refrain from getting help; their well being can suffer detrimental effects, there is not a lot of awareness either taught in school, or in public perspectives, American’s stigma has perfected their
Mental Health is a state of social, emotional and psychological well-being. Mental health affects every part of our life and determines our ability to function, handle stress and make decisions. Throughout life, we have good and bad experiences which affect how we handle situations. The Mental Health Awareness and Improvement Act of 2015 was passed on September 30, 2015. The purpose of this act is to improve programs ordered by the Department of Health and Human Services to increase awareness, prevention and early identification of mental illnesses. Some challenges that affect mental health care in America include lack of knowledge regarding healthcare and insurance, lack of funding, no minimum standards, and lack of access to medication.
There is no way to get help if you have no clue to what the actual problem is. Many African Americans underestimate the severity of mental illnesses. “Mental illness is frequently stigmatized ad misunderstood in the African American community.” (NAMI) This is one of the serious issues that people in African American communities suffer with, which is ignorance. Not understanding what is wrong is what will make the problem worse because they choose to ignore the signs or seek help with in families and religious affiliations. (Willie) Many people believe that if they pray or talk to family members it will help them with their psychiatric problems however they are only coping with the issue. This is mainly because of the distrust that many people in the African American population have with psychiatrist and mental health professionals. They often believe that these people are Caucasian, whom could not truly identify with the issues that they are facing on a socioeconomic level. However many not know that, “In actuality, however, even though African Americans are underrepresented as psychologist, they are well-represented among mental health providers in general, and can be found among the ranks of master’s level clinicians, such as professional counselors and clinical social workers.” (Myers) Therefore the myth that if they get help it would not be with someone identifiable is somewhat true for psychiatrics, however for other mental health
The Mental Health Services Act is a monumental proposition that has helped many people for more than a decade. In California alone, close to 1.2 million adults and around 422,000 children live with a serious mental illness (State 2010). Without the proper treatment, suicide is the leading cause of death for a person battling an untreated mental illness (State 2010). With over thirteen billion dollars raised so far, MHSA has been the root of funding for mental health in California (Williams 2015). MHSA is still a work in progress. The act is nowhere near perfect, as a recent audit has shown, but it is certainly a step in the right direction.
Access to mental health care is not as good as than other forms of medical services. Some Americans have reduced access to mental health care amenities because they are living in a countryside setting. Others cannot get to treatment for the reason of shortage of transportation or vast work and household tasks. In some areas, when a
The mental health care needs of many children and adults have been overlooked for quite some time. Nearly one in five adults experience a mental health issue at some point throughout their lives, yet due to the challenges in accessing and obtaining affordable health care, many have gone without adequate treatment (Mental health by the numbers, 2015). According to SAMSHA (2013), 2/3 of America’s 45 million adults suffering from mental illnesses, and 90% of our country’s 21 million adults struggling with substance use disorders go without treatment each year (SAMSHA, 2013).
Through environmental and technological innovations, health care in the industrialized world has been transformed over the past two centuries. This transformation also applies to mental health care. With the discovery and acceptance of psychology as a legitimate health science in the past one and a half centuries, mental health has been gradually integrated into the broad health care schema as primary and preventative medicine. However, even with this gradual integration, mental health care in the United States leaves much to be desired. Even after the passage of the 2010 Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA), this type of care falls short of
In today’s society there is a greater awareness of mental illnesses. With this greater awareness one might assume that there would be a substantial increase in government involvement or funding in the area of mental illness treatment. Unfortunately this isn’t the case in the U.S. today. There are hundreds of thousands of people with mental illness that go untreated. These potential patients go untreated for many reasons. These reasons are discussed in the Time article “Mental Health Reform: What Would it Really Take.
Problem Statement: The World Health Association defines ‘good’ health as: “a state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.” However, in the United States, access to care and funding for mental health care are grossly neglected and underfunded in comparison to other aspects of health care.
My focus is to prompt people to think rationally. The Sustainable Development Goals by the United Nations also recognizes Mental Health as one of the important aspects of the overall development of individuals, countries, and the world. My passion and commitment have driven me to apply for this program and I am positive, I will contribute to this
Is essential to attain and improve of the mental health in population. Because mental disorder is dependable for a high degree of burden, it is fundamental that efficient preventive and promotional actions be taken in mental health to decrease the impact of mental disorders on the residents and communities. Over all, mental health assistances focusing on the strategy prevents the illness itself to mainly treatments and recovery centers which varies primary, secondary, and tertiary and depends on the severity of the disease or associated disability. As mental disorder can affect different ages, functioning of person what results trigger diminished quality of life, emotional suffering, isolation, and stigma. The Federal Substances Abuse and Mental Services Administration (SAMHSA) in the United States Department of Health and Human Services stressed on the advancement of emotional well-being, avoidance of mental illness and substance abuse, and services for mental and substances use disorders according the individual needs.
Lack of access to mental health care and treatment is one of the top ten reasons that many mental health conditions go untreated. Many private and group health insurance plans only include minimal mental health care coverage or do not incorporate mental health care coverage at all. Over half of adult citizens of the United States of America, who possess a mental illness, do not obtain mental health care treatment. According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, one out of every five adults in America have endured their own mental health difficulty, and one out of every twenty-five American adults suffer from a severe mental illness, such as major depression, schizophrenia, or bipolar disorder. (Top 5 Barriers to Mental Healthcare Access, Social Solutions.com, 2017)
Since we’ve been children, we’ve always been taught the importance of keeping up the physical health of our bodies. Whether it was a motivational speaker coming to talk to us about how important it is to have a healthy and balanced diet in middle school, or our elementary school teachers telling us about the importance of physical activity along with the benefits and health factors of fruits and vegetables, the importance of good health has always been stressed. Unfortunately, while people stressed the importance of physical health, mental health does not receive the same treatment. This has caused many people not to know about the importance of treating your mental health, which should be emphasized just as much the importance of