BIPOC Mental Health Month 2022 Week 4

Stephanie Weatherly, DNP, PMH RN-BC, FACHE

Chief Clinical Officer

July 25, 2022

As we enter the last week of BIPOC Mental Health Month, we know that our work reducing healthcare disparities in the mental health space will not be over when July ends. In 1999 and 2001, the US Surgeon General put out two reports that highlighted mental health disparities: Mental Health: A Report of the Surgeon General and Mental Health, Culture, Race and Ethnicity.

According to these reports:

• Racial and ethnic minorities have less access to mental health services than whites, are less likely to receive needed care, and are more likely to receive poor quality care when treated.
• Minorities in the United States are more likely than whites to delay or fail to seek mental health treatment.
• After entering care, minority patients are less likely than Whites to receive the best available treatments for depression and anxiety.
• African Americans are more likely than Whites to terminate treatment prematurely.
• Among adults with a diagnosis-based need for mental health or substance abuse care, 37.6% of Whites, but only 22.4% of Latinos and 25.0% of African Americans, receive treatment.

While we have made some headway in the past 20 years, the statistics I have shared over the past few weeks show that much more work is needed. McGuire and Miranda shared the following on how to reduce mental health disparity in their work Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Mental Health Care: Evidence and Policy Implications:

Mental health disparities are rooted almost entirely in mental healthcare disparities; policy efforts should focus on improving access to and quality of mental healthcare for diverse Americans. Mostly, these policy efforts do not reflect exceptionalism for mental healthcare, apart from general healthcare. Specifically, policies that would result in universal coverage for mental health care would significantly improve access for ethnic minorities. Similarly, improving the quality of mental health care treatments would likely improve, but not eliminate, mental health care disparities. These quality improvement efforts would need to include screening to increase appropriate identification of disorders for minorities, as well as modest accommodations for minorities (providing language-appropriate educational and treatment materials and culturally sensitive training for providers). Of particular importance for eliminating mental health disparities for minorities, federal policies should provide the outreach and education support necessary to train a diverse workforce to meet the mental health needs of our nation.

We might not individually be responsible for national policy development. Still, we can influence our host locations' policies, create systems built around inclusion, and continue to work to eliminate disparities within our control as we learn about them. We can advocate to local and national officials that mental healthcare for all persons is integral to healthcare. We can take steps to create change, and I hope we are all committed to taking them.

Thank you for all you have done to raise awareness, reduce stigma, and decrease healthcare disparity this month!