The Kennedy Forum’s convenings are an opportunity to gather leaders and discuss timely topics in the mental health field to help us reach 90-90-90 by 2033.

The bi-annual Alignment for Progress events held by The Kennedy Forum have become a reliable compass to measure the direction of mental health care in the U.S. — even and especially if specific areas keep rising to the top.

For instance, leaders in the room repeatedly discussed systemwide issues over the past few years, including: 

• Workforce development
• Data infrastructure, access to care (especially for rural areas)
• Quality and measurement-based care 
• Economic modeling for mental health
• Payment models that reward outcomes
• Mental health parity

And, additional points of discussion have emerged, from sustainable federal financing, addiction (and resilience) among young people, bipartisan engagement, and the rapid evolution of technology and AI. Among these enduring topics and big ideas, these are the points that we heard throughout as urgent issues to address:

The Missing Voices Shape Important Conversations, Too
Though Alignment for Progress already draws a formidable set of leaders — from tech giants to nonprofit heads to major philanthropists — participants underscored that the growing coalition will require coordinated, sustained action. Across the conversation, leaders pointed to the breadth of constituencies already engaged or within reach — veterans, older adults, law enforcement, rural leaders, unions, faith institutions, sporting leagues, university systems, and many others — and emphasized the need to translate that into a “blueprint,” where we chart pathways for engagement with key groups and pursue them.

Attendees didn’t only discuss who needs to be brought in, they also outlined where we need to show up. Our ecosystem is often missing from consequential conversations, particularly when it comes to emerging tech. Participants reiterated that we have to stay focused on getting into discussions around AI as the guardrails, rules, and laws are being developed. After all, the missing voices will invariably shape outcomes, one way or the other.

The First Step Is Rarely the Perfect Solution — But It’s the Way to Find It
When The Kennedy Forum released the Mental Health Parity Index alongside our partners, we sought out critiques about the methodology and use cases, including at the Alignment for Progress event! That’s because the Index was both a giant leap and a first step, in this case, for better understanding nationwide parity issues with depth, nuance, and transparency.

In other cases, the gap lies in treatment. One group focused on first steps for serious mental illness, noting that while roughly 100,000 young people experience first-episode psychosis each year, coordinated specialty care is billed only dozens of times annually. Staff from The Kennedy Forum discussed how it is formalizing the process to close the gaps for complex mental health conditions, exploring implementation training, better diagnostics, and navigating bureaucracy. 

TKF leaders also previewed several new tools and resources designed to help partners take concrete first steps — from modeling the economic impact of early intervention efforts to addressing parity denials by providers.

Early Intervention Efforts Must Reach People in the Places They Already Are, Especially Young People
Participants emphasized the opportunity to further embed mental health support within institutions and scalable settings, bringing care closer to people’s everyday lives instead of requiring them to seek it out. Schools, workplaces, and faith communities are already delivering mental health services of varying degrees. Each offers lessons for the mental health field, and opportunities to do more. For instance, corporations have taken the lead in measuring the efficacy of mental health programs, although without standardized gold-standard implementation. School-based systems deploy effective services, but struggle with sustainable federal funding. 

Participants also wanted to consider online environments, for or youth especially, as their online worlds were as robust as their in-person environments. Platforms like YouTube, Twitch, Snap, and gaming communities were cited as essential places to consider prevention, connection, and other ways to reach young people in the places they are.

We Must Focus on “the Why” for Wider Buy-In
As people who understand mental health issues in-depth, leaders within our ecosystem often examine operational, clinical, and methodological solutions. This can cause division even in rooms where most people agree! When engaging in bipartisan discussion, we must focus on why it’s important to take quality mental health care seriously.

Participants agreed on a few areas of wide cross-aisle agreement: the need to ensure a thriving workforce, mitigate long-term costs and return people to the economy, ease physical comorbidities that are both expensive and devastating, and invest in collaborative care and other effective treatment models that improve outcomes. And, importantly, we must do this by leading first as human beings who care about an issue. Personal connection will always resonate above clinical or operational expertise.

Commitments From Those in the Room
The conversation did not end with consensus alone. Participants left by presenting clear next steps and commitments, like sharing implementation and outcomes methodologies, elevating emerging insights through communications channels, extending the group’s work into technology infrastructure, building new apprenticeship pathways in behavioral health care, convening self-insured employers, strengthening bipartisan bridge-building with law enforcement, and testing alternative ways to reach young people where they already are. Across these commitments, the charge was clear: progress depends not only on agreement, but on coordinated action across sectors, messengers, and systems.

PHOTOS: If you are an A4P attendee and want more photos from the day, please reach out to info@thekennedyforum.org.

INVITES: And, if you are a senior leader working to advance mental health care and would like to be considered for a future Alignment for Progress invite list, please reach out to The Kennedy Forum. 

Thank you to the attendees and to the sponsors who enable an incredible cross-section of leaders to come together for change!