As the United States experiences an ongoing mental health crisis, fueled by complex mental health and substance use disorder needs as well as barriers to accessing care, advocacy plays an increasingly critical role in creating awareness, education, and actionable change. A special edition of the APA Journal Focus examines key issues regarding mental health professionals’ roles in health advocacy.
We are proud to announce that guest editors from The Kennedy Forum, including Nathaniel Z. Counts, J.D., Chief Policy Officer at The Kennedy Forum, and Lauren Finke, M.P.P., Senior Director of Policy at The Kennedy Forum, were asked to contribute for this important publication and cause. This issue of Focus features a range of dynamic voices and topics for psychiatrists and others who are interested in outcomes for public and population health.
“Mental health professionals bring essential perspectives about how we can address everyday barriers and opportunities that exist for people seeking coverage for effective care,” said Counts. “This issue underscores how leaders within the ecosystem have long led through advocacy and deepens critical dialogue about the alignment between policy and outcomes for patients and communities.”
The authors of “Advocacy in Psychiatry: Driving Public Policy Change” include:
- Vincent Migliaccio, M.D., of O&M Medical School, and colleagues commence this issue with a review of historical and contemporary advocacy contributions by mental health professionals
- Eric Rafla-Yuan, M.D., of the Social Determinants of Health Network, et al. emphasize that health advocacy is a fundamental responsibility of all psychiatrists, enabling them to address systemic challenges across individual, community, and policy levels
- Andrea K. Graham, Ph.D., et al., of Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, describe approaches mental health clinicians can take to advocate for effective, equitable, accessible, and safe digital mental health services
- Aaron S. B. Weiner, Ph.D., of Prevention Research Institute, and Lauren H. Weiner, Ph.D., of University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, examine effective policy advocacy related to opioids as well as guidelines for promoting advocacy at local, regional, and national levels
- Michelle Bedoya, J.D., L.L.M., of Johns Hopkins University, and Rachel Presskreischer, Ph.D., of University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, discuss licensure compacts that allow mental health professionals to practice across state lines
- Ira M. Lesser, M.D., of Harbor-UCLA Medical Center and University of California, Los Angeles, answers a critical question: How does the psychiatrist address the frustration people have around prejudice and deliberate obstacles placed in front of both the patient and psychiatrist to obtain care?
Read the full issue here: https://psychiatryonline.org/toc/foc/23/3
