Helping millions to their right to good mental health

In recognition of World Mental Health Day, the World Health Organization’s 2023 campaign reminds us that mental health is a universal human right, including the right to accessible, acceptable, and good-quality care. Unfortunately, this isn’t the reality for many struggling with access challenges.

Let’s look at the barriers to quality care that many face in the US specifically and the steps you can take within your organization to address them today.  

Acknowledging barriers to care

When it comes to mental health treatment, medication has long been the default care method, despite concerns over side effects and physical dependence. However, 75% of patients say they would prefer a non-drug option to address their mental health conditions. Those seeking in-person therapy are met with access challenges due to a shortage of providers taking on exhausting patient loads:

• 37% of people in the US are living in areas with a mental health provider shortage.
• The average wait time to see a licensed mental health provider is eight weeks.
• Up to 80% of children, youth, and young adults do not receive adequate treatment for their mental health conditions.

And, of course, we need to take into account that mental health care is expensive and unsustainable in the long term for many. All of these factors aside — some people may still choose not to seek care due to the stigma around mental health.

Implementing positive change in your organization

So, what can you do to ensure your organization has access to necessary care for their mental health concerns despite these challenges? There are a number of steps you can take to start implementing positive change today:

• Take a close look at your benefits package and evaluate if it is serving the mental and emotional needs of your organization.
• Be open and responsive to feedback and listen when people ask for support.
• Identify warning signs of poor mental health, like trends of absenteeism, presenteeism, or burnout.
• Foster an environment of open communication and dialogue to reduce mental health stigma — and lead by example from the top down.
• Consider expanding your benefits to include access to quality treatments for mental health conditions so that you can address the root cause of their concerns.

Defining quality care

If you’re looking to add specialized mental health resources to your benefits package, it can be difficult to know where to start. Evaluating mental health solutions can feel overwhelming, given the number of self-help apps, coaching services, digital treatments, and wellness products available on the market today. Here are some important questions to consider:

• Is it backed by science?
• Does it offer a long-term solution or a short-term fix?
• What does engagement look like?
• Is it targeted towards specific conditions?
• Does it deliver a strong ROI?

By offering solutions that are clinically validated, targeted, easy to use, engaging, and deliver long-term results in a short period of time, you’ll ensure your people have access to the quality care they deserve — and are fundamentally entitled to.

At Big Health, our mission is to help millions get back to good mental health. We’ve reached hundreds of thousands of people through our effective digital treatments for some of the most common mental health conditions, delivering up to a 4:1 ROI to the organizations we serve, and are steadfast in our goal to make mental health care accessible to all.

Learn more about how we can help you improve access to quality care in your organization.

1.  Rounded average ROI; Internal Data. (2023).

DOC-3367 Effective 07/2024