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About 37% of Americans live in areas where there is a shortage of mental health providers. By 2025, the U.S. will be short about 31,000 full-time equivalent mental health practitioners, said Miriam Delphin-Rittmon, assistant secretary for mental health and substance use at HHS and the administrator of Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA).

“For us, that’s really a call to action,” Delphin-Rittmon said. “It lets us know that we’ve got work to do to be able to strengthen and expand the workforce.”

Delphin-Rittmon made these comments during an on-stage interview at the AHIP Medicare, Medicaid, Duals & Commercial Markets Forum on Wednesday in Washington, D.C.

One of the ways SAMHSA is combatting the workforce shortage is through the Minority Fellowship Program, aimed at those in psychology, psychiatry, marriage and family therapy, addiction, nursing and other professions. The program trains behavioral health practitioners on treating patients from different backgrounds and works to reduce health disparities. Delphin-Rittmon said that President Joe Biden is looking to increase the Minority Fellowship Program’s budget by $14 million to about $36 million.

SAMHSA is also providing resources to the existing mental health workforce through technical assistance centers and centers of excellence, she added.

Read more at MedCityNews.com.

Asian Americans’ psychological state over the last few years has been one of hypervigilance and pretending — constantly having to act as if everything is “business as usual” even amid high-profile anti-Asian attacks and the aftereffects of collective trauma, health advocates and experts tell Axios.

Though Asian Americans have always faced racism in the U.S., the spike in anti-Asian hate of the last few years has brought on a crisis of its own. Now, with the two-year anniversary of the Atlanta spa shootings casting a long shadow, data shows that the longer-term impacts of living in a state of heightened fear are emerging.

People often assume that Asian Americans don’t need support systems due to “remnants of the model minority myth that are still so prevalent in today’s society,” said Sy Stokes, the vice president of research at the nonprofit research thinktank Coqual. But as Asian Americans across the country continue to grapple with acts of violence, many say cracks are appearing in ways that are interfering with their ability to live their everyday lives.

“I don’t think we’ve yet to contend with what that meant … like feeling like I can’t leave my house or go to the grocery store without being afraid that someone is going to say something or assault me,” Theresa Nguyen, the nonprofit Mental Health America’s chief research officer, told Axios.

Read more at Axios.com.

The last several years have been tumultuous for younger populations due to the COVID-19 pandemic. But new data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) show that those who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, questioning or another non-heterosexual identity (referred to as LGBQ+, as the CDC did not include those who identify as transgender) are especially struggling, nearly twice as much as those who identify as heterosexual.

In 2021, 69% of LGBQ+ teens reported experiencing persistent feelings of sadness or hopelessness in the previous 12 months, compared to 35% of heterosexual teens.

Because the transgender population is excluded in this report, that 69% is likely vastly understated, said Colin Quinn, president of Included Health Communities, which is dedicated to care navigation and advocacy services for the LGBTQ+ community and the Black community. Included Health provides virtual and in-person care.

“I think the missing point, and they call this out, is [the report] did not include the transgender youth population,” Quinn said in an interview. “We know their mental health needs are increased and access is more limited and their experiences within the school setting are even worse. So if the CDC did include the transgender youth population within this, you would see those percentages even more magnified, which of course is even more alarming and concerning.”

Aside from the sheer number of LGBQ+ kids feeling sad or alone, also concerning is the fact that so many of them are feeling it persistently. It’s normal to have these feelings from time to time, but persistent feelings show that there’s a need for action, said Dr. Nikole Benders-Hadi, medical director of behavioral health at Included. About 50% of LGBQ+ students had poor mental health during the previous 30 days and nearly 25% attempted suicide in the previous year.

Read more at MedCityNews.com.

Suicide rates rising among Black boys and men is a hard conversation to have, seemingly harder if the answer requires more money to Black organizations to provide community-based resources, and the political will to get it done.

Mental health providers are calling on community participation to shed light on some of the reasons why suicide is ticking up in the Black community, as the number of white people dying by suicide is decreasing.

Health advocate Linda Hart said many high-profile cases in the entertainment industry are sounding the alarm on a serious issue that has been unfolding in the Black community over the past decade. She said more targeted help is needed to stop the tragic trend.

Hart reaches about 1,500 annually with unduplicated contacts in Riverside County’s Black community where she holds in-person mental health presentations. But in San Bernardino County where she lives, and in areas across the state, she said the Black community is estranged from outreach workers who look like them.

Part of her focus this year is reaching families for multi-generational impact. She commended Riverside County for taking strong steps to support racially relevant programs, and MSA funds and RFP process for all communities.

Read more at PrecinctReporter.com.

In modern society, mental health has become an easier topic to discuss and an important conversation in households. But, in minority households, mental health is still a taboo topic, specifically in Hispanic families due to stigmas around the topic. Speaking about one’s mental health can result in embarrassment and shame from family members, leading less people to seek the help they need.

Several factors add to the stigmatism around mental health and mental illness in Hispanic culture. The lack of access of information in Spanish or other dialects is a big barrier to getting the mental health help necessary. When there is a lack of understanding or resources for serious topics, it can lead to difficulty to get the help needed. Also, the lack of affordable healthcare or being uninsured is an even bigger issue in the United States. According to gpf.org, Nearly 30 million Americans are uninsured and of that number 18.3% are Hispanic, resulting in Hispanics being the biggest group of uninsured people of color.

Another big factor causing this issue are gender roles within the culture, such as machismo and marianismo. Machismo is the concept of being extensively manly, based on courage and power. This concept motivates men to be aggressive and show dominance. Machismo is prominent in Hispanic culture and promotes toxic masculinity. Marianismo is the concept of submissiveness and hyper femininity. The concept has been pushed on women to accept machismo. Both concepts have exposed families to toxicity in the household. These concepts also require those to be strong and keep feelings to themselves, resulting in the lack of speaking out about emotions and seeking the help that is needed.

Read more at RHSShield.org.

Menominee County has the highest overdose death rate in all of Wisconsin, according to statewide overdose death data. In 2022, the tribe saw 16 overdose deaths — its highest number on record.

The Menominee Indian Tribe is not the only tribe dealing with this issue. Wisconsin Department of Health Services Director of Opioid Initiatives Paul Krupski said the 12 tribal nations across the state have the highest overdose rate of any population.

“When we look at data, our tribal nations are disproportionately impacted by the opioid crisis in our state,” Krupski said during a February press conference.

A 2022 report from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention also found national overdose death rates increased 39 percent for American Indians from 2019 to 2020. That trend isn’t slowing down, according to the CDC.

But with a renewed focus on the issue, Menominee tribal leaders are hoping to put an end to the deaths.

Three sudden overdose deaths at the start of 2022 led to an emergency meeting in March of that year and the creation of the team. Nearly a year later, representatives from tribal leadership, law enforcement, and health services are still working to tackle the issue.

Read more at WPR.org.