California has taken perhaps the most proactive stance in the nation in enforcing laws to ensure people with mental illnesses have fair and timely access to care. But even in this state, it’s proving difficult to ensure mental patients truly have equal access to treatment. New laws aim to hold insurers and health care providers accountable.

Mental health agencies in North Carolina have partnered with a mobile phone carrier to provide data-enabled smartphones to individuals who lack access to technology during the pandemic. Because this doesn't provide a solution to all, however, mental health experts are also meeting with patients outside in social distanced settings.

Black churches across the U.S. are collaborating with psychologists and counselors to offer their community access to mental health care services during the coronavirus pandemic. Although not all congregants were initially receptive to the idea of intertwining religion with virtual psychology presentations and on-site counselors, "over time, some members of the clergy have come to realize the two can coexist."

To reduce the rate of suicides in Oregon, a Washington County epidemiologist formed an unlikely collaboration with the county's death investigators in order to build a comprehensive pool of data about where and why suicides were taking place. The outcome was a better understanding of prevention tactics that included partnering with "motel clerks and housekeepers, animal shelter workers, pain clinic staffers and more" to teach warning signs and ways to respond.

In Trieste, Italy, accessing mental health care resources is made easier by an approach that allows for people to seek assistance without the fear of being punished. In most cases throughout the region, mental health centers act as first responders and treatment facilities are open-door with very few instances of coercive treatment initiated. While individuals report that this model of care is successful, another element of success includes the employment rate of patients.

As the coronavirus pandemic forces people into isolation and social distancing, places known as "peer respites" are providing a space for those "experiencing or nearing a mental health crisis" to seek help. While the peer respites don't offer clinical care by licensed mental healthcare professionals, they are free for those who stay and "offer people in distress short-term (usually up to two weeks), round-the-clock emotional support from peers."

Fifty-one counties in the state of Wisconsin do not have child psychiatrists to provide counseling because most of them live in widely populated urban areas. Wisconsin psychiatrists now are offering telepsychiatry, which enables young people to do video conferencing and live chatting with a psychiatrist even if they are in rural areas. The program has shown that it is just as effective as in-person treatment; however, Wisconsin does not allow private insurers to pay for telemedicine services so the reimbursement for telepsychiatrists is still problematic.

A middle school in New Hampshire has piloted a program that focuses on dividing the school into different wings and offering classes on "mental wellness, conflict resolution, and healthy ways to communicate" with the goal of better addressing the emotional wellbeing of students. The outcomes have been promising thus far, with students reporting improved effects on their mental health.

The state of Wisconsin has a teen suicide rate three-times greater than the national average. Lawmakers have scrambled to address and provide greater access to mental health services in the state by offering temporary housing shelters, treatment programs, and new police training. The initiative is expanding to three cities and health officials see progress because of a decrease in hospitalizations.

In Victoria, Texas, the police department and mental health officials are joining forces to better respond to community crisis situations. From certifying police officers as mental health officers to assessing whether people already in jail have mental illnesses, the city is already reporting success from the initiative.

Eugene, Oregon’s Crisis Assistance Helping Out On The Streets (CAHOOTS) program provides specialists in response to mental health-related calls instead of police. The 30-year-old program partners with nonprofits, law enforcement, and social services to provide individuals in crisis the resources they need. Around the country, cities like Denver, Oakland, and Vancouver seek to implement similar approaches, recognizing the need for more supportive, community-oriented approaches to mental health.