How a Group is Tackling Mental Health Through Open Conversations

The Cleveland Clinic’s pediatric emergency room uses iPads loaded with peer-to-peer educational mental health videos from youth who have gone through the emergency room visit and inpatient admission process to help support other young people as they sit in the waiting room. The videos help reduce fear and anxiety, and research shows that peer support for people in crisis can also reduce re-hospitalization rates and promote recovery.

ACCESS Open Minds connects youth and young adults to mental health support, including therapists, caseworkers and peer navigators to help them get the care they need. One of ACCESS’s main goals is to bridge the gap between the complexities of the mental health care system and the community. By creating these youth wellness hubs and connecting people with the appropriate services, ACCESS has decreased the number of hospitalizations and emergency room visits and increased the number of people getting mental health care.

Teen Line operates a peer-to-peer mental health hotline where trained teenage volunteers provide support to other teens struggling with stress, depression, relationships, and suicidal thoughts. High school volunteers have been completing rigorous 3-month training in active listening, crisis response, and emotional regulation as part of this program since 1980. Over 40+ years of operation, Teen Line has logged 10,000+ annual contacts with a 98% caller satisfaction rate.

Mental health therapists in Colorado and the UK independently developed Minecraft-based therapy sessions during the pandemic when traditional play therapy moved online. Therapists create secure virtual worlds where children and teens can engage in therapeutic activities through gameplay. Those who participate are more animated and engaged, and typically never miss a Minecraft session, unlike traditional therapy.

Sonar Mental Health, the developer of the AI-powered “wellbeing companion” named Sonny, is offering its services to schools that struggle to meet students’ demand for mental health services. Sonny’s algorithm also has trained humans working behind the scenes to ensure students receive proper care. The hybrid bot is available in more than 4,500 public middle and high schools across the country, many of which are in rural and low-income areas.

The Mad Pride movement and groups like Orgullo Loco work to protect the rights of people seeking psychiatric care, as many report traumatic experiences with psychiatric hospitals like being forcibly checked in and given harmful treatments like electroshock therapy. The groups provide a sense of community, host events for members and organize demonstrations to rally support and advocate for policy change.

Mentally Aware Nigeria Initiative (MANi) offers free programs that provide mental health first aid and suicide intervention. MANi provides virtual counseling facilitated by trained, volunteer professionals as well as in-person offerings like conversation cafes and other group talks that aim to sensitize and educate people about mental health. In the last four years, MANi has provided direct support to over 40,000 people, the majority of which are between the ages of 10 and 25.

In rural parts of Wyoming, many people have trouble accessing mental health care resources, but telemedicine is changing that. Employing graduate students as counselors, people can access a telehealth clinic in order to obtain support in the form of specialized trauma care.

After shortages of mental health options for kids and untold grief, counties in Wisconsin have responded with new kinds of support for at-risk youth. Wisconsin communities have increased access with reduced wait time, and have used horse therapy, support groups, charity golf that raises awareness, school-group therapy, as well as mobile live chat sessions, among others.

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.