The Mental-Health-Care System Isn’t Ready for COVID-19 Either

The Mental-Health-Care System Isn’t Ready for COVID-19 Either

Posted on April 1, 2020

Life during a pandemic has even the most resilient drowning in new levels of stress. The sudden and growing need for care has left mental health providers overwhelmed. One problem: There aren’t enough therapists to go around. “Demand has increased substantially for American mental health, and our supply hasn’t changed in a meaningful way,” says Ken Duckworth, CMO for NAMI. “It’s not really a system,” he says of the U.S. mental health infrastructure. “It’s a patchwork quilt of individuals and well-meaning policy people trying to provide large numbers of services to large numbers of people in a payment structure that is varied and complex. It’s quite a challenge.”