In the News

Nearly 53 million Americans—roughly one in five adults in the U.S.—experienced some form of mental illness in 2020, according to the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI). Since the start of the pandemic, perhaps as a response, some 39% of employers expanded access to mental health services, according to the KFF’s 2021 Employer Health Benefits […]

Leading mental health and suicide prevention groups are expressing concern that the new, shorter number for the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline — 988 — will not be ready to handle an anticipated influx of calls when it's available nationwide next month. Starting July 16, people seeking mental health services can call 988 to access counselors […]

A recent Stanford University study on Denver's STAR program dispatches a two-person health team with a mental health provider and a paramedic instead of police for calls involving a nonviolent person with a mental health or substance abuse crisis. "We need to make sure these people get help rather than handcuffed," said Hannah Wesolowski, NAMI […]

"Our kids are really struggling," said Dr. Christine Crawford, associate medical director of NAMI. As the current findings highlight, the problem was "very real" even before the pandemic, noted Crawford. "It's hard for adults to imagine that a 10-year-old could be having thoughts of suicide," she said. As for what parents can do, Crawford recommended […]

Dr. Christine Crawford, associate medical director for NAMI, said that exposure to horrific events like the Uvalde shooting "can elicit symptoms that are consistent with a trauma response, almost." Crawford explained that after hearing or reading about events like a mass shooting, people may notice they are more on edge or irritable and may experience […]

Hannah Wesolowski, NAMI chief advocacy officer, is featured in a live, on-camera interview, discussing mental illness, misinformation, and explains ‘red flag’ laws. “It is rare that a shooter in this situation has a mental health diagnosis. When we focus on mental illness, it distracts from the topic at hand on how to address this gun […]

Roughly 7 in 10 public schools are reporting a rise in students seeking mental health services since the beginning of the pandemic, according to new federal data. But just over half of all schools were able to effectively provide services to all students in need. The Biden administration proposal would allocate $1 billion to help […]

A major effort to overhaul mental health care and substance use treatment in the U.S. is gaining traction as Congress and the Biden administration work on overlapping plans to address concerns across dividing lines of politics, geography and race. Top goals include responding to the mental health crisis among youth, increasing the supply of professional […]

If you’re working from home after spending months, or years, working in an office, you may find it hard to take breaks. “When working from home, it can be a little hard to figure out what a break looks like,” says Dr. Christine Crawford, associate medical director of NAMI. "In an office, breaks can be […]

Researchers have found variations in a small number of genes that appear to dramatically increase the likelihood of developing schizophrenia in some people. Ken Duckworth, NAMI CMO, a nationwide advocacy group, said the study is an important development in the neuroscience that underlies schizophrenia. But he said it is difficult to predict how soon such […]