$5.3 million in grants awarded to address youth mental health crisis

Three organizations dedicated to helping address the youth mental health crisis in the United States will be awarded $5.3 million in grants.

The inaugural recipients include The Jed Foundation, the National Alliance of Healthcare Purchaser Coalitions’ Path Forward initiative, and the Think:Kids & Meadows Mental Health Policy Institute (MMHPI) partnership.1

The Jed Foundation, which focuses on emotional health support and suicide prevention for adolescents and young adults, plans to use the grant funds to create more partnerships with high schools, colleges, and universities in support of student mental health.1 “We are extremely grateful to receive The Goodness Web’s inaugural grant that fortifies and expands our ability to increase our programming to support youth mental health and suicide prevention nationwide,” said JED CEO John MacPhee in a press release. “Our goal is to partner with more than half of the country’s colleges and universities and more than 1000 high schools to implement a mental health culture of caring that improves well-being and reduces risks for suicide for their more than 13.2 million students.”2

The Path Forward, a National Alliance of Healthcare Purchaser Coalitions initiative, focuses on using large employers to drive insurance companies to cover integrated mental health treatment costs in primary care settings. The initiative will use the funds to help create and build national infrastructure supporting greater access to mental health care.1 “Employers overwhelmingly identify the need to improve access to effective, affordable, and timely behavioral health care as a top priority,” said National Alliance of Healthcare Purchaser Coalitions about The Path Forward. “Five evidence-based reforms can dramatically improve early detection and access to more effective behavioral health care. The Path Forward’s goal is implementation of these reforms.” These reforms include measurement-based care, mental health parity compliance, tele-behavioral health, collaborative care, and network access.3

The grant funds will also support the partnership between Think:Kids, an organization dedicated to helping clinicians, parents, and educators work more effectively with children who have behavioral challenges4; and MMHPI, an organization dedicated to driving equitable systemic changes in Texas to provide all individuals with access to effective behavioral health care.5 The organizations will use the grant funds to develop the evidence-based Collaborative Problem Solving (CPS) approach to working effectively with children who have behavioral challenges.1 “We are thrilled and honored to be among the inaugural grantees of The Goodness Web,” said Think:Kids said in a tweet. “We look forward to partnering with [MMHPI] supporting #MentalHealth for youth.”6

The grants are being awarded by The Goodness Web (TGW) in collaboration with more than 70 donors. They will award $1.7 million in 2022, with additional funds to be distributed over the next 4 years totaling $5.3 million.1

“Today, mental health support is highly fragmented and largely ineffective,” said Jan Swartz, co-founder of TGW, in a press release. “TGW looks to encourage next-level collaboration among mental health donors and nonprofits so that we can have a larger, faster impact in helping our youth. We believe better support for youth mental health is one of the greatest needs of our age.”1

This article was published by our sister publication Psychiatric Times.

References

1. The Goodness Web Foundation names inaugural grant recipients, awarding $5.3 million to accelerate initiatives addressing the youth mental health crisis. The Goodness Web. News release. July 26, 2022. Accessed August 3, 2022. https://www.thegoodnessweb.org/july-26-2022-inaugural-grant-recipients

2. The Jed Foundation (JED) awarded 1.5M inaugural grant from The Goodness Web. The Jed Foundation. Press release. July 26, 2022. Accessed August 5, 2022. https://jedfoundation.org/news-views/the-jed-foundation-jed-awarded-15m-inaugural-grant-from-the-goodness-web/

3. The Path Forward for mental health and substance use: health equity for all Americans. National Alliance of Healthcare Purchaser Coalitions. March 26, 2021. Accessed August 5, 2022. https://higherlogicdownload.s3.amazonaws.com/NAHPC/3d988744-80e1-414b-8881-aa2c98621788/UploadedImages/One-Page_Path_Forward_Summary_03_26_21_LW_1318.pdf

4. Kids with challenging behavior are tragically misunderstood. it’s time for a more compassionate and effective approach. Think:Kids. Accessed August 5, 2022. https://thinkkids.org/

5. Our mission. Meadows Mental Health Policy Institute. Accessed August 5, 2022. https://mmhpi.org/about/story-mission/

6. @ThinkKids. “We are thrilled and honored to be among the inaugural grantees of The Goodness Web. We look forward to partnering with the @MeadowsInst in supporting #MentalHealth for youth. Learn about The Goodness Web and the grantees: bit.ly/3beiP1d.” July 29, 2022.