The World Health Organization states that at some point in their lives, one in four people will be effected by mental health or neurological disorders. Nearly two-thirds of them will never seek help. Stigma plays a great role in this.

More than 40% of countries do NOT have a mental health policy, more than 30% have no mental health programs, and in over 50% of countries, there is only one psychiatrist per 100,000 people.

According to Mental Health America, suicidal ideation in adults is increasing (up to 4.19%; up 450,000 people from last year). Insurance coverage for mental health is lacking and 10.3% (4.7 million+) of adults with mental illness are uninsured. Almost 19% of adults experience a mental health illness. That’s 45 million Americans. 57.2%  of adults with a mental illness did not receive treatment. That’s 26 million people. Almost 30% of adults with a cognitive disability could not see a doctor because of the expense.

The American Psychiatric Association (APA) reported that, “People who identify as being two or more races (24.9%) are most likely to report any mental illness within the past year than any other race/ethnic group, followed by American Indian/Alaska Natives (22.7%), white (19%), and black (16.8%).”

50% to 75% of youth in our juvenile system qualify as having a mental health disorder and as we know, there is disproportionate representation of racial and ethnic minorities in our criminal justice system. The APA also reports, “people of racial and ethnic minority groups are less likely to receive mental health care,” specifically 31% of blacks and hispanics and 22% of Asians compared to 48% of whites.

The APA also reports that people who identify as LGBTQ are greater than twice as likely as heterosexual people to have a mental health disorder in their lifetime.

Among veterans who need mental health care, less than 50% actually receive it (National Council for Behavioral Health). The Veteran Association reported that 22% of veterans die per day by suicide.

These facts can be quite astounding especially when you think about how many people are having to live with mental illness without any help. We want to create awareness, improve these statistics, and break the stigma that exists around mental illness.

Join us on November 20, 2020 at 12:00pm CT to discuss how we can overcome the stigma of mental health and thus, help more people get the care they need. We’ll be joined by a great group of guests with both lived experiences as well as expertise on the topic: Dr. Joseph Novak, Psy.D. (Private Practice), Julie Sowash (Disability Solutions), Morgan Williams (ex-Uber), and Joshua Mendez (U.S. Army & Salesforce).