Mental Healthcare Access for Underserved Communities

If you are a refugee and need information about primary health or medical care, you can contact the Australian Refugee Health Practice Guide . Dependent on your visa status you may be eligible to some Medicare services. Services are different in each centre but can include aged care, family support, early intervention programs. More, carers, people living in rural areas or whose age, gender or sexual orientation shapes their experience of care.

• Therefore, it may be challenging for primary care physicians to address problems such as stigma, underutilization of therapy, and premature termination.
• In this article we seek to discuss some of the barriers, cultural and otherwise, that prevent their access to care, and to provide some recommendations for solutions.
• In this blog, we’ll focus on how diversity, equity, and inclusion intersect with community issues, mental health, and resilience.
• For instance, some communities may have stigmas surrounding mental health issues, leading individuals to avoid seeking help.
• Inaccessible CMHCs heavily impact communities of color, specifically Black, American Indian/Alaskan Native, and Latine populations.

Find Your Bezzy Community

Hawaii‘s state plan includes development services targeted to both adult and youth Native Hawaiians. Employment preparation programs in state WIOA plans can be tailored to specific communities and populations. States can use WIOA plans to target specific initiatives and programs that focus on engagement and recruitment in BIPOC and other underserved communities.

Mental Health Policies Implemented in North Carolina

Importantly, North Carolina has recognized a need for providing access to EHR systems to smaller/under resourced community centers by recommending Medicaid expansion funding be used on implementation of these systems, but the extent to whether this will be widely executed is still unknown (North Carolina Office of State Budget and Management, n.d.). Additionally, having standardized methods of using EHRs to document and subsequently improve gaps in care is vital, but rarely implemented in behavioral health settings https://www.emdria.org/blog/emdria-members-respond-how-can-the-field-of-emdr-therapy-increase-access-of-care-for-bipoc-individuals/ (Kariotis et al., 2022). One way to adequately understand differences in the type of resources needed for racially and ethnically minoritized populations is through consistent longitudinal data tracking such as electronic trails through the mental health and health systems.

Embedding mental health services into primary care settings makes support feel like a natural part of overall health. Through collaborative efforts in research, education, clinical practice, advocacy, and policy changes, according to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, the WPA seeks to shape a world where actions to improve mental health are universally accessible, culturally sensitive, and inclusive13. In conclusion, the WPA Action Plan 2023‐2026 acknowledges the interplays between all aspects of human experience and mental health, and aspires to address the diverse needs of individuals across the lifespan and from various cultural backgrounds. On the other hand, men may face more barriers in accessing mental health treatment due to societal pressures that discourage them from seeking help. Compared to the general population, ethnic and sexual minorities are often more likely to be affected by mental disorders, but less likely to use mental health services2. Closing the gap in mental health disparities requires a multi-faceted approach that improves access, raises awareness, and supports policy reforms.

Adding this new core principle creates a lens for Rhode Island to consider how current and future efforts to address the opioid crisis will impact communities of color, and how policymakers might take action to better address disparities in access to care and treatment. Given the cross-sector nature of workforce generally, and the specific needs of a diverse behavioral health workforce, governor-level leadership can be instrumental in making sure that these issues garner the multi-agency support needed to effect change. Under WIOA, states develop plans for workforce initiatives across economic sectors, including physical and behavioral health care. The majority of BIPOC providers in the health care workforce, including behavioral health, are employed in non-licensed, lower-paying, lower-level positions that lack standardized career ladders for professional advancement.

Conversely, traditional psychoanalysis considers the avoidance of morbid thoughts to be a repressive mechanism that is harmful to the individual’s mental health. Among Asian, Hispanic, and African Americans, it is often believed that a mental illness can be treated or overcome through willpower, heroic stoicism, and avoidance of morbid thoughts rather than by seeking external, professional psychological help.12 For example, a classic study suggested that Asian Americans were more likely than Caucasian Americans to believe that mental health was enhanced by exercising self-control and avoiding morbid thoughts. However, the dominant Western conceptualization of mental health relies on the notion of Cartesian dualism, which views the mind and the body as separate entities. People’s conceptions of the nature, causes, and cures of mental illness are culturally influenced.11 In some Asian cultures, for example, there may be no distinction between physical and psychological problems because “the psyche and soma” are seen as a whole.