Systematic racism is at the core of mental health disparities and social determinants of mental health (SDoMH).Upstream factors obstruct patient access to needed and appropriate assessment, timely intervention, with treatment for these populations often reflecting poorer quality, and ending prior to completion of treatment. COVID-19 and the recent pandemic have only amplified meso and micro-level gaps in care. considered, provided, and reimbursed.

By Madeline St. Amour, Inside Higher Ed, October 20, 2020 Higher education is not the root of all equity gaps. But it can be a vehicle to lessen those gaps. Historically, it has not been. Equity gaps between students based on their race, ethnicity and income persist and thrive at most institutions. For Black students, simply accessing higher education remains difficult, particularly at four-year colleges. At some institutions, including public flagship and research universities, access has...

By Victoria Copeland, The Imprint, October 20, 2020 Academia is a space for immense learning and knowledge building. It is a place where ideas are crafted into resolutions for some of the world’s greatest concerns. Yet, because of its potential to do good, we often overlook academia’s complicity and collaboration in harmful research projects and practices. The “Ivory Tower” has notably harmed Black and Indigenous folks historically and in the present context. This is exemplified in its past...

By Krieger, American Journal of Public Health, October 7, 2020 COVID-19 starkly reveals how structural injustice cuts short the lives of people subjected to systemic racism and economic deprivation. It is not, however, the only crisis at hand. Since the May 25, 2020, murder of George Floyd, a 46-year-old African American man, by the Minneapolis, Minnesota, police, protests have coursed through cities and towns across the United States, denouncing structural racism and police violence,...

By Saya Abney, October 23, 2020, The Daily Californian. “What people don’t understand is that there’s no way to socially distance inside,” Kelly Savage-Rodriguez explains to me over the phone . Savage-Rodriguez is a member of the California Coalition for Women Prisoners, or CCWP, an organization currently involved with several campaigns for compassionate release and sentence commutations for elderly and immunocompromised prisoners who are especially vulnerable to COVID-19. Although jail and...

The Virtual Care Innovation Network aims to bring together safety net organizations across nine states to redesign care so that virtual care models continue after the COVID-19 pandemic abates and beyond. The program will enable participants to learn from peers and experts, test new approaches, accelerate the work they have already started, and develop ways to sustain virtual care as an essential component for how care is delivered into the future. Check out the application to learn more...