APA Foundation Blog

The co-responder model is a recent innovation in behavioral health services that employs a mental health professional and a law enforcement official as dual first responders when an individual experiences a mental health crisis.

The APA Foundation’s Notice. Talk. Act.® at School program trains not only teachers, but all school staff to be aware of students’ mental health needs.

"It's really meaningful to know that I can help carry forward [Dr. Paul O'Leary's] legacy and try to improve patients' lives while honoring his family."

The Center Orlando, originally founded as Gay Community Services in 1978, acted as a first responder on the night of the Pulse Nightclub mass shooting in 2016 in Orlando, Fl., one of the deadliest mass shootings in modern U.S. history.

80.3 million people were forcibly displaced people around the world by persecution, conflict, and war in 2021. To help the displaced children and adolescents in their adjustment and mental wellness, we need to understand what molds their trajectories.

For nearly two years, mental health specialists across America have been eagerly—perhaps nervously—anticipating the transition to a shorter, simpler suicide lifeline number.

It is only four weeks until the new 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline is launched on July 16, 2022. A survey of behavioral health directors showed they did not feel ready for this roll out. Clearly, the full implementation will continue beyond July 16.

We attempt to keep children safe by sending them to schools, typically seen as a protected place in society. What happens when that expectation of safety is not met, and our smallest and most defenseless population is put in grave danger?

In October 2020, Congress passed the bipartisan National Suicide Hotline Designation Act, which designated the three-digit phone number “9-8-8” as the easier-to-remember suicide lifeline. The idea is simple, but the implementation is not.

Children have faced many pandemic-related hardships, including social isolation, school closures, increased screen time, stressed caregivers, financial difficulties, reduced access to health care, and loss of loved ones.