Mental Health Awareness is Everywhere. Why Shouldn’t Virtual Care Be Standard?

Virtual care has proven to break down geographic barriers that limit access as well as silos that keep mental and physical health clinicians..

May is Mental Health Awareness Month, which for years has been a platform to increase understanding about mental illness and advocate for better mental health care. Now more than ever, you don’t have to look too hard to see that mental health is a daily fixture in the national conversation. Unfortunately, mental health issues have become far too common for people of all ages and in all walks of life.

An Influx of Demand from Pediatrics to Geriatrics

We know that children are in dire need of access to mental health services. In April, a draft recommendation by the U.S. Preventative Task Force said all kids ages eight to 18 should be screened regularly for anxiety. This comes on the heels of the American Academy of Pediatrics and American Foundation of Suicide Prevention releasing a blueprint for youth suicide prevention.

The Covid pandemic has sparked the spread of our youth mental health crisis. But those who were the most vulnerable to begin with—racial and ethnic minorities, low-income youth and children in rural communities, LGBTQ+, and anyone who has been historically marginalized and discriminated against in medicine and behavioral health—have been hit hardest. Accounting for only these pandemic-induced disruptions, children and adolescents with largely untreated anxiety, trauma, and isolation have been pushed past a breaking point