The President’s plan to protect our children and our communities by reducing gun violence directs the Departments of Health and Human Services (HHS) and Education to launch a national dialogue on mental health with young people who have experienced mental health problems, members of the faith community, foundations, and school and business leaders. The national dialogue, which MentalHealth.gov is a part of, will take place through:
- Community conversations. Several geographically/demographically diverse cities will host structured conversations facilitated by deliberative democracy groups that will result in community specific action plans. Other communities may choose to use SAMHSA’s Toolkit for Community Conversations About Mental Health to help host their own conversations.
- Public/private partnership commitments. Outside groups such as national associations of schools, colleges and universities, faith based groups, medical providers, and others are being asked to commit to including some form of mental health awareness or discussion in their upcoming activities. The idea is that this form of conversation will reach communities that aren’t limited to geographic designations, but are communities of likeminded citizens (i.e. teachers, churchgoers etc) across the country. When layered on top of the cities hosting the facilitated conversations, the dialogue begins to have a nationwide reach.
- Social and online media. HHS will launch MentalHealth.gov as an online resource for people looking for information about signs of mental health problems, how individuals can seek help, and how communities can host conversations on mental health. The website will include videos of people who share their stories about mental health problems and recovery.