Meeting the Mental Health Needs of Unemployed Individuals: Scope of the Problem and Testing Evidence-Based Strategies-Part 1

APA and the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) are pleased to announce a two-part series titled Meeting the Mental Health Needs of Unemployed Individuals. This series will focus on the mental health needs of unemployed individuals.

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought increased awareness to the significant impact job loss and unemployment can have on mental health. This series is designed to highlight emerging evidence-based approaches that can be implemented to mitigate the negative effects of unemployment on mental health and substance use. This webinar will characterize the epidemiology of mental health symptoms in relation to economic stressors and describe an intervention to address mental health concerns among job-seeking individuals. Presenters will describe the complex relationship between unemployment and mental health concerns in the context of both past economic downturns and the current COVID-19 pandemic.

The webinar will also provide information on a treatment protocol tailored to address mental health concerns in individuals seeking services in employment and training settings. The presenters will describe the underlying theory guiding their intervention strategies, as well as key individual and setting level characteristics that inform the use of a technology-assisted approach to increase intervention acceptability and reach.

• Describe several ways economic stress can affect mental health symptoms.
• Describe the cognitive behavioral approach used in a study designed to address mental health needs of clients served by two large employment and training centers.

• Host: Leslie Hammer, PhD
• Rajeev Ramchand, PhD
• Joseph Himle, PhD
• Michelle Craske, PhD