Column: APA helps shape population health approach

With widespread need and increasing disparities, it is time to rethink our nation’s approach to behavioral health so that we work from a population health framework (PDF, 149KB)opens in new window, expanding our current paradigm for both mental health and substance use conditions. This includes:

• Who can provide and receive help: It is essential to intervene at the earliest moments of psychological distress, not limiting interventions only to those with a diagnosis. Additionally, help does not have to be limited only to licensed mental health professionals but can include others who are equipped with the knowledge and tools to positively affect people’s psychological health.
• What our overarching health goals are: Moving away from a singular focus on psychopathology and illness to a more comprehensive approach, working from a strengths-based perspective, and using psychological science to prevent challenges early and improve health across the population.
• When and where people can get help: Reaching people earlier in the development of behavioral health challenges by working further upstream to prevent unnecessary suffering. This includes embedding mental health support and services into the settings where people live, work, learn, play, and worship.
• How help is provided: Expanding the strategies used to address people’s diverse behavioral health needs. For example, utilizing public health and community-driven approaches that address social determinants of health to improve outcomes and reach more people.

APA is working with a growing number of people, organizations, and systems that are promoting this paradigm shift. Even more encouraging is that many have committed to moving from concept to action and making this vision a reality.

A September 12–13, 2023, summit, hosted by APA and focused on the scientific foundation for population health, brought together experts to develop concrete action steps to advance population health. This summit, the first in a series of convenings on this issue, included a diverse group of participants, from academic and community researchers to technology and industry leaders like those at Google, to those overseeing our country’s health systems like senior leadership from SAMHSA, NIMH, NIMHD, and the CDC. There was strong agreement that we all, including the full breadth of psychology, have important roles to play in advancing this framework.

Several summit attendees described this work as a “moonshot”—given the complex and massive undertaking required—but a necessary one. Like President Kennedy’s 1961 declaration to send humans to the moon, no one individual can make population health a reality. But if every one of us gets involved—challenging long-held approaches to behavioral health, forming new partnerships, and helping shape public policy—we have the power to transform this moment into a movement. Together, we can achieve our goal of improving outcomes for those experiencing the full range of behavioral health challenges and ensuring optimal psychological health for all people.