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Mental health

Expanding access to high-quality mental health services

Mental health

Expanding access to high-quality mental health services

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Learn more by visiting our Institute for Health Policy.

Get updates on our public policy perspectives


We provide high-quality mental health and addiction care and services that are tailored to our patients’ social, cultural, and linguistic needs. We work to address the challenges in America’s mental health care system and improve the health and well-being of all the people we care for and serve.

1 in 5 people one is colored in blue icon

1 in 5 adults

has a diagnosable mental illness at any given time1

Blue and white brain icon

122 million people

live in a mental health professional shortage area2

Icon of a person with their arms folded on a table with their head resting on them.

60% of youth

with major depression didn't get needed care3

Mental health principles we support

Coverage

We support a model of health care coverage that recognizes mental health as being equally important as physical health and that is designed to deliver the right mental health and addiction care at the right time, and in the right setting.

Care

We promote policies that ensure individuals have access to high-quality mental health and addiction care that is safe, timely, effective, equitable, and patient-centered.

Expanding the mental health workforce

Many people in the United States — particularly those in rural and historically underserved communities — live in areas with shortages of full-time clinicians, especially those who accept insurance.

We support policies that increase the size, linguistic capabilities, and diversity of the mental health workforce to meet the needs of all populations. Learn how Kaiser Permanente is helping grow the mental health care workforce.

Evidence-based care

The current mental health system does not meet the diverse needs of adults, teenagers, and children.

We support policies that standardize quality metrics that evaluate the performance of mental health treatments and practitioners. These can lead to wider deployment of evidence-based care, which is based on high-quality scientific research and is more likely to improve patient outcomes.

Substance use disorder care

We support policies that increase access to life-saving drugs like naloxone and medications like buprenorphine and methadone. We aim to remove barriers to effective treatments, integrate substance use disorder care into primary care, and support prevention programs in schools. These efforts can help more people get the care they need and reduce the stigma around substance use disorders.

School-based services

We support policies that provide school personnel and students with access to effective mental health education, training, and evidence-based resources.

We also support efforts to work with families, schools, and communities to break cycles of trauma and prevent adverse childhood experiences — potentially traumatic events, such as physical and emotional abuse, that occur before a child turns 18.

Defeating stigma

Stigma can be a significant obstacle to recovery, treatment, and societal acceptance for people living with mental health conditions.

We support policies that reduce stigma. By bringing mental illness out into the open and creating a culture of acceptance and support, we can encourage people to seek the help and support they need.

Crisis services

We support policies that expand crisis services for people experiencing serious mental health episodes and the acute effects of addiction.

These policies include funding state crisis-response teams and 24/7 crisis-support services to prevent emergency department and medical inpatient holds.

 

1 National Alliance on Mental Illness, 2023.
2 Health Resources and Services Administration, 2025.
3 Mental Health America, 2022.

 

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News and views from one of America’s leading health care providers and not-for-profit health plans.

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