Mental Health

Mental Health Initiative

Overview

The National Alliance is a leading voice on future directions in mental health. We are actively developing consensus for a path forward to promote systemic improvements in mental health and broker solutions for serious conditions prevalent among the US workforce including depression, anxiety and substance use disorders. 

The Path Forward for Mental Health and Substance Use

The steering committee for The Path Forward for Mental Health and Substance Use includes the National Alliance, American Health Policy Institute, American Psychiatric Association, American Psychiatric Association Foundation Center for Workplace Mental Health, Bowman Family Foundation, HR Policy Association, The Jed Foundation and Meadows Mental Health Policy Institute. Through this collaboration we are working to execute a disciplined, private sector approach to systematically and measurably improve five established best practices of mental health and substance use care.

Learn more about The Path Forward.

Our Next Steps

The National Alliance continues to prioritize mental health as a key national initiative. Coalition members are contributing to end the stigma that leads to separate and unequal treatment of mental health and substance use disorders, guiding purchasers to drive change within their organizations and communities. We're working with coalitions and stakeholder partners to drive measurable improvement in cost, quality and access.

Featured Resources

Achieving Value in Mental Health Support

Improving Outcomes

The mental health eValue8 includes a wealth of information to improve access and outcomes.

Action Brief - Accelerating Action

Accelerating Action

Employers can take action to drive accessible, affordable mental health care.

Action Brief - Hope and Healing

Hope and Healing

Mental health parity is expanding beyond the need to comply with the law.

Featured Coalitions in Action

Houston Business Group on HealthThe Path Forward for Mental Health is a key initiative of the Houston Business Coalition on Health. Our kickoff was attended by more than 50 stakeholders. We have created multi-stakeholder working groups to address TPF pillars – Access, Parity, Collaborative Care, Measurement Based-Care and Telehealth. All stakeholder types have volunteered to serve – Employers, Health Systems, Health Plans, Mental Health Advocates, Physician Groups, and Academia. We have partnered locally with the Hackett Center for Mental Health to develop in the Houston market. Learn more.
Kentuckiana Health CollaborativeRecognizing that the majority of individuals with mental illness first see a primary care provider and that those providers prescribe the majority of antidepressants, the Kentuckiana Health Collaborative convened a behavioral health subcommittee of experts to identify key mental health care quality measures as part of the Kentucky Core Healthcare Measures Set. The behavioral health set includes depression screening and care, opioid use, and tobacco use. Learn more.





Our Collective Value Agenda:

Uniting and raising our voices together

  • Accelerate adoption of Collaborative Care
  • Address disparities in network and pharmaceutical management
  • Determine behavioral health performance metrics and accountability
  • Promote strategies to break the silence and mitigate stigma
  • Reassess the impact of mental health on broader functioning and other healthcare costs
  • Advocate for early identification and intervention
  • Broaden access through telehealth and other avenues
  • Support pharmacogenomics to get to right treatment faster
  • Promote brain wellness
  • Broaden the focus on wellbeing


"Supporting the mental health of our employees and their families is foundational to our organization’s total health and safety agenda. We need our vendor partners to be similarly aligned and this report reinforces key gaps that must be addressed."

Andrew Crighton, MD, vice president of Global Health and Medical and chief medical officer for Prudential Financial, Inc.; member of the National Alliance Mental Health Purchaser Advisory Committee

Additional Mental Health Resources