CLASP

This Pride Month let’s take action by joining our LGBTQIA+ friends in helping to create the just, inclusive, and equitable world that every one of us deserves.

On April 4 and 5, 2023, The Utah Office of Substance Use and Mental Health, the Center for Law and Social Policy (CLASP), and the National Alliance on Mental Illness, UTAH (NAMI Utah) hosted the first-ever Youth-in-Transition Policy Summit. The summit highlighted five policies focused…

Innovations in Youth Mental Health By Nia West-Bey  Despite the unprecedented attention, we have yet to make a dent in the youth mental health crisis, particularly among young people from marginalized communities. Overall levels of anxiety and depression remain high. Federal policy efforts have been…

Young people from underserved communities—namely people with Black, brown, disabled, and/or LGBTQ+ identities—prefer community-based programs and peer networks over formal mental health services delivered in clinical settings. 

Last June, the Supreme Court of the United States eliminated the constitutional protection of the right to abortion, decimating access to reproductive health care and jeopardizing health, lives, and economic security. We are now seeing these predicted harms playing out in real time.

The Bipartisan Safer Communities Act will bring needed investments to address the youth mental health crisis, which disproportionately impacts young people of color who lack access to appropriate care.  However, reflexively attributing gun violence to mental health challenges furthers a counterproductive narrative that stigmatizes young people…

California’s therapy benefits demonstrate what’s possible when we center young people’s most pressing needs in how we define medical necessity.

By Priya Pandey and Emily Kim  In AAPI communities, the topic of mental health has been a cultural taboo for generations. For one of the authors, Emily—who’s second generation Korean-American–it was particularly difficult to start therapy due to the lack of culturally competent mental health…

The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated and amplified the growing mental health need for young people of color...

This Mental Health Awareness Month, Congress and the Biden-Harris Administration have the opportunity to create policy solutions that address the oppressive systems contributing to the youth mental health crisis and make bold moves to ensure a safe and hospitable planet.