"There is strength in everyone, but at some point, we will all need help. We have the ability to support each other when we know what to do – which is why we are creating, “StrengthIn.Us"
Improving our mental health, one interaction at a time
Mental health and substance use disorders have been increasing for the last decade. The global pandemic has impacted all of us, and put into sharp relief the need to fundamentally create a new approach to addressing mental health.
The rising mental health needs outweigh the ability of traditional care systems to meet those needs. Barriers to accessing formal care are numerous and varied - and while medical approaches can often help define the problems and treat specific illnesses, the solutions many times are social, relational, and rooted in community. To comprehensively meet these needs, the field must develop the capacity to equip community residents and organizations with skills and resources to better support those closest to them.
StrengthIn.Us is a bold response needed to augment our current system’s inability to fully respond to demand for services by infusing support in the community settings where needs often present, and the capacity to use our daily interactions to recognize and provide support to those in need is largely untapped.
StrengthIn.Us is based on the community-initiated care (CIC) approach, which leverages a concept known as “task-sharing” that has been implemented successfully internationally for mental health promotion, prevention, and low-intensity intervention that does not depend on clinicians. Rather, non-specialized, trained members of the community are the heartbeat of StrengthIn.Us.
