Mental Health Awareness Month Highlights Disparities in Access and Treatment Across Communities
Studies show 25% of Black people seek mental health treatment when needed, compared to 40% of their White counterparts. The month of May is Mental Health Awareness Month. Mental health has become a global topic since the dawn of the 2020s decade. With suicide rates increasing and human interaction spaces, both in person and online, becoming more and more contentious, the discourse around mental health is becoming more and more intentional. But is that enough?
When Awareness Becomes the Norm
What does it mean when nearly everyone one comes in contact with is dealing with some sort of mental disorder, from anxiety to depression, ADHD, autism, etc. Writer Patrick West, in his 2026 article for The Spectator, “Mental Health Is An Inauthentic Crisis”, writes, “When it reaches the stage when everyone in the entire country is diagnosed as having mental health problems, will we have to accept that being mentally ill represents mankind’s new norm, thus rendering the whole concept meaningless? This is not some idle philosophical hypothesis. This is a question we will one day have to ask ourselves if matters continue on their current path.” Beyond the “trend” of going to therapy or attending a wellness retreat, what other action is being taken to move the needle forward around ensuring equal access to quality affordable mental health resources?
The System Behind Mental Health Access
Mental health is at the epicenter of a very intricate ecosystem that is the federal government. From lawmakers deciding what goes into bills and how bills are carried out, to sources of funding being created, regulated, and decided on how and when it is spent. Everyone should have equal access to healthcare, right? Everyone should have equal access to mental health resources, right? In theory, that means this ecosystem has checks and balances in place to ensure these lawmakers are doing their due diligence and reading the research and statistics around the new medications and new initiatives that will become the foundation for the future of mental health. Is that happening?
Are Policies Keeping Up With Need?
Mental Health Awareness Month is a good start. It is a yearly reminder to check in and see what the landscape looks like within politics, education, healthcare, social media, business, technology, and even the skilled trades. What is the conversation and is the conversation moving forward?
The Gap in Who Gets Help
While studies show that 25% of Black people seek mental health treatment when needed compared to 40% of their White counterparts, the questions that need to be asked: what treatment are they seeking? Why is it only 25%? What can be done to reach the other 75%?
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