Health Program Reviews 2023

Mental Health Program

Under the leadership of former First Lady Rosalynn Carter, a longtime champion for the rights of people with mental illnesses, we envision a world where mental health is valued, promoted and protected as a human right and where everyone has equal access to mental health supports and services.  

Our Goals

The Carter Center's Mental Health Program works to:

1) Promote awareness about mental health issues to reduce stigma and discrimination against those with mental illnesses, 

2) Inform public policy with a focus on achieving equity for mental health care comparable to other health care, and  

3) Assist countries in building their behavioral health system of care. 

United States Public Policy Work.

The Carter Center seeks to ensure that behavioral health and well-being are prioritized in public health policy, working specifically with a focus on vulnerable populations through: 

• Implementation and enforcement of parity, or equity in insurance coverage for mental health and substance use conditions. 

• Improving access to school-based behavioral health services and supports for youth. 

• Increasing access to care for older adults with mental illnesses.  

The Center’s convening power brings together health leaders and organizations to discuss important public policy issues related to mental health and substance-use care systems nationwide and in Georgia. 

Stigma Reduction.

The Rosalynn Carter Fellowships for Mental Health Journalism support journalists from Latin America, the Middle East, and the United States. Journalists are connected with experts to foster best practices on mental health reporting, best including solutions-based journalism and understanding the impact of policies on mental health. Through storytelling, the journalism fellows have participated and dismantled stigma, garnered many top awards, and had an impact on mental health policies.  

Global Behavioral Health. 

The Carter Center partners with governments and other allies to strengthen public mental health policy and care globally. In Liberia, the Center helps strengthen the mental health workforce, assists the ministry of health in implementing national policies, builds capacity of civil society organizations, and empowers mental health service users and family caregivers. In a pilot program in Haiti, the Center is implementing mental health interventions for people living with lymphatic filariasis, a disfiguring neglected tropical disease. The Carter Center is uniquely positioned to help people address the mental health aspects of neglected tropical diseases. 

Results & Impact

• Lead the Georgia Parity Collaborative made up of 40+ diverse organizations which played a significant role in the passing of the Georgia Mental Health Act 2022. 

• In partnership with Voices for Georgia’s Children and Georgia Appleseed, leads the Georgia School-Based Behavioral Health (SBBH) Collaborative which has developed tools for increasing SBBH in Georgia and has addressed polices which have acted as a barrier to SBBH  

• Over 362 Psychiatric/ Mental Health Advanced Practice Providers trained in Liberia; 140 specialize in treating children and adolescents; 8 School-based Behavioral Health clinics established.

• Assisted Liberia in writing its first National Behavior Health Plan, pass its first Mental Health Law and complete its first Mental Health Financing Assessment.

• Over 1500 print, radio, television, and online stories generated by 260 journalism fellows since 1996; 1 in 7 of the journalists stories directly impact public policy.

• Twenty-five Georgia Mental Health Forum events, bringing together organizations from around the state to share ideas and push for change.