Gail Boudreaux and Kevin Love: Changing mental health mindset requires full court press

Anyone who has played basketball at a competitive level knows a single player can’t win a game on his or her own. Even the best athletes need the help of their teammates to reach their full potential.

Teamwork allows players to share information, strategies and skills. It also allows them to support one another physically and emotionally. Without teammates, a player is alone on the court faced with the opposing team’s defense with no clear path to score a basket, let alone win a game.

Improving mental health and well-being is just as much a team approach as is winning a game of basketball. You might have seen some of the startling statistics. It is estimated that 1 in 5 (57.8 million) U.S. adults have experienced some form of mental illness, and 1 in 6 U.S. youth ages 6–17 experience serious mental illness. One person dies by suicide every 11 minutes.

The persistent stigma around mental health care, lack of awareness and care-provider shortages play a role in preventing people from seeking help. More than 30% of Americans worry about being judged by others for seeking mental health services.

But taking care of your mental health is a necessity. Some of us are managing increased stress and loneliness. Others may be grappling with trauma and substance abuse.

Solutions lie in changing the way we think about mental health. We need to normalize asking for help and make finding care easier for people seeking it. That means not only connecting people with the right care provider but also matching expertise to the cultural lens through which a person is looking. Also, we need to help eliminate distance barriers with accessible virtual care solutions. Finally, we need to take a broad, whole-health approach and address factors that impact a person’s mental health. By identifying the issues surrounding overall well-being—whether it’s addressing food insecurity or homelessness—reducing stressors is part of the solution.

A single company, government, not-for-profit or individual cannot solve this complex challenge. That’s why we’re coming together as part of the Elevance Health Champion program, supported by the Elevance Health Foundation, to increase awareness and raise funds to help support programs that improve behavioral health.

Our game plan consists of three simple steps:

◗ Treat mental health as what it is: health. We’re committed to breaking the stigma around mental health and ensuring that people who are suffering have the support they need through a unique combination of education, research, grantmaking and advocacy. The Kevin Love Fund has developed a free, evidenced-based education program that inspires educators to model vulnerability by sharing their own life experiences and that encourages students to express emotions through creativity.

◗ Increase access to support. We’ll work together to improve access to quality care, including crisis support and prevention programs. Both of our organizations partner with communities to offer grants and resources designed to break the stigma around behavioral health and provide people the tools to support overall well-being and access to mental health professionals and crisis helplines.

◗ Invest in community-based programs. We’re investing more than $30 million in programs that address mental health through 2024. As of May 2023, more than $20.5 million has been awarded to support programs with the potential to reach 42 million Americans. And since launching its free social-emotional learning curriculum in September 2022, the Kevin Love Fund has taught the curriculum to more than 55,000 students so far.

Teams win titles. There is strength in numbers. We’ll need both to face the complex challenges in the mental health space. We invite you to get in the game with us by raising awareness about mental health in your own communities.•

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Boudreaux is president and CEO of Elevance Health. Love plays in the NBA for the Miami Heat.