Image - illustration of brains in lightbulbs
Image - illustration of brains in lightbulbs

Healing: Our Path from Mental Illness to Mental Health

America faces a mental health crisis. Problems with mental health care preceded the pandemic, but over the past two years we've seen these problems grow into a crisis as young people were more likely to die from deaths of despair than from COVID-19.

This presentation describes the path to solve this mental health crisis. Dr. Tom Insel says part of the solution involves fixing the care system—moving from a crisis-driven sick-care system to a comprehensive, continuous health-care system. Innovative technology will be part of this fix. So will innovative policy. But mental health is about more than mental health care. Insel says the path to mental health requires a focus on recovery defined by the 3 P's: people, place and purpose.

Join us as Insel urges that we reframe our approach to mental illness, recognizing that the problem is medical but the solutions are social, environmental and political.

About the Speaker

Tom lnsel, M.D., a psychiatrist and neuroscientist, has been a national leader in mental health research, policy and technology. From 2002–2015, Dr. Insel served as director of the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH). More recently, he led the Mental Health Team at Verily (2015–2017); co-founded Mindstrong Health (2017–2019), a start-up building tools for people with serious mental illness; and served as a special advisor to California Governor Gavin Newsom (2019), helping on behavioral health issues. In 2020, he co-founded Humanest Care, a therapeutic online community for recovery. He currently serves on the boards of Foundation for NIH, Fountain House, Schaeffer Center for Health Policy, and the Steinberg Institute (chairing it from 2019–2022), as well as being an advisor to several mental health start-ups (including Alto Neuroscience, Cerebral, Compass Pathways, Owl Insights, Koa Health, Valera Health). He is the author of Healing: Our Path from Mental Illness to Mental Health (Penguin Random House, 2022). With journalist co-founders, he recently launched MindSite News, a nonprofit digital publication focused on mental health issues. Dr. Insel is a member of the National Academy of Medicine and has received numerous national and international awards including honorary degrees in the U.S. and Europe. More info at his website.

MLF ORGANIZER

Patrick O'Reilly

NOTES

A Psychology Member-led Forum program. Forums at the Club are organized and run by volunteer programmers who are members of The Commonwealth Club, and they cover a diverse range of topics. Learn more about our Forums.

Speakers

Tom lnsel

M.D., Psychiatrist; Neuroscientist; Author, Healing: Our Path from Mental Illness to Mental Health

Patrick O'Reilly

Ph.D., Clinical Psychologist; Assistant Clinical Professor, UC San Francisco; Chair, Member-Led Psychology Forum—Moderator