Is the Epidemic Antidote Within Us?
Conscientiousness. It’s one of the Big Five personality traits, and it’s what drives us to be responsible, organized, goal-directed, and to adhere to norms and rules. It’s also, arguably, what could have been a game-changer for many communities in reducing the spread of COVID-19. Wash your hands. Wear a mask. Stay socially distanced.
Haven’t we heard over and over that if we follow the rules and work collectively toward the same goal (slowing the spread), we’d see this pandemic in our rearview mirror much sooner? And isn’t the self-control, industriousness, and responsibility that’s at the core of conscientiousness exactly what’s been required of our businesses, our court systems, and ourselves in stepping back and rethinking how we each operate over the past year?
Conscientiousness isn’t just the key to stemming the tide of a global pandemic. It’s also the answer to our nation’s longest-standing epidemic: our mental health crisis.
The National Institute of Mental Health (NIH) reports some 51.5 million people with mental illness and nowhere near the funding needed to adequately address their needs. One thing we know for sure is that a large number of these folks come in contact with our public safety and justice systems.
Is it possible that our personalities hold the key to successfully addressing our response to behavioral health issues? Here’s what an increase in conscientiousness could do to help us better address mental health:
1. Increase awareness. While the number of people living with behavioral health issues is well documented, it seems to still not register on many of our individual radar. We’re often shocked by news of people experiencing mental distress and even more so when that distress leads to trouble with our police and legal systems. However, a whopping twenty percent (that’s one-in-five) of us experience stressors that could easily put us in those same situations. Those are bigger odds than contracting COVID-19, so why don’t we talk about it with the same veracity?
2. Remove the stigma. When it comes right down to it, this is what stymies our voices on behavioral health issues, isn’t it? Most people don’t want to address their own problems, let alone acknowledge mental illness or substance abuse within their families. Look, I’m not drawing a solid line between diseases here, but I am suggesting that we shouldn’t be shouting about one and shrinking from another. Viruses, heart disease, diabetes… they all share a common thread with substance issues and mental illness: they are health conditions that require intervention, plans, and treatment. Don’t we have an obligation to pull together and talk openly about these issues?
3. Create new response systems. Just like with medicine, we need to lean on hard evidence to help lead us to more useful and appropriate paths of managing behavioral health episodes. The data have crystalized on this: engaging our police force is not the answer. Many communities are now working toward alternative response systems to behavioral health crises. Police presence often exacerbates highly charged situations rather than de-escalating them. It’s time to rethink how we invest in our community-based resources so that we get people experiencing a behavioral health crisis the most appropriate services as quickly as possible.
4. Triple our number of treatment courts. According to the NADCP, assigning people with mental illness and substance use issues to the appropriate treatment court helps to ensure that they don’t repeat the behaviors that got them there. Yet a small fraction of those who would likely benefit from these specialized dockets ever get the chance to participate. Right now, there are some 2,500 drug courts and around 300 mental health courts operating across the country. Simply put, we need to work on ways to increase the number of specialized court programs and we can start by calling it out and rallying around it with a collective consciousness.
5. Build connectors between our health, human services, and public safety/justice systems. Once we stop thinking of people in crisis as “problems”, we can build a better network across our public systems; a network designed to ensure that the best response, the right professionals, and the appropriate solutions are being provided as early as possible. And by hooking these systems together, we’d be better equipped to monitor progress, detect potential hot spots, and help guide people to the resources they need when they want them.
Our personality – what makes us human – is at the crux of solving many of our worldly problems. What if conscientiousness can push us through epidemics of all types? Let’s take note of what has really worked as we (hopefully) put COVID-19 behind us, and let’s consider the ways conscientiousness can move our society forward.
If you want to talk about ways to apply these lessons to the work you’re doing in your agency, contact us today.