Since 2014, Mental Health America (MHA) Screening has provided mental health screenings online to over 20 million users worldwide, supporting over 5 million users annually since 2021. Part of the mission of the MHA online screening program is to further data-driven, upstream, population-level efforts to improve mental health. Our goal is to use screening data to rapidly analyze and disseminate information to help fill unmet needs and gaps in care for our communities.
This report was developed to provide community-level findings from MHA Screening data from 2020-2022 in Cook County, Illinois and discuss potential policy and programming opportunities to address mental health needs locally and at the state-level. Based on these findings, this report provides recommendations for investment in three areas:
- Strengthening services for youth and young adults
- Implementation of crisis services and 988 funding
- Mental health workforce development and training