The Source

Someday we will return to the classroom. In the meantime, the calling of learning continues. Education is a vital endeavor, and we will always do whatever we can with whatever we have.

As the triple challenges that stem from the COVID-19 crisis unfold — and creates challenges for our safety net programs, nonprofit organizations, and government budgets — we also must remember that those who will suffer the most will be those who can least afford to sustain the burden of the challenge.

America might be approaching a tidal wave of despair and our behavioral health systems cannot adequately prepare without prudent federal legislative action. After all the many congressional legislative phases of economic stimulus relief, behavioral care relief is also needed. Our future depends on the decisions we make today.

So, are you thinking of retiring? Just because you are in your 70s? Michelangelo was just entering the busiest and most creative years of his life. And look what he accomplished 52 years after completing the Sistine Chapel.

Instead of looking at the post-COVID-19 mental health future through a lens of inevitable doom, we can, and should, use this moment as the impetus for the changes that mental health care has always pushed for.