Climate & Inclusion Resources (Mental Health Focus)

Our School’s weekly email update for faculty and staff includes a section from the Climate and Inclusion Committee, where suggested tools are shared to help our community with understanding the impact of inequality. Each month, the resources focus on a different topic. For August 2021, the topic was mental health.

Below is a complete list of the resources shared with the faculty and staff at our School of Public Health during the month of August 2021. The rising prevalence of mental health issues affecting individual physical and social well-being makes public health responses important. Mental health impacts how people relate to others, make decisions, and handle stress. Protecting and restoring mental health should be of immediate concern to public health higher education professionals.

We encourage faculty and staff to review these resources for a second time.

Suggested Books

• Flores, Y. G. (2013).  Chicana and Chicano Mental Health (The Mexican American Experience).  University of Arizona Press.  ISBN: 9780816529742
• Powers, R. (2017). No One Cares About Crazy People: The Chaos and Heartbreak of Mental Health in America.  Hachette Books.  ISBN: 9780316341134
• Suchan, D. (2021). Mental Health Among Asian-Americans: Cultural Factors Influencing the Mental Health: Mental Health Stigma.  ISBN-13: ‎979-8500906687

Suggested Reports

• National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. (2021). The Interplay Between Environmental Exposures and Mental Health Outcomes: Proceedings of a Workshop—in Brief. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. 
• National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2021. Mental Health and Substance Use Disorders in the Era of COVID-19: The Impact of the Pandemic on Communities of Color: Proceedings of a Workshop—in Brief. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.

Suggested Articles

• 2021 - Work Health Life, “Mental Illness: Stigma, Culture and Family”
• Brooks SK, Webster RK, Smith LE, Woodland L, Wessely S, Greenberg N, et al. (2020).  The psychological impact of quarantine and how to reduce it: rapid review of the evidence. Lancet, 395(10227), 912–920.
• Bucci, S., Schwannauer, M., & Berry, N. (2019). The digital revolution and its impact on mental health care. Psychology and psychotherapy, 92(2), 277–297. DOI: https://doi-org.libproxy.albany.edu/10.1111/papt.12222
• Giorgi G, Lecca LI, Alessio F, Finstad GL, Bondanini G, Lulli LG, Arcangeli G, Mucci N. (2020).  COVID-19-Related Mental Health Effects in the Workplace: A Narrative Review. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. 17(21):7857 - 7879. 
• Goldman, M. L., Druss, B. G., Horvitz-Lennon, M., Norquist, G. S., Kroeger Ptakowski, K., Brinkley, A., Greiner, M., Hayes, H., Hepburn, B., Jorgensen, S., Swartz, M. S., & Dixon, L. B. (2020). Mental Health Policy in the Era of COVID-19. Psychiatric services (Washington, D.C.), 71(11), 1158–1162.
• Jansson, I. and Gunnarsson, A. B. (2018).  Employers’ Views of the Impact of Mental Health Problems on the Ability to Work. Work, 59(4), 585 – 598.
• Slater SJ, Christiana RW, Gustat J. (2020). Recommendations for Keeping Parks and Green Space Accessible for Mental and Physical Health During COVID-19 and Other Pandemics. Prevention of Chronic Disease, 17:200204.

Suggested Videos

• “What’s Preventing Asian Americans From Seeking Mental Health Care?”
• How Culture and Race Can Impact Identifying and Treating Mental Health Conditions
• Transgender Health: Focus on Mental Health & Resiliency

Suggested Movies

• As Good As It Gets (1997): OCD
• Girl, Interrupted (1999): Borderline Personality Disorder
• Silver Linings Playbook (2012): Bipolar disorder
• Still Alice (2015): Alzheimer’s Disease
• The Perks of Being a Wallflower (2012): Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)