In October, 2023, The Kennedy Forum launched the Alignment for Progress movement. The launch event convened industry, advocates, those with lived experience, and more. Click for more about the launch and the movement.

One Mind elevates brain research through global investment and open science while convening the best minds to accelerate cures for brain diseases. The special One Mind at Work initiative united leaders from various sectors to transform approaches to mental health and addiction in the workplace and maximize employer purchasing power for better access to care.

Convenes lawyers from across the country to review decided and active cases involving parity and/or mental health equity and discuss actions among attorneys general. Click to learn more about the Legal Taskforce’s work.

An initiative focused on advancing parity, equitable systems of care, culturally-centered, integrated care, and community engagement to promote resiliency; convenes key stakeholders to reduce health disparities, ensure access to care, and promote optimal health outcomes for those with mental health and substance use disorders.

Website created in partnership with The Scattergood Foundation and Treatment Research Institute; tracks parity implementation across all 50 states and uses three key metrics to assess progress: legislation, regulation, and litigation. Click to view.

Website that helps consumers learn to file an appeal after being wrongfully denied coverage for mental health or addiction treatment, connect with resources, send a complaint directly to state enforcement officials, and more. Click to view.

Produced a high-impact giving guide to align financial investments with the needs of those with mental health and addiction challenges to drive social change. Click to view.

Explored model to improve access, quality, and cost of care for Medicare and Medicaid. Click to watch video.

Promotes action around mental health and addiction equity in Illinois by focusing on stigma reduction, access to care, quality and efficiency of care, prevention, early childhood brain health, and leveraging technology; serves as both a think tank and incubator for local and state level policies and programs that may be implemented across the country.

February 2016: The Kennedy Forum, in partnership with The Kennedy-Satcher Center of Mental Health Equity, hosted a State of the Union in Mental Health and Addiction, a national policy and media event to highlight promising solutions and hold leaders accountable for the real cost and impact of inaction on all sectors of American society.

Produced in partnership with the Parity Implementation Coalition (PIC) to simplify the appeals process and provide strategies for winning appeals. Click to view.

The Kennedy Forum submitted a set of recommendations to the President’s Commission and the Commission in turn delivered a comprehensive set of recommendations to President Donald Trump. Click to view the recommendations.

Helps states end insurance discrimination against those with mental health and substance use disorders and ensure compliance with the Federal Parity Law. Click to view.

Animated video outlines what a fully functional and integrated system of care should look like. Click to watch.

Outlines what members can do to address mental health and addiction regardless of party or committee to save lives, improve health outcomes, break down barriers to care, and improve the way our society approaches mental health and addiction outside of clinical settings – in schools, communities, and the workforce. Click to view.

Campaign developed in partnership with 20+ national mental health and recovery organizations. Website educates consumers about their rights under the Federal Parity Law and empowers them to fight back against illegal insurance denials of coverage for mental health and addiction treatment services. Click to view.

A nonpartisan educational initiative focused on elevating mental health and addiction in policy conversations during the 2020 election cycle by empowering grassroots advocates and improving candidate and policymaker health literacy. Click to view.

Launch of model mental health parity appeals program tailored specifically to Eating Disorders. Click to visit site.

Identifies and discusses current challenges and opportunities to promote best practices in leveraging a wide range of technology solutions to improve behavioral health outcomes. Click to view.

Details important brain health and fitness interventions, public engagement strategies, and policy recommendations. Click to view.

Promotes transparency in marijuana risks, commercialization, and legalization efforts with an understanding that science and evidence should guide laws, not ideology or profit; advances public policy to prevent another big tobacco. Click to learn more.

Provides a road map for educators and policymakers to ensure that mental health is prioritized in schools and students have access to care “before stage four.” Click to view.

Explained the significance of a landmark legal ruling against the nation’s largest managed behavioral health care company, while encouraging state attorneys general, insurance commissioners, employers, and others to hold insurers accountable for providing equal access to mental health and addiction care. Click to view.

Describes process used to identify key elements of legal codes relating to parity across all 50 states and summarizes research that assessed the strength and quality of statutes using a quantitative and systematic coding methodology. Click to view.

Promotes the Collaborative Care model for effective integration of behavioral health care into primary care, the setting where the largest number of patients with mental health and substance use disorders are treated. Click to view.

Describes the logic behind and empirical evidence for routine implementation of measurement-based care in behavioral health and primary care practices for treating mental health and substance use disorders. Click to view.

Provides clinicians, payers, and quality improvement agencies with a list of commonly used and validated symptom rating scales. Click to view.

Each year, The Kennedy Forum seeks to shape a mental health and addiction leadership agenda for better public policy in both Government and Philanthropy that reflects the Kennedy family’s lifelong legacy of fighting for social justice. Click to learn more.

Engaged more than 10,000 people in stigma-busting conversations through On the Table—a program developed in collaboration with Chicago Community Trust.

Trained over 2,000 Chicagoans in mental health awareness or Mental Health First Aid, and how to access community resources and Crisis Intervention Team-trained police.

A group of 25+ organizations working together to advance implementation of parity in the state of Illinois.

Documents the challenges mental health and addiction treatment providers in IL face when it comes to securing reimbursement—led to hearings in the Illinois General Assembly to improve parity compliance. Click to view.

The Kennedy Forum’s Model State Parity Legislation has helped to shape parity laws in several states, including Illinois, Colorado, Delaware, Connecticut, and New Jersey. Click to learn more.

This guide from the Penn Center for High Impact Philanthropy identifies approaches that are most effective at preventing, treating, and supporting the recovery or long-term management of mental health and substance use disorders.

This guide from Well Being Trust provides federal policymakers with actionable solutions at every possible entry point, including comprehensive, inclusive mental health and addiction policies.

Through the Mental Health & Suicide Prevention National Response to COVID-19 (National Response), diverse partners are bringing their best in science, innovation, and leadership to create sustainable and comprehensive solutions to the mental health impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.