Higi, Mental Health America team up on mental health awareness
Consumer health engagement company Higi is partnering with Mental Health America in recognition of Mental Health Awareness Month. The two organizations are partnering to amplify awareness initiatives around the importance of regular screening and prioritization of mental health alongside physical health.
MHA is the leading community-based non-profit, dedicated to addressing the needs of those living with mental illness and promoting the overall mental health of all. All of MHA’s efforts are guided by their #B4Stage4 philosophy which promotes prevention and early intervention of mental health conditions, with the aim of intervention before crisis. The philosophy closely aligns with Higi’s, and together the two are mutually amplifying the need for early and ongoing engagement with overall health, emphasizing the importance of both physical and mental health – and the link between the two – to overall health and wellbeing.
Since its inception, Higi has focused on empowering consumers to better understand and take action to address key health indicators, focusing primarily on risk factors associated with chronic conditions, including hypertension, heart disease and type two diabetes. According to the CDC, for people living with a chronic health condition, the risk for mental health conditions can increase, and inversely, mental health conditions can increase the prevalence of many physical health conditions.
“When we think about cancer, heart disease, or diabetes, we don’t wait years to treat them. We begin with prevention when people are in the first stage of disease. We identify risk factors like high blood pressure or high blood sugar, and we try immediately to address them,” said Paul Gionfriddo, president and CEO of Mental Health America, “This is how we must approach mental health conditions. When people first begin to experience symptoms, we need to act. One way to do that is to empower people to advocate for their own mental health by providing educational tools. Our partnership with Higi gives us an additional platform to distribute those tools and engage the community.”
“Alongside many important topics that impact our wellbeing, the COVID-19 pandemic has reignited the conversation around mental distress and our shared awareness of the importance prioritizing of mental health,” said Jeff Bennett, CEO of Higi. “Our position as a health access point in the community, and established cohort of consumers living with chronic condition risk factors, emphasizes the importance of our responsibility to them and helps to amplify the work of MHA. We are excited to have the conversation about mental health with our consumers and to continue to build awareness and drive action alongside MHA.”
Mental Health America’s philosophy and educational content will be featured across the Higi platform for the entire month of May to help support Mental Health Month and connect consumers to MHA’s “Tools 2 Thrive.” The two organizations are committed to continuing to promote awareness and early identification of mental health conditions. They also are committed to connecting communities to screening tools and other resources.