Good morning! ☀️

Happy July 24th! Is is just us, or does the summer weather have us all feeling like Spongebob when he was out of the water for too long?

Question: How many mental health startups are there in the United States?

News

The Social Work Licensure Compact

The Social Work Licensure Compact is an agreement between states that will allow social workers with a bachelor’s, master’s, or clinical license to serve clients in every state that joins the compact. It was an initiative of numerous government agencies and non-profits including the the Association of Social Work Boards (ASWB), the National Association of Social Workers (NASW) and Clinical Social Work Association (CSWA).

The compact has not yet become law. It is currently in the initial draft stage.

Although the actual compact lists many objectives, the goal is simple: Increase access to services provided by social workers. By increasing access to services, it can help address workforce shortages.

How will the compact work? While states will still continue to regulate social workers in their jurisdiction, an agency will be created and each state will have one delegate to represent its interests in the compact. A data system will be created to keep track of licences, adverse actions, investigations, and other matters.

When does the compact come into effect? When the 7th state enacts the Compact into law.

Other social work-related news

• While some research suggests that one-third of those who instigate mass shootings have a mental illness, other estimates suggest that only about 4 percent of violent criminals are mentally ill. Thus, regardless of how much money we invest in mental health, it won’t prevent most mass shootings.

• Will 988 be a joke in your town? “We call bullshit that any of our patients will be meaningfully impacted in the near term by this change”

Reads on research

• Gender-affirming care improves mental health—and may save lives. Here’s an interesting look at the research that has been done on the subject, and some of the research has yet to be done.

• Researchers used data from 4.9 million handgun transactions in California and California death records from 1996 to 2016 in order to forecast suicide risk using a machine-leaning (ML) analysis. The analysis grouped transactions by risk and was able to moderately predict suicide risk in firearm purchasers.

Reads on policy

• Title IX of the Department of Education “protects people from discrimination based on sex in education programs or activities that receive federal financial assistance”. A federal judge temporarily blocked this guidance.

• House passes same-sex marriage bill in wake of abortion ruling
  

Tech, social work, and cool opportunities 😎

• Check out Refined, a daily newsletter that sends you 5 links from around the web, tailored to your interests

• Mental health startups have announced layoffs over the past few weeks, a common response to the current economic situation

• Amazon is venturing into healthcare. It bought One Medical, a primary care provider, for $3.9 billion

• Chief Clinical Officer of Caregiver Enablement at a stealth startup (in other words, a startup that hasn’t yet been fully announced, but has started operations)

• Senior Associate of Care Delivery operations at CityBlock Health

• Numerous psychedelic job openings

Answer: We don’t know 🤷 But an investor did a thorough check two years ago, and it was nearing 1,000. We can assume that it is well over that now. Below are some of them, by category.

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