Mental Health and Suicide Prevention

For the Mental Health/Suicide Prevention Subcommittee, the gap analysis showed that Mental Health and Suicide Prevention among People with Disabilities the following inequities are clear:  

  • The systematic exclusion of people with disabilities in psychiatric research programs and clinical trials.
  • No nuanced mental health outcome measures for people with disabilities. 
  • Lack of training within the mental health workforce about I/DD
  • Care coordination and health care access are inadequate to meet the complex lifelong health care needs of persons with pediatric-onset disabilities 
  • Lack of doctors competent to treat dually diagnosed individuals on either I/DD or MH needs
  • Limited research on intervention for suicidal behaviors in the I/DD Population
  • Lack of understanding of why people with I/DD are 2.5-4.7 times more likely to have a mental health disability than people in the general population and why it is less likely to be identified
Recommendations to Reduce Healthcare Inequities in Mental Health and Suicide Prevention for People with Disabilities