Letting a Thousand Flowers Bloom

We launched MindSite News to elevate the conversation around mental health issues and to focus attention on the need to fundamentally transform the way mental health and mental unwellness are viewed and treated in this country. We will do this with investigative and solutions-focused reporting and articles, but we will also do it by creating a platform for the sharing of ideas and by providing space for the voices of many people, including those with lived experience with mental illness and the mental health system.

The MindSite News Guest Essays page is a place for discussion, debate and the exchange of ideas, visions, policy proposals and life learnings – discussion and debate that can be frank and honest but always respectful. For now, we will be publishing written essays, but we also envision creating space for audio and video essays in the near future.

We invite you to submit your thoughts and ideas. To see our submission guidelines, please go here.


Good Grief: How to Mourn in a Healthy Way

The COVID-19 pandemic has claimed over one million American lives, casting a blanket of grief over the country. Despite its challenges, the pandemic has given us an opportunity to address the topic of grief and how best to cope with this unavoidable part of being human.

Can the Right Kind of Tech Help Address the Mental Health Crisis Among LGBTQ+ Youth?

Increased visibility of LGBTQ+ people and progress in policy change has allowed young people to define themselves and feel more confident expressing their identity. But here’s the downside: Most LGBTQ+ adolescents still come out to a hostile and rejecting world. Today, kids who don’t get support at home can connect with online supports and resources…

The Hole Ruined Me

In 2019, more than 55,000 incarcerated Americans had spent the past 15 days in solitary confinement. Jeffrey McKee was one, and he writes about the impact it had on his psyche.

Designed to fail: Measurement of patient experience

If you were ever hospitalized for a medical condition, you probably received a survey asking you about your experience. What you thought mattered to the hospital staff treating you – unless you were hospitalized for a mental health condition. In that case, your experience doesn’t count and isn’t asked about.

What’s behind the gender gap in the teen mental health crisis?

“How did your teen do during the pandemic?” That’s a question I often ask other parents, and their answer is almost always the same: Their sons were fine – they even flourished during Zoom school, getting more sleep and spending more time playing video games. Their daughters imploded.