Foundations seeking to support a community level approach to mental well-being can leverage this framework to broaden their understanding of its drivers and as a starting place for reflection on how the mental health crisis is manifesting in their community.
To utilize this framework as a starting point for working alongside your community to improve mental well-being, we have developed a printable worksheet.
Overview
The framework is comprised of three tiers on a spectrum from prevention to treatment—from social determinants of health (community conditions) to more specific preventative approaches (self-care and social context), to mental health care. Each of the key drivers of those factors are displayed in three categories within each tier. As you move along the spectrum, the portion of the population that you will reach either narrows or broadens as a result. This framework is not fully comprehensive or definitive and is intended as a starting point for community specific reflection and engagement.
Background
Recently, we partnered with the Texoma Health Foundation (THF) to create a community-led strategy for enhancing mental well-being across four counties in Northern Texas and Southern Oklahoma. Together with the Foundation, we reviewed 17 widely used mental and community well-being frameworks and supporting peer-reviewed literature on the drivers of mental well-being. Based on our research, we combined elements across these sources in a new community-focused framework for considering points of intervention to improve community mental well-being.
