Community Organizing in Behavioral Health with Kristin Kidd

Behavioral health issues are closely linked to larger social and environmental factors.  That’s why communities need to come together and find sustainable solutions.  For those in human services, mental health, or prevention work, it’s easy to focus solely on delivering programs and services.  However, advancing your mission often involves looking beyond these to embrace advocacy, systems change, and environmental strategies. Joining us is Kristin Kidd, co-coordinator of the SAMHSA-funded Southeast Prevention Technology Transfer Center and director of the North Carolina Behavioral Health Equity Initiative.  Kristin has a wealth of experience working with organizations that use community organizing to promote behavioral health equity. We discuss how nonprofits can leverage advocacy and systems change to advance their missions, even within the constraints of nonprofit guidelines.  You’ll Hear: (03:17) How community organizing can bring positive changes to behavioral health. (07:52) How Kristin has gotten grantees out of the nonprofit industrial complex mindset. (12:32) What it looks like to have community organizing in the behavioral health space. (16:50) How coalitions and grantees are collecting data from the community to push for policy changes. (23:04) How to go about advocacy in a non-partisan way. (26:44) If Kristin forsees more organizations taking environmental approaches toward behavioral health challenges. Connect with Kristin and learn more about the Southeast PTTC and NCBHEI.