An Interview with Dr. Matt Hurford
By Lindsay Andrews
May is Mental Health Awareness Month, a time to not only highlight facts about mental health and reduce stigma but also raise the importance of individuals seeking healthier mindsets. This is especially important in workplaces and in schools, where many people spend most of their time. Employers and students alike can benefit from learning more about mental health through strategies and resources and the importance of fostering cultures of understanding and support.
UPMC is one such environment. Each May, the world-renowned healthcare provider and insurer prioritizes Mental Health Awareness Month to build understanding around mental health, increase access to treatment, and ensure that those struggling with mental health feel seen and supported. We chatted with Dr. Matt Hurford, President and CEO of Community Care Behavioral Health Organization – which is part of the UPMC Insurance Services Division and the nation’s largest not-for-profit behavioral health managed care organization – to learn more about the origins of Mental Health Awareness Month and how his organization is working to provide mental health support to its employees, its members, and Pennsylvanians this month and beyond.
Dr. Hurford, thank you for joining us today! Can you provide some background on how Mental Health Awareness Month started?
Dr. Hurford: My pleasure! In 1949, Mental Health Awareness Month was started by Mental Health America, which came out of a growing national awareness of the plight of individuals with mental illness. A famous exposé was authored, called The Shame of the States, that pulled back the curtain on asylum care. At the time, tens of thousands of people were in state asylums, many of whom spent their entire lives there. This was all taking place out of sight, and when Albert Deutsch wrote about it, he shed light on the deplorable conditions they were experiencing and set into motion the rise of awareness and treatment of mental health conditions.
The next great accelerant of treating mental health came with anti-depressants and similar drugs to treat schizophrenia. This set the stage for the last law that President Kennedy signed just before his assassination – the Community Mental Health Act, which created federal funding for a huge community mental health system, with the purpose of deinstitutionalization [and] getting people out of these locked facilities and into the community. The law gave rise to group therapy and case management. In later years, Roslyn Carter was also a huge champion for mental health and helped push things along.
Mental Health America remains the leader in mental health awareness today. It annually awards its “Bell of Hope” award, which is forged from the chains that were once used to hold mental health patients in asylums.
What steps is UPMC taking to recognize and support Mental Health Awareness Month?
May, being designated as a month for Mental Health Awareness, has done a lot to elevate the conversation about mental health and empower providers to provide care.
Right now, one-quarter of American adults have been diagnosed with a mental health condition, and that’s to be expected in the years since we’ve been coming out of the pandemic. There’s also been a reduction in the stigma surrounding mental health, meaning that people are OK talking about not being OK. More and more adults are talking about issues relating to mental health because we were going through the collective trauma of the pandemic, and they felt validation in it. More people than ever were seeking care.
Conversely, only about 10 percent of people with a substance abuse disorder, such as opioid or alcohol addiction, are actively seeking treatment for it. This also occurred at the same time as the pandemic and workforce crisis. So, as you can see, we are doing much better in terms of those who are seeking treatment and care for mental health, whether that is by talking to someone or taking a prescription medication.
At UPMC, we want to not only raise awareness about mental health but also support the theme of the month, which for 2025 is “From Awareness to Action.” We’re doing that in a few ways: first, by empowering and training providers through evidence-based screening tools and interventions. Patients with mild to moderate symptoms can be managed through therapy or medication, or activities that don’t require treatment. Secondly, we’re prepared to educate people on the straightforward, proven things they can do to promote better mental health – exercise, proper sleep hygiene, a healthy diet and nutrition, a mindfulness practice that includes yoga and/or meditation, and a reduction in alcohol and substances.
The great news is that most of these steps toward better mental health require no out of pocket expenses, and are accessible, safe, and effective. You can’t ask for interventions that check more boxes than that!
How does UPMC work to get the word out about these proven mental health remedies?
We do it in several ways – online, through newsletters, our member portal, our websites and social media.
For those who need additional treatments or could benefit from them, we must ensure these services are available, accessible, and effective. This gives us the opportunity to examine where we have pockets of underserved members, and how we can improve access to services. The growth of telehealth has really helped in this regard. Fortunately, when it comes to mental health treatment, the majority of the care we provide doesn’t necessarily require it to be in-person; for the most part, it can be fully remote and virtual. We’ve found that patient satisfaction can be as strong or even stronger when done remotely than in-person care, for the ease of making appointments, and that’s much easier in rural communities where care is more limited.
What is your assessment on the state of Mental Health Awareness today, and what next positive steps should be taken?
There were some areas of public health that we all saw moving in the wrong direction during the pandemic – opioid abuse was among them, and that was an area in which we’d been making positive gains just the year prior to COVID. Unfortunately, we’re still feeling the aftershocks of that and working to get people engaged in care and treatment in a timely way.
However, with mental health care it’s been different, and better – the reduction in stigma and growing level of comfort in talking about mental health status has led to more positive outcomes for people who seek treatment. We knew before and during COVID that people with mental health conditions weren’t coming into care facilities. Now, however, we see more people coming in – and as time goes on, I’m more optimistic that we’re doing a better job getting people into care for treatment of their depression, anxiety, and other disorders.
Children’s mental health is another area in which we’ve seen positive gains through school-based behavioral health programs. Throughout Pennsylvania, there are over 160 unique buildings that provide teams who work in schools, throughout the communities, and at home to support the needs of children who need mental health care. We’re seeing both a greater demand for those services and the residual effects from the socialization they missed out on during the pandemic. We’re working with kids who have more complex needs and those addressing more complex mental health challenges.
In mental health, it’s critical to take a holistic and individualized approach to care, and with kids we’re aiming to do that through a combination of family involvement as well as through school-based and human services organizations. The treatment plan also requires us to have a skilled, robust workforce with the proper training to determine what makes each kid unique – it’s why our care managers need to stay closely engaged.
What is the most important thing the business community can do to help give rise to better mental health outcomes, in workforces and across Pennsylvania communities?
The single most important thing employers can do is to recognize and talk about the critical role that mental health plays in the overall well-being and productivity of their workers. By attending to the mental health of their workforce, an organization is prioritizing its link to employee satisfaction, retention, and recruitment. Some employers do this by providing Employee Assistance Programs (EAPs), offering counseling sessions or time off for grieving or bereavement after the passing of a loved one.
UPMC is dedicated to working with local mental health providers and educating staff about these employee-friendly and in-demand options, along with the mental health support I spoke to earlier. Throughout this month, we’re helping to promote healthy lifestyle, diet, exercise, and sleep hygiene – these are all health multipliers that boost employee productivity and reduce absenteeism. And that is all greatly enhanced when business leaders talk about mental health more openly. When they do talk about it, employees will look to their organization’s leadership when and if they have mental health challenges. This all helps an organization’s bottom line and leads to happier, healthier employees. It’s a win-win for everyone involved.
Lindsay Andrews is director of member communications with the PA Chamber.