Reimagining Care for Americans with Severe Mental Illness

This Lancet Webinar will highlight the ongoing harms and maltreatment of serious mental illnesses in the USA and explore alternative models, such as the Trieste Model. Dr. Sarah Vinson, Chair of the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the Morehouse School of Medicine, will frame the current mental healthcare system’s deficits and harms in the US, highlighting the intersection of racism, mental illness, and the criminal justice system. Leading mental health advocate and innovator, Keris Jän Myrick will speak on alternative models focused on peer leadership and racial/ social justice. Finally, Dr. Roberto Beneduce, Medical Anthropology Professor at University of Turin and founding Director of the Frantz Fanon Center in Turin, the first ethno-psychiatric clinical center in Italy, will discuss the legacy of the Trieste Model. That model, rooted in the concept of accoglienza (radical hospitality), has been recognized by the World Health Organization as the world standard for community psychiatry. Dr. Nichole Roxas, psychiatrist and fellow in child psychiatry at UCLA (USA) will moderate. The webinar will conclude with a live Q&A.