Each week brings new conversations about mental health, technology, and care. Between Sessions gathers what's worth your attention - so you can stay informed without adding to your workload.
📋 Field Update
SAMHSA awarded Vibrant Emotional Health a new $255 million, five-year contract to keep running the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline, starting May 15.
👉 Why it matters: The 200-plus local crisis centers your clients can be referred to remain funded and intact.
🔒 Regulation & Compliance
Meta settled a bellwether school district lawsuit over student mental health costs, with YouTube, Snap, and TikTok having already settled; terms were undisclosed, and roughly 1,200 similar cases remain pending.
👉 Why it matters: A legal record is building that platforms can be held accountable for design choices that affect adolescent wellbeing - useful context when families raise the question in session.
🧠 Clinical Update
A Global Burden of Disease analysis in The Lancet found nearly 1.2 billion people currently live with a mental disorder - a 95.5% increase since 1990 - with the peak burden now falling on 15-to-19-year-olds, a first in the study's history.
👉 Why it matters: The burden peaking in that age group is new - and strengthens the clinical and advocacy case for early intervention.
🧩 AI & Mental Health
A Drexel University study analyzing millions of Reddit posts found that most people using AI chatbots for mental health support see them as supplements to therapy, not replacements - with emotional dependence and overreliance as their leading concerns.
👉 Why it matters: Clients are already using these tools between sessions - asking about it directly opens a useful conversation about what they're getting from AI that they may not be bringing to you.
💬 In the Room
Headspace's annual Workforce State of Mind report found 92% of U.S. workers are experiencing mental or cognitive strain - with job insecurity, unclear priorities, and AI adoption as the top drivers - and only 27% of women feel their employer is meeting their mental health needs.
👉 Why it matters: Clients framing their distress as "work stress" may actually be describing something more chronic - this data gives you language to name it.
🏥 Practice & Business
A new Psychiatric Services study projects the national supply of adult psychiatrists will drop 12.3% by 2037 while demand rises 43.7% - with 42 states already understaffed and Idaho, Nevada, and Alaska to face the worst shortfalls.
👉 Why it matters: Psychiatric referral pathways are thinning - building collaborative care arrangements now is easier than finding them under pressure later.
📖 One Good Read
David M. Carreon, MD writes in Psychology Today from the American Psychiatric Association's annual meeting: psychiatry's annual meeting is usually boring - but 2026 was not. Neuroscience hit a critical mass, and the clinical future looks genuinely grounded.
🫐 From Berries This Week
This week, Berries shared two resources for your practice and wellbeing.
Podcast: Carly Hill, LCSW joins Kym Tolson to walk through the transition from therapy room to coaching business - the ethical considerations, the practical steps, and what it actually looks like to build a second income stream without compromising your clinical identity.
Meditation: Julie Ela Grace recorded a 20-minute guided meditation on remembering why you do this work - for the days when the weight of it is harder to carry than the meaning.
🤝 Closing
A week of data that points toward the same conclusion: the need is growing, and the people doing this work matter more than the field often says out loud.
As always, thank you for your truly important work.
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This newsletter is intended for informational and educational purposes only. It does not constitute clinical, legal, or regulatory guidance. Clinicians should rely on their professional judgment and applicable standards of care when integrating any technology into practice.