As so often happens in our modern 24-hour news cycle the latest crisis pushes any ongoing crisis off the front page and out of public consciousness. COVID 19 and January 6th have all but eliminated the opioid addiction epidemic from our front-page view. However, the crisis has not gone away. Provisional data from CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics indicate that there were an estimated 100,306 drug overdose deaths in the United States during 12-month period ending in April 2021, an increase of 28.5% from the 78,056 deaths during the same period the year before. The new data documents that estimated overdose deaths from opioids increased to 75,673 in the 12-month period ending in April 2021, up from 56,064 the year before. Overdose deaths from synthetic opioids (primarily fentanyl) and psychostimulants such as methamphetamine also increased in the 12-month period ending in April 2021.

During the COVID-19 crisis, almost 9.6 million Americans lost their jobs. Searching for the right job is difficult, with continuous rejection and unpleasant interviews. Job-search stress has been connected to mental health problems like depression and anxiety.  Fortunately, non-profit organizations are working to open new doors for unemployed people to help them find a job. Nonprofits that specialize in workforce development provide job seekers with the resources and training they require to find work and succeed. A startling number of individuals are now receiving assistance from nonprofits that focus on workforce development.

Let's explore how unemployment contributes to mental health concerns and how nonprofits assist job seekers in finding the right job.

While serving their country, military personnel may encounter a variety of terrifying situation. Thousands of veterans have been left scarred by their experiences, leading to post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Veteran's PTSD is a significant challenge and a serious issue, but many retired military personnel and their families are unaware of the diagnosis or where to seek treatment. Because PTSD has an impact on mental health and can be hidden, health professionals and other may find it difficult to assess its severity.

Let’s look at some tips and suggestions for assisting veterans and their families who are dealing with PTSD.

Serving your country always comes at a cost, and the brave men and women who serve are well aware of this. Currently, there are nearly 18 million veterans in the United States. Most, if not all, of them report dealing with a variety of mental health issues. Veterans make up a sizable proportion of patients receiving treatment in the country. Regardless, many of them never receive the necessary counseling and assistance for their mental health issues. To assist veterans in overcoming their problems, let us first learn about the most common mental health concerns for veterans.

Joan began her career in the helping professions as a nurse in small town New England. A critical shortage of obstetric facilities and practitioners motivated her to specialize as a midwife eventually opening a private practice that thrived for many years. But vulnerable populations pressed in from all sides, and Joan went back to school to get her MSW, enabling her, as she saw it, to respond to need wherever she found it. A few years later she returned to school again to become a Nurse Practitioner and work in the field of behavioral health.

The entire civilized world is suffering from a form of collective PTSD. Social workers report being overwhelmed with cases of alcoholism, drug addiction, anxiety, divorce, depression, and suicide. The Center for Disease Control and Prevention says: "Suicide rates in the United States are often the result of circumstances beyond the individual's control. People who die by suicide report an unshakeable feeling of dread, despair, loneliness, and hopelessness."

The American Society of Addiction Medicine recognizes addiction as “a treatable, chronic medical disease involving complex interactions among brain circuits, genetics, the environment, and an individual’s life experiences. People with addiction use substances or engage in behaviors that become compulsive and often continue despite harmful consequences.”

(Excerpted from an article by Paul Moakley in Time Magazine, "Deaths Amoung America's Homeless Are Soaring in the Pandemic.  A Photographer Captures a Community In Crisis")

It’s been estimated that globally, around 76 million people have been diagnosed with anxiety disorders due to the pandemic. Many of these people were healthy individuals with no previously diagnosed mental health issues. Others were already diagnosed with mental health issues, but the virus served as a trigger for their disorders and made them worse.

Nonetheless, social workers across the US have played an important role in ensuring that people suffering from mental health issues during the pandemic have the necessary psychological support to survive the pandemic.

Nearly 500,000 people died from opioid overdoses from 1999-2019. This epidemic of opioid overdose deaths can be outlined in three distinct waves.

1. The first wave began with increased prescribing of opioids in the 1990s, with overdose deaths involving prescription opioids (natural and semi-synthetic opioids and methadone) increasing since at least 1999.
2. The second wave began in 2010, with rapid increases in overdose deaths involving heroin.
3. The third wave began in 2013, with significant increases in overdose deaths involving synthetic opioids, particularly those involving illicitly manufactured fentanyl. More than 14,000 deaths involving illicitly manufactured synthetics occurred in 2019, which is equivalent to about 38 deaths per day.