Recognizing #WorldMentalHealthDay and MacArthur Fellow Matthew Nock

Today is #WorldMentalHealthDay. This year’s theme is “Investing in Mental Health.” According to the World Health Organization, “The day promotes open discussion of mental disorders, and investments in prevention, promotion, and treatment services. The treatment gap for mental, neurological, and substance use disorders is formidable especially in poor resource countries.”

I have always advocated for increased funding towards improving current policies for mental health awareness, mental health care, and suicide prevention. Therefore, I could not be more excited to learn that one of this year’s MacArthur fellows, Matthew Nock, will focus his research on suicide prevention!

The MacArthur Fellows Program awards unrestricted fellowships to talented individuals who have shown extraordinary originality and dedication in their creative pursuits and a marked capacity for self-direction. Each fellowship comes with a stipend of $500,000 to the recipient.

Harvard psychology professor Matthew Nock is a Clinical Psychologist “deepening understanding of self-injury and suicide among adolescents and adults by combining epidemiology, laboratory experiments, and real-time psychological assessments in the interest of saving lives and influencing mental health care in our society.”

Nock says the award will also help advance research that is beginning to dispel some myths about suicide.

You can read more about Matthew Nock and his mission in this LA Times article: http://www.latimes.com/health/boostershots/la-heb-macarthur-suicide-20110920,0,2354849.story