Black Economic Council of Massachusetts Chief of Policy Alyssa Benalfew-Ramos, Harvard Street Neighborhood Health Center Senior Vice President of Programs and Services Cyril Ubiem, Harvard Assistant Professor of Psychology Jenny Zhen-Duan and Charlestown resident Magaly Galvis sit on a panel about the impacts of economic insecurity on mental health at a Boston Public Health Commission summit, Oct. 21. The event focused attention on how social determinants — factors outside of hospitals and clinics —impact mental health. PHOTO: AVERY BLEICHFELD
Avery Bleichfeld
When the Boston Public Health Commission hosted its mental health summit at Northeastern University on Oct. 21, the event drew mental health researchers and clinicians. It also brought together housing officials, economic development advocates and community members focused on decreasing inequity across the board.
Central to the premise of the Public Health Commission’s summit, which was hosted in partnership with the university’s Institute for Health Equity and Social Justice Research, was the idea that mental health struggles don’t exist in a vacuum.
The event aimed to reframe mental health as being shaped by broader social and structural conditions, called “social determinants of health” — factors outside of hospitals and clinics that can shape good or bad health outcomes.
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