Wellness & Well-being Highlights October 6th

Wellness & Well-being Highlights

for the

Week of October 6, 2025

This week’s edition of our Worker Wellness & Well-being blog provides us look at how AI is being utilized to detect breast cancer—to the impact of heat on a worker’s internal organs—to a new study that confirms the attributes of safety helmets. This week I would like to take a closer look at voluntary vs forced Mental Health care.

It is no secret that the US lacks the infrastructure to handle each and every MH crisis. Readers of this blog know my sentiments on the positive impact that peer supporters can have on assisting filling this gap as para-professionals (not as counselors or therapists but as resource navigators… Think: Traffic Cops). In fact, studies have shown that <25% of the people with Substance Use Disorder (SUD) receive care.[1]

Sadly, DC has once again plowed ahead with programs (i.e., involuntary interventions like forced medications and hospitalizations) based on emotions vs facts. To this end…

In July, the federal government issued the executive order “Ending Crime and Disorder on America’s Streets.” The order specifically targets people experiencing homelessness and serious mental illness. This policy shift intensifies debates over how to balance public safety, individual rights and effective, evidence-based care.[1]

Meanwhile, results from a Q1-2025 survey indicate the following:

Nearly three-quarters of respondents (73%) supported expanding access to community-based services, with similar levels across party lines: 78% among Democrats, 72% among Republicans and 71% among Independents. Similarly, most respondents across party lines supported expanding peer-led services.

In contrast, support dropped for policies that would allow treatment to be forced on someone against their will. Just 40% favored forced psychiatric medication, 45% supported short-term involuntary hospitalization and 42% supported long-term hospitalization. Mandated substance-use treatment drew slightly more support, at 53%.[1]

The lead author, Morgan Shields, suggests that, when it comes to population health, community-based services can improve access to care and tend to be more effective when compared to the high cost of institutionalizing people—many against their will!

Please check out the rest of this week’s blog: https://moworksinitiative.org/category/worker-wellness-news/

Source: [1] https://source.washu.edu/2025/09/americans-favor-voluntary-mental-health-care-amid-federal-push-for-forced-treatment/?utm_source=MarketingCloud&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=FY26_October_%40WashU&contactid=003PH000007TZxbYAG&utm_content=https%3a%2f%2fsource.washu.edu%2f2025%2f09%2famericans-favor-voluntary-mental-health-care-amid-federal-push-for-forced-treatment%2f

Run for Mental Health

A Dad’s Love and Suicide

AI & Breast Cancer

Big Pharma / Opioid Settlement / Victims

OUD: Post-pandemic Jump

Rise in Fentanyl: Job Drug Screens

Heat’s Internal Impact

Voluntary vs Forced MH Care