Health, Mental Health and Behavioral Health

Stay Up to Date with the Latest Articles

Now more than ever, the field of social work takes a leading role in understanding how physical, mental and behavioral health work together to influence our relationships with the people, places, spaces and systems around us.

At the UNC School of Social Work, that means championing research that leads to evidence-informed and responsive policies and practices that support health and well-being.

Social work plays an important role in the health care of patients, helping them understand how their physical health — like exercise and play — connects to their mental and behavioral health — treating depression and anxiety. This can be an important part of a patient’s treatment.

In the United States, clinical social workers are the largest group of mental health service providers, helping patients “restore and enhance their capacity for social functioning, and work to create societal conditions that support communities in need,” according to the National Association of Social Workers.

Many social work patients face economic and cultural challenges that are key barriers in helping them reach their optimum physical and mental health peaks. With mental health service use rising 40 percent from 2019-22, the demand for social workers as health care leaders is not going away. This includes treating patients in private practices, hospitals, rehabilitation centers, schools and mental health clinics.

Person placing hand on someone's shoulder in a comforting way

Social workers with a focus in behavioral health blend their knowledge of the social sciences —sociology, human behavior and psychology — to treat individuals, groups and families. Their work is holistic, assessing, diagnosing, treating and preventing mental health and behavioral disorders in multiple settings.

Toward this end, School of Social Work faculty identify the psychosocial factors that affect health-related conditions — including postpartum conditions, perinatal health, obesity, substance use disorders and serious mental illness. Additionally, they examine the health consequences of prejudice, bias and racism while developing interventions that foster resilience, reduce risk, advance equity, transform systems and improve lives.

The highlighted research projects in this report include faculty-led evaluations of centers that provide services for survivors of intimate partner violence; the progress made by the UNC Behavioral Health Workforce Research Center; and a community partnership that hopes to learn more about the experiences of Latino sexual minority men and their health in central North Carolina.

The need for social workers as physical, mental and behavioral health care providers is at its greatest point. Their role as a bridge between the patient and available health care services is vital; the assistance they provide directly influences well-being. The important, and necessary, work led by our social workers is as vital as ever as the country seeks to solve its ongoing mental health crisis.

by Matt Smith