ecbailly

During the week of July 7, 2026, I had the opportunity to participate in a convening at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services in Washington, D.C. The gathering, titled “Called to Care: Strengthening Faith and Behavioral Health as Social Infrastructure for Recovery,” brought together behavioral health professionals, faith leaders, advocates, organizational executives, policy experts, people with lived experience, and representatives from at least two Tribal Nations. In total,...

Some places enter your life slowly. They do not announce themselves all at once. They arrive through winding roads, quiet conversations, stories told across conference tables, and the steady witness of people who keep showing up for one another even when the weight they carry would be enough to break many communities. Eastern Kentucky has become one of those places for me. My connection to Kentucky began through work connected to the opioid overdose epidemic and the downstream impact it...

This is the third and final blog in NorthStar Behavioral Health Advisory’s series examining the 2026 Pain in the Nation Report from Trust for America’s Health. In Part One, we looked at the national picture and the fragile but meaningful progress reflected in recent declines in alcohol-induced deaths, drug overdose deaths, and suicide deaths. In Part Two, we looked at the state-level data and why geography matters when designing behavioral health strategy. Now, we turn to the provider...