Mrs. Carter was a visionary, recognizing early on that these two issues were fundamental to the health and well-being of families and communities. During her time as First Lady, she advocated for both causes and continued her groundbreaking work after leaving the White House, advancing mental health at The Carter Center and supporting caregivers through the Rosalynn Carter Institute for Caregivers (RCI).
In July 2025, the two organizations formally merged, bringing together their critical missions under one roof. This merger offers new opportunities to find synergies between the two programs and expand their impact.
In the field of mental health, The Carter Center works to raise awareness, influence public policy, advocate for mental health equity, and combat stigma and discrimination against individuals with mental illnesses. Our initiatives – the Rosalynn Carter Fellowship for Mental Health Journalism, Global Mental Health, and Public Policy – are global, with presence in the United States and internationally.
The Carter Center’s new caregiver programs will build on the strong foundation created by RCI. These programs aim to connect caregivers in the United States to essential services, raise awareness about their vital roles, and advocate for policies that offer better support.
Our Vision
The Rosalynn Carter Mental Health and Caregiver Program envisions a world where mental health and caregiving are valued, promoted, and protected; and all people can access the inclusive care they need to live with dignity and well-being.
Our Mission
The mission of the Rosalynn Carter Mental Health and Caregiver Program is to transform fragmented mental health and caregiving systems by building the capacity of health and community-based actors, advancing evidence-based policy, inspiring change through storytelling to build inclusive, accessible care for all.
Our Strategy
RCMHCP uses the Center’s convening power to bring together health leaders and organizations to address important mental health challenges in the U.S. and internationally. In the U.S., the program seeks to improve public policy at a state and national level. Internationally, the Program works to strengthen mental health systems and reduce stigma and discrimination against people living with mental health and substance use conditions. The Center works with key partners including media houses, journalists, government, iNGOs, community leaders, and civil society partners, to promote mental health awareness and service delivery that can be sustained over decades.
How Common are Mental Illnesses?
Mental illnesses are a leading contributor to the burden of disease, both in the United States and around the world. According to the World Health Organization, 970 million people worldwide or 1 in every 8 people were living with a mental disorder before the COVID-19 pandemic. In the United States, around one in five adults experience some form of mental illness. Amidst significant advances in research that show how even the most serious mental health conditions can be treated, large gaps in access and quality of care remain, preventing individuals, families, and communities from reaching their full potential.
Global Mental Health
RCMHCP’s Global Mental Health team advances policies and practices that expand access to quality treatment and support for mental illnesses and substance use disorders in low- and middle-income countries, confronting stigma and discrimination, and fostering sustainability through strong local ownership. Partnering with the governments in low- and middle-income countries, the Global Program Team facilitates training of the mental health workforce, assists Ministries of Health in designing, reforming, and implementing mental health policies, supports anti-stigma programming and advocacy, conducts operational research, and empowers people living with mental health conditions and their caregivers. The Program has focused on strengthening mental health in Liberia for the past 15 years and is now adapting and sharing lessons learned, catalyzing mental health reform in Sierra Leone, Uganda, and other country contexts.
Caregiver
For nearly 40 years, Mrs. Carter’s visionary leadership has inspired us to recognize family caregivers, who are often unseen. Our ongoing research and advocacy aim to bring caregiving and caregivers out of the shadows and into the light of appreciation and support.
Our caregiver support has empowered tens of thousands of caregivers across all 50 states and Puerto Rico, raising awareness, building confidence, and easing the emotional and practical burdens of care.
Learn more about this initiative. https://rosalynncarter.org/
Journalism
The Carter Center works in the U.S. and abroad to fight stigma and discrimination related to mental health.
Rosalynn Carter Fellowships for Mental Health Journalism
Through our Rosalynn Carter Fellowships for Mental Health Journalism, we offer stipends and training to support accurate and sensitive reporting on topics related to mental health, caregiving, and substance use.
As part of an international effort to reduce stigma and discrimination, fellowships are currently awarded to journalists in the United States, the United Arab Emirates, and Ireland, with specialized fellowships also supporting reporting on mental health and substance use, climate change, and caregiving. Fellowships have previously been awarded to journalists in Romania, South Africa, Colombia, Qatar, and New Zealand. Through these fellowships, the program develops a cadre of better-informed professional journalists who can report on these complex issues more accurately and sensitively and influence their peers and key stakeholders to do the same.
Applications open at the end of January each year. Learn more about the fellowship, access free mental health reporting tools, and how to apply.
The Mental Health Parity Newsroom Collaborative is an exciting partnership between The Carter Center and newsrooms around the country focused on expanding coverage of mental health care access, parity, and inequities in the United States. To date, 45 newsrooms and 120 journalists have participated, producing wide-reaching stories on mental health care access and inequities in the United States.
Participating newsrooms receive training and resources to produce stories as part of the project, connected through a tagline and amplified on a variety of distribution channels.
Public Policy
Using its unique position in Georgia, the Carter Center’s Mental Health Program works to advance evidence-based public policy at the state level while identifying best practices that can inform policy change in other states and at the federal level. A key focus of our work is to implement and enforce parity laws so that people can access behavioral health treatment.
During the 2022 state legislative session, the Georgia General Assembly voted unanimously to pass the Mental Health Parity Act, ensuring for the first time that the state will enforce parity in insurance coverage for behavioral health care.
The Mental Health Parity Act (Georgia General Assembly – HB 1013 (ga.gov)) will help Georgians access affordable mental health and substance use disorder treatment for themselves and their children by ensuring that public and private health insurance plans cover behavioral health equitably with physical health.
Health care policy is shifting from a focus solely on the management of illnesses toward one that proactively creates health and well-being in individuals, organizations, and communities, otherwise known as population health. Population health focuses on building “cultures of health” to reduce the burden of disease and maximize overall health and well-being. Evidence shows that behavioral health plays a major role in the successful completion of these efforts. Therefore, the Mental Health Program has undertaken a multiyear endeavor to help ensure that the consideration of behavioral health and well-being is at the center of efforts to manage the health of populations. To ensure success, the Mental Health Program develops tools and strategies that utilize evidence-based approaches to prevention, treatment, and health promotion.
Mental Health in Georgia
The Carter Center Mental Health Program is engaged in a collective effort to strengthen, expand, and sustain school-based behavioral health, prevention, early intervention, and services and supports in the state of Georgia.
The coronavirus pandemic and the resulting economic recession have negatively affected many people’s mental health and exacerbated conditions for people already suffering from mental illnesses and substance use disorders.The Mental Health Program continues work to ensure access to behavioral health services in Georgia and nationally, with a special focus on vulnerable populations, through: 1) implementation and enforcement of parity, or equity in insurance coverage for mental health and substance use conditions, 2) improving access to school-based behavioral health services and supports for youth, and 3) increasing access to care for older adults with mental illness.
Results and Impact
The Carter Center’s Mental Health Program advances policies and practices that expand access to quality treatment and support for mental illnesses and substance use disorders in low- and middle-income countries, confronting stigma and discrimination, and fostering sustainability through strong local ownership. Partnering with the governments in low- and middle-income countries, the Global Program Team facilitates training of the mental health workforce, assists Ministries of Health in designing, reforming, and implementing mental health policies, supports anti-stigma programming and advocacy, conducts operational research, and empowers people living with mental health conditions and their caregivers. The Program has focused on strengthening mental health in Liberia for the past 15 years and is now adapting and sharing lessons learned, catalyzing mental health reform in Sierra Leone, Uganda, and other country contexts.
1.
Working with the government of Liberia, The Carter Center has helped to train over 368 credentialed mental health clinicians who work in all 15 counties in the country; to develop three successive national mental health policies and strategies, an updated mental health law, and accompanying mental health regulations; to integrate mental health services into primary care, schools, and policing systems; and to elevate the voices of mental health champions across the country.
2.
Mrs. Carter played a key role in the passage of the Paul Wellstone and Pete Domenici Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act of 2008, which ensures that mental illnesses are covered by insurance at parity with other illnesses.
3.
Since 1985, the annual Rosalynn Carter Symposium on Mental Health Policy has brought together national leaders in mental health to focus and coordinate efforts on issues of common concern and recommend action steps.