This week marks a year since the pandemic unfolded in Michigan, changing all of our lives in different yet dramatic ways. As the pandemic continues so do the impacts of trauma, loss, social isolation, stress and more. 

According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, about 4 in 10 adults in the U.S. have reported symptoms of anxiety or depression in the pandemic. 

The Ethel & James Flinn Foundation which is focused on improving the quality, scope and delivery of mental health services in Michigan allocated its entire grantmaking budget in 2020 to COVID-19 emergency response efforts to meet the increased need.

Andrea Cole, executive director and CEO of the Flinn Foundation, said one example of this work is the 24/7 free virtual therapy platform the foundation supported in 2020 which provided services to 3,000 people in just a few short months. 

“90% of people who utilized the services were African American and a large percentage of youth used the services,” Cole said. “We were able to reach African American men which was very wonderful considering the access issue that was exacerbated by the pandemic.”

The virtual therapy program was supported by the Flinn Foundation in partnership with three other CMF members, The Skillman Foundation, Community Foundation for Southeast Michigan and Michigan Health Endowment Fund, along with the Detroit-Wayne Integrated Health Services (DWIHN).

Nearly 10,000 people have visited the platform.

“As the pandemic has been prolonged, a couple of funders extended support for the platform,” Cole said. “It has been very successful in terms of increasing access to behavioral health services.” 

The virtual therapy program was one of the many collaborative efforts the Flinn Foundation has engaged in to increase access to mental health support. 

In the early days of the pandemic, the Flinn Foundation partnered with the Michigan Health Endowment Fund, Metro Health Foundation, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan and Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan Foundation, to provide rapid response safety net telehealth initiative grants. 

Cole said it was a statewide ramp-up for safety net providers to be able to expand their telehealth services. 

“We invited the organizations in Southeast Michigan that we work with, which are primarily safety net providers. They had the flexibility to either support telehealth infrastructure or to spend those dollars on Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), whatever they needed to provide services in this environment,” Cole said. 

Cole shared that at the heart of the foundation’s response efforts has been deep collaboration, noting how essential partnerships and flexibility are, especially during a crisis. 

“Other funders can think about how these efforts intersect and about collaborating with other funders in a more flexible way,” Cole said. “We understand the connection and importance of coming together and moving work forward that benefits all of us.”

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Read more about The Flinn Foundation’s work