Expanding access to mental health care
Community Routes has many faces. Meet some of them here.
How we’re helping local clinics reach patients in need in their communities
Community Routes: Access to Mental Health Care—a partnership between Teva, Direct Relief and the National Association of Free and Charitable Clinics (NAFC)— is a unique access program that is helping to advance health equity and quality care for underserved populations across the U.S.
Teva is providing commonly used medicines that treat depression and anxiety valued at over $17 million as well as $2 million in grant funding over two years to support innovative behavioral health services through local free and charitable clinics, tailored to meet the needs of their communities
Read our latest press release about a second round of funding to select clinics across the U.S.
Learn how Teva is supporting access to mental healthcare.
Program Highlights By The Numbers...
$2M
$2 million in grant funding over 2 years
$17M
Over $17 million of donated medicines
Providing a portfolio of commonly used generic medications that treat anxiety and depression in adults
10 states
10 states launched across the U.S.
Alabama, California, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, New Jersey, North Carolina, South Carolina, Texas, and Virginia
400+
400+ eligible clinics
Eligibility is determined by free and charitable clinics within Direct Relief's network
650K +
650,000+ uninsured patients within reach*
*Patient data is not specific to those that present with a mental health illness
“The free and charitable clinics chosen for this initiative are already providing outstanding care in their communities, and this funding, generously provided by Teva, will allow them to do even more, by expanding life-saving mental health care to those who need it most.”
-Thomas Tighe, CEO and President, Direct Relief
“Through this program, clinics will be able to enhance and expand access to crucial mental health services for their communities. The NAFC is grateful that Direct Relief and Teva Pharmaceuticals not only recognize the barriers to care communities often face and the importance of mental health care, but that they also are taking steps to join with the NAFC and support our clinics on the ground to provide solutions and increased access to care.”
-Nicole Lamoureux, President and CEO, NAFC
“This grant has allowed us to provide psycho-educational materials in English and Spanish to our patients. These materials consist of booklets on various disorders of mental health – mental health wellbeing, stress reduction, and about depression, anxiety, trauma and grief. This has really helped us not only increase awareness among the populations, but also let our population know that we are available to provide mental health services.”
- Jose Perez, Licensed Marriage & Family Therapist, Behavioral Healthcare Manager, Samaritan House in San Mateo, California
“The Community Routes: Access to Mental Health Care grant has impacted hundreds of our patients lives in an incredibly positive manner, through the provision of mental healthcare via medication, therapy at our clinic and the case management that our patients have been receiving.”
- Eryn Shugart, Executive Director, Savie Health in Lompoc, California
Our journey towards accessible mental healthcare
Learn more about where our team started and how far we’ve come as we continue to support and advance health equity for communities in need.
Why mental health, and why now?
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), a third of adults in the U.S. show symptoms of anxiety, depression, or both. That’s an alarming number. Rates have drastically increased over the past two years, particularly among already vulnerable populations, including racial and ethnic minorities and members of the LGBTQIA+ community. According to a nationwide survey we conducted with Morehouse School of Medicine, 84% of physicians reported an increase in new diagnoses of mental health conditions since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Why this program?
Advancing access to quality medicines is what we do, by making medicines more affordable and available to patients. Through this partnership, we are using both funds and our broad portfolio to help address the rising need for community-based mental health care for uninsured and underserved populations.
Why these partners?
This program takes a two-pronged approach to increasing access to mental health care, through donation of medicines for uninsured patients and grant funding to support innovative services to help address the broader eco-system of care through free and charitable clinics. The National Association of Free and Charitable Clinics (NAFC) is a network of more than 1,400 clinics providing accessible healthcare to more than 2 million underserved patients every year—and we are supporting NAFC clinics in the pilot states of California, Florida and New Jersey to help them deliver innovative mental health services. Direct Relief —Teva’s longstanding partner—is helping to deliver Teva medicines to free & charitable clinics within their network in these states. With the unique knowledge and expertise of these organizations, we can reach underserved populations with quality medicines and care, help advance health equity, and contribute to a long-lasting impact.
Why these clinics?
Our May 2023 announcement expands the program’s medicine donations into seven new states: Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Texas and Virginia, increasing the program’s potential reach to more than 650,000 uninsured patients through 400+ eligible free and charitable clinics across 10 total states. The seven new states were selected based on the program’s ability to maximize patient impact, which was determined by assessing unmet need and the presence of a strong network of partner free and charitable clinics in each state.
Looking back to 2022, 11 clinics were selected as grant recipients based on their innovative and practical approaches to care for underserved and vulnerable patients experiencing mental and behavioral health issues, with a focus on depression and anxiety. Learnings from their initiatives will be shared more broadly with free and charitable clinics across the U.S.
Teva's Global Commitment to Access
As part of Teva’s environmental, social and governance (ESG) strategy, we leverage our portfolio, global footprint and experienced partners to get more of our medicines to more people in more places, including those who wouldn’t otherwise be able to access them. This program is one of eight access to medicines programs Teva committed to launch globally by 2025. We are also working with partners to reach vulnerable populations in Malawi, Botswana, Uganda, Ghana, Israel and France.