Mental health treatment is often out of reach. A person-centered approach to reducing loneliness that helps people engage with others might be more feasible.

The changes resulted in significant benefits, including a reduction in behavioral health boarding admissions by 78% and shortened length of stay by more than 50% .

The American Psychological Association has honored Murry for "reinforcing the value of psychology in addressing societal needs.”

A Vanderbilt Health faculty member since 2008, Stovall spent his career working extensively in community psychiatry and primary care settings.

Heckers is currently VUMC’s longest serving clinical department chair. He credits his longevity to the department’s culture and tradition of steady leadership, with each of the three previous chairs serving for periods of similar length.

The VUMC approach, based on the “Feeling Safe Program” developed by British psychologist Daniel Freeman, targets specific factors that contribute to persecutory delusions, including worry, safety behaviors, avoidance and hallucinations (such as hearing voices).

There has been a growing mental health crisis among children and adolescents in Tennessee, where the suicide death rate among youth (ages 5-17) is 13.6% higher than the national average.