---
id: "coronavirus-smarter-crowdsourcing:strategies/Create-a-legal-framework-to-regulate-and-fund-ment"
type: "GovLab policy strategy"
title: "Create a legal framework to regulate and fund mental health priorities"
url: "https://coronavirus.smartercrowdsourcing.org/strategies/create-a-legal-framework-to-regulate-and-fund-ment"
summary: "Create a legal framework to regulate and fund mental health priorities"
source: "The GovLab (coronavirus.smartercrowdsourcing.org)"
licence: "Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/)"
---

# Create a legal framework to regulate and fund mental health priorities

Create a legal framework to regulate and fund mental health priorities

- Timeframe: 1+ years (structural change)
- Audience: Vulnerable Populations
- Type: Partnerships, Vulnerable Populations
- Recommendation: [Government capacity and regulatory environment](https://coronavirus.smartercrowdsourcing.org/recommendations/government-capacity-and-regulatory-environment)
- Part of: [Smarter Crowdsourcing in the Age of Coronavirus](https://coronavirus.smartercrowdsourcing.org/)

## Actions governments should take

1. Review existing provisions regulating and legislating mental health services in the jurisdiction
2. Advocate for economic stimuli to include appropriations for mental health services and providers.
3. Reduce regulatory requirements for face to face service provision, thus allowing service provision to capitalize on remote technologies like telemedicine or hotlines.
4. Reduce regulatory requirements for licensure or credentialing across jurisdictions thus allowing providers to practice via technologies in jurisdictions where they are not licensed.
5. Review legal regulations for controlled substances like methadone, antidepressants, or other key medications used to treat depression, substance abuse, and other mental health issues.
6. Consider means of reducing barriers for patients to access these essential medications while minimizing risks for in-person visits and risks of transmission of the virus.
7. Include provisions for paid sick leave for people who have COVID-19 symptoms, need to quarantine, or are caring for children or ill family to reduce stress and financial burdens of the illness.
8. Include provisions that mandate the coverage of mental health and behavioral health services at the same level as other physical health services or treatments.
9. Include provisions that provide financing for mental health services, including specific details on how services that support marginalized or poor populations will be funded and prioritized.

## Examples from around the world

1. Ireland established the Mental Health Act in 2001 sets out legal procedures for the admissions and treatment of mental health patients, it also established a [Mental health commission](https://www.mhcirl.ie/About_Us/) which is incharge of ensuring and promoting good practices in the delivery of mental health services. Currently, the Commission was tasked with developing a [risk assessment framework](https://www.mhcirl.ie/for_H_Prof/MHC%20Covid-19%20Risk%20Assessment%20Framework/) as part of enhanced public health measures to ensure the proper disease management of COVID-19 and to work with national and regional governance to assess and support their mental health services. Given that a legal framework already existed it allowed for the [Emergency Measures in the Public Interest Covid-19](http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/eli/2020/act/2/enacted/en/html) Act to be passed in 2020.