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Grand Challenge to Eliminate Mental Health and Substance Use Disorder Stigma
Grand Challenge Inquiries
If you would like to learn more about the Grand Challenge, join us, or suggest new partners, please reach out.
Contact UsMental health stigma impacts all levels of society. Stigma prevents policymakers from crafting laws free of discrimination and stops healthcare workers from providing the best possible care. Stigma keeps people from seeking the treatment they need, robs them of their joy in life and well-being, and worst-case, results in ultimate harm.
Our vision at Huntsman Mental Health Institute is a world free from stigma and suffering. We believe we can eliminate stigma forever by bringing together organizations and individuals from across the nation to address the “Grand Challenge” of mental health stigma and build a unified strategy and movement.
Goals of the Grand Challenge
Develop a strategy to eliminate stigma from all sectors of society: families, schools, religious institutions, media, community-based organizations, businesses, and government organizations that includes:
- Establishing metrics and sustainable funding models
- Creating outreach plans to connect to hard-to-reach and underserved communities and populations
- Building infrastructure to coordinate and communicate evidence-based best practices
- Hosting pilot projects and gathering evidence to identify new success models

“We have an obligation, not just for ourselves, but for the people we love and for our community and country. Now is the time, this is what we must do.”

Grand Challenge Design Summit
OCTOBER 9-11, 2022 Join thought leaders and organizations as we spark a national movement to eliminate mental health and substance use disorder stigma. The “Design Summit” will be a working retreat where participants come together to collaborate, problem-solve, and work together to create lasting change. The program will include working sessions focused on equity, metrics, fundraising, and communication and outreach. Participants will hear from leaders in the field of mental health and substance use disorders and discuss how to improve and implement tactics for strategic impact at the local level and across the nation. The program will also include leadership development, case studies on the efficacy of lowering or eliminating stigma, opportunities for cross-promotion of partner activities, and investigations into ways to create mutually reinforcing activities among all participants.
LOCATION: SNOWBIRD, UTAH
Join the Fight to Eliminate Stigma
Watch this video to learn more about the Grand Challenge.
Leadership
Mark Hyman Rapaport, MD
CEO, Huntsman Mental Health Institute
William H & Edna D. Stimson Presidential Endowed Chair
Professor & Chair, Department of Psychiatry University of Utah School of Medicine
David H. Huntsman
President & COO, Huntsman Foundation
Christena Huntsman Durham
Executive VP, Huntsman Foundation
Darrell G. Kirch, MD
President Emeritus, Association of American Medical Colleges
Adjunct Professor of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences, Stanford University School of Medicine
Seth Kahan
Founder CEO, Visionary Leadership