Flattening the Emotional Distress Curve: A Behavioral Health Pandemic Response Strategy for COVID-19

This article proposes a framework for managing the behavioral health impacts of the COVID-19 global pandemic. This framework aligns and should be integrated with an existing public health pandemic intervals model. It includes six phases of a behavioral health pandemic response strategy: preplanning, response readiness, response mobilization, intervention, continuation, and amelioration. The ways behavioral health specialists can capitalize on their competence in the leadership, prevention, education, service, research, and advocacy domains within each behavioral health pandemic response phase are articulated. Behavioral health expertise can help ensure a more comprehensive, effective pandemic response that facilitates the flattening of the curve of disease spread, along with the corresponding emotional distress curve. A case illustration, the Caring Communities (CC) initiative, is offered as an exemplar of action steps in the leadership, prevention, education, service, research, and advocacy domains that behavioral health professionals can take within each of the behavioral health pandemic response phases. Key CC action steps include providing support groups, offering virtual wellness breaks, participating in educational outreach, creating and disseminating wellness guides, launching and leading a virtual behavioral health clinic for health care staff, participating in behavioral health research and program evaluation, and engaging in advocacy initiatives aimed at improving behavioral health care and addressing and reducing health disparities. Finally, recommendations for optimizing behavioral health contributions to future pandemic responses are proffered. Public Significance Statement This article highlights the importance of integrating behavioral health expertise into public health responses to pandemics. Behavioral health specialists can optimize pandemic responses related to leadership, prevention, education, service, research, and advocacy.