Substance Use and Mental Health Challenges During Uncertain Times: Weathering the Storm
A special issue of Healthcare (ISSN 2227-9032).
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 15 December 2026 | Viewed by 30
Special Issue Editors
Interests: homelessness; substance use among marginalized populations; substance use treatment; mental health
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Healthcare systems are often strained due to funding cuts, underfunding, and the political climate. This, in turn, affects the provision of healthcare to vulnerable populations. More research is needed to understand the impact on people who use drugs and/or struggle with mental health challenges during these uncertain times. We invite you to submit to this Special Issue titled “Substance Use and Mental Health Challenges During Uncertain Times: Weathering the Storm”. This Special Issue has three aims: 1. to create a space for policymakers and healthcare practitioners to discuss how recent federal changes and other uncertainties impact their work; 2. to the highlight ways in which providers and practitioners respond to these challenges; and 3. to highlight successful strategies that have been found to be successful when providing services to people experiencing mental health crises or substance use needs when faced with adversity (e.g., loss of funding, or political resistance).
Themes and areas of research may include (but are not limited to) the following:
- Protecting vulnerable populations and clients within the healthcare system;
- Supporting healthcare workforce through adversity;
- Perspectives from those working in healthcare settings;
- Leadership in healthcare systems;
- People working in adjacent fields (e.g., harm reduction, prevention, etc.) in collaboration with healthcare systems;
- Partnerships between healthcare providers and government or academia.
In this Special Issue, original research and reviews are welcome. We look forward to receiving your contributions.
Dr. Nisha Beharie
Dr. Rebecca Linn-Walton
Guest Editors
Manuscript Submission Information
Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.
Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Healthcare is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.
Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.
Keywords
- substance use
- mental health
- harm reduction
- political climate
- healthcare policy
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