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Live Webinar: Why People Resist Mental Health Care — and What Public Health Can Do About It

September 22, 2026 12 PM - 1 PM Eastern Time

A special complimentary webinar for public health professionals featuring Tracy Stecker, PhD, nationally recognized researcher and author of Choosing Help: Your First Step Toward Better Mental Health.

Register Now — It's Free

About This Event

Presented By

Tracy Stecker, PhD
Psychologist, Researcher & Author
Medical University of South Carolina

Continuing Education Credits Available

Continuing Education (CE) credits are available for eligible participants, including psychologists, registered nurses, and licensed mental health counselors. Attendees who complete the webinar and meet participation requirements will receive documentation for CE credit. Additional accreditation and credit-hour details will be provided during registration.

Quick Summary

  • Topic: Why People Resist Mental Health Care & What Public Health Can Do About It
  • Speaker: Tracy Stecker, PhD
  • Format: Live Virtual Webinar, 60 Minutes
  • Cost: Complimentary
  • Bonus: Free copy of Choosing Help for public health teams
  • Audience: Public health professionals at all levels
Featured Webinar

A One-Hour Conversation That Will Change How Your Community Accesses Care

Public health professionals like you understand the devastating impact that untreated mental health and substance use conditions have on individuals, families, and communities. Yet one of the greatest and most persistent challenges remains helping people take that critical first step toward care.

Join renowned psychologist and researcher Tracy Stecker, PhD, for a focused, evidence-informed one-hour webinar exploring the science of help-seeking behavior — and practical strategies your agency can use to increase engagement in mental health care right now.

What You'll Learn

Why people avoid mental health and substance use treatment

The roles of stigma, fear, mistrust, and denial

Evidence-based approaches to increasing help-seeking behavior

Strategies public health agencies can use to improve engagement

How communities can build more effective pathways to care

Special Bonus for Early Birds

Public health teams attending the webinar will receive a complimentary copy of the bookChoosing Help for professional development and community outreach efforts.

This is a research-based resource your team can put to work immediately — at no cost. While supplies last.


About the Speaker

Meet Tracy Stecker, PhD

Psychologist. Researcher. Author.

Dr. Tracy Stecker is a nationally recognized expert on help-seeking behavior, mental health stigma, and treatment engagement. Her career has been defined by a singular focus: understanding why people resist seeking help — and finding evidence-based ways to change that.

Dr. Stecker serves at the Medical University of South Carolina, where she has conducted extensive research examining barriers to treatment and developing strategies that meaningfully improve access to behavioral health services across diverse populations.

Her new book, Choosing Help, translates decades of rigorous research into practical, accessible tools — empowering individuals, families, clinicians, and communities to support people in taking the first step toward recovery.

Webinar Agenda

What You'll Learn in 60 Minutes

Each session segment is designed to deliver immediately applicable insights for public health professionals working at every level of the system — from frontline community health workers to agency directors and health department leadership.

Understanding Help-Seeking Resistance

Explore the most common reasons people avoid seeking care — even when support is available and free.

The Psychology Behind Treatment Avoidance

Understand how fear, shame, stigma, mistrust, and deeply held misconceptions shape individual decision-making.

Why Traditional Approaches Often Fall Short

Learn why persuasion alone is frequently ineffective and how resistance develops in response to conventional outreach.

Empowering Individuals to Choose Help

Discover a research-informed model designed to help individuals move toward care on their own terms and timeline.

Practical Public Health Applications

Identify strategies for community outreach, prevention initiatives, behavioral health campaigns, crisis response, and population health strategies.

Building Community Systems That Engage People Earlier

Explore opportunities to improve pathways to care and support before challenges escalate into crises.

About the Book

Your registration includes a complimentary resource for your public health team.

As part of this event, every participating public health organization and team will receive a complimentary copy of Dr. Stecker's book Choosing Help — a direct investment in your staff's professional development and your community's behavioral health outcomes.

Choosing Help is a substantive, research-backed resource developed specifically to support the work your team does every day — translating complex behavioral science into practical, community-ready strategies.

Distribution of this book is made possible by a generous grant from the The Warren Alpert Foundation. Limit 1 per agency. While supplies last.


Choosing Help Explores:

Why people say they're "not ready" — and what that really means

Why some individuals believe treatment won't work for them

How stigma shapes behavior and delays decisions

Why people feel they should manage alone — and the cost of that belief

What individuals and communities can do to actively support help-seeking

Ideal for:

Staff Training

Support professional development across your workforce

Mental Health Initiatives

Strengthen your agency's behavioral health strategy

Community Education

Enhance outreach programs with evidence-based messaging

Team Development

Facilitate meaningful discussions and shared learning

Who Should Attend

Designed for the People Who Shape Community Health

This webinar is built for professionals working across the full spectrum of public health — from frontline outreach to organizational leadership. If your work touches mental health, behavioral health, or community well-being, this session is for you.

Public Health Leaders

Behavioral Health Directors

Prevention Professionals

Community Health Workers

Health Educators

Substance Use Prevention Specialists

Mental Health Advocate

Healthcare Administrators

Public Health Planners

County & State Health Department Staff

School & Community Wellness Professionals

The Challenge

The Gap Between Need and Care

Mental health awareness has grown dramatically over the past decade — yet millions of individuals continue to delay or avoid seeking the support they need. The barriers are real, deeply human, and often invisible to the systems designed to help.

Whether the obstacle is stigma, fear of judgment, mistrust of healthcare systems, uncertainty about what treatment involves, or a deeply held belief that challenges should be handled alone — these factors consistently prevent people from accessing care that could improve and even save their lives.

For Public Health Organizations, Understanding These Barriers Is Critical To:

  • Improving population health outcomes
  • Reducing preventable crises and hospitalizations
  • Supporting recovery and long-term resilience
  • Strengthening upstream prevention efforts
  • Expanding access to behavioral health services
  • Building healthier, more connected communities

This webinar provides a practical, research-grounded framework for understanding and actively addressing these challenges within your agency and community.

"Grounded in cutting-edge science and brought to life through deeply human stories, this work offers practical tools for navigating the most common — and often most difficult — reasons people avoid getting help."

— Professional Endorsement of Choosing Help by Tracy Stecker, PhD

1 in 5

Adults

Experience a mental health condition each year — yet most never seek care

60%

Go Untreated

Of adults with mental illness receive no treatment in a given year

10+ Yrs

Average Delay

Between first symptoms and first contact with a mental health professional

Help More People Take the First Step Toward Care

Join public health professionals from across the country for a timely, evidence-driven conversation about improving mental health engagement, dismantling barriers to care, and building the kind of communities where people feel safe enough to ask for help.

This is a rare opportunity to hear directly from one of the leading researchers in help-seeking behavior — and to walk away with a concrete framework your team can apply immediately. Whether you work in prevention, behavioral health, community outreach, or health department administration, this webinar was built for you.

🎓 Free Webinar

No cost to attend — open to all public health professionals

📚 Free Book for Teams

Every participating public health team receives Choosing Help

🏘 Community Impact

Actionable strategies ready to deploy in your agency and community

Contact & Questions

For registration assistance, group attendance inquiries, or media requests, please call 800-367-2550 or write support@hatherleigh.com. We welcome public health teams, agencies, and department groups to attend together.