Mental Health Champions: Why & How Joan Steinberg Of The Morgan Stanley Foundation Is Helping To Champion Mental Wellness

Find time to take care of myself. As a working mother with a young teenager and as my dad’s primary caregiver, it can be challenging to carve out time that is dedicated solely to my own wellbeing. Finding that time for me felt impossible — until it became obvious that I was simply not of use to others until I was well myself.

As a part of our series about Mental Health Champions helping to promote mental wellness, I had the pleasure to interview Joan Steinberg.

Joan is the President of the Morgan Stanley Foundation and CEO of the Morgan Stanley Alliance for Children’s Mental Health’s Advisory Board. After nine years in the nonprofit sector, Joan joined Morgan Stanley in 1997 and currently oversees the firm’s global philanthropic programs, including strategic planning and execution, employee engagement, and corporate and Foundation grantmaking, totaling more than $100 million annually. Since joining the firm, Joan has more than quadrupled the company’s giving; created programs for more than 70,000 employees; and expanded the Firm’s geographic outreach so that more communities could be served.

Thank you so much for doing this with us! Before we dig in, our readers would like to get to know you a bit. Can you tell us a bit about how you grew up?

I think my childhood was very different than many of my peers — especially compared to those of other little girls. Growing up, I was encouraged to go for what I wanted and never let anyone stand in my way. I think this gave me a running start that other young women may not have had at the time in learning to trust myself and accept that I was accountable for myself.

You are currently leading a social impact organization that is helping to promote mental wellness. Can you tell us a bit about what you or your organization are trying to address?

I am incredibly proud and honored to lead the Morgan Stanley Alliance for Children’s Mental Health, which is working to address and raise awareness of the growing mental health crisis facing children and teens, especially among underserved communities.

Between societal change, environmental stressors and more, the prevalence of youth mental health disorders has evolved from a growing public health emergency prior to COVID-19 into a national crisis. The effects of untreated mental health disorders — including dropout, incarceration and suicide — are multiplying, while a lack of adequate treatment continues to be an issue for most young people. It’s become increasingly clear that this crisis will endure well beyond the pandemic, and, as a society, we need to collectively address this with urgency.

The Alliance is making an impact on this crisis through:

• Growth Capital: Funding strategic nonprofit partner organizations to bring to scale proven methods of helping improve children’s mental health outcomes.
• Capacity Building: Helping ensure that effective organizations can sustain their practices.
• Seed Funding: Bringing emerging and innovative ideas to fruition. One way the Alliance is doing this is through its Innovation Awards, a program that awards finalists a total of $500,000 in grants to help scale their transformative mental health solutions and connect with additional funding resources.
• Thought Leadership: Using our voice and deep, global connections to raise awareness, drive advanced thinking and reduce stigma. We’ve produced and funded numerous studies and resources to help address areas of concern for children’s mental health. We’ve also hosted convenings to support caregivers and educators.

What’s the most interesting discovery you’ve made since you started leading your organization?

I’ve made several interesting discoveries since launching the Alliance, but I think the most important one is just how crucial collaboration is in any successful philanthropic endeavor. We always knew that for this project to be a success we couldn’t go at it alone. That’s why we decided to team up with a group of U.S. and global non-profit members. These partners give us the depth and expertise needed to create a real global impact. In a mission to address youth mental health, we are stronger when we work together.

Can you tell us the backstory about what inspired you to originally feel passionate about this cause?

The Morgan Stanley Foundation has been supporting children’s health for more than 60 years. But, in recent years, we realized how much mental health plays a part in that equation as well as how much support was needed — and it’s quite astounding.

We at Morgan Stanley feel so passionately about improving the mental well-being of young people because of the magnitude of the situation. Even before the start of the pandemic, we saw a mental health crisis amongst young people around the world as they struggled with challenges like anxiety, stress and depression. Mental health challenges can affect anyone, reaching people of all different ages, races and cultural backgrounds.

With our experience supporting children’s wellness and resources to make a difference, we felt it was our obligation to play a critical role in advocating and improving the outcome for all children. Additionally, at Morgan Stanley we hire hundreds of young people every year out of school, and we want to ensure we are giving those youth all the tools they need to succeed.

Many of us have ideas, dreams, and passions, but never manifest them. They don’t get up and just do it. But you did. Was there an “Aha Moment” that made you decide that you were actually going to step up and do it? What was that final trigger?

For my team at Morgan Stanley, the ‘Aha Moment’ was learning about the urgent and growing need for advocacy, expertise and funding in youth mental health.

When we first started researching children’s mental health, we thought we might find an obvious white space for Morgan Stanley to support. Sadly, as we investigated further, we came to realize that large swaths of the field were overlooked and underfunded.

We also discovered that when it comes to youth mental health, no single issue is more pressing than the rest, rather it is more a series of issues in a connected ecosystem. And a lot of young people are affected — 1 in 5 children experience mental health issues, and suicide is the second leading cause of death for children over 10.

By understanding the scale of these issues and the need to fill funding gaps, we realized we needed to start acting quickly to secure a brighter future for our nation’s youth. As a result, in February 2020 — before we even knew what kind of impact the COVID-19 pandemic would have on youth mental health — we launched this initiative.

Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you began leading the Alliance? or organization?

One topic that has fascinated me on a personal level is how youth (and caregivers’) mental health is impacted by screen time. Between the internet, social media, gaming and new worlds like the metaverse, the options for what to explore on the screen are constantly evolving. For many young people, screen time can become problematic — causing depression and anxiety, or addicting kids and keeping them from wanting to put the screen down and go about the rest of their lives. While I always knew screen time was connected to mental health, this topic really jumped out at me as it is something I think about with my own family a lot. My kid loves video games, and while we have spent time trying to figure out how much is allowed and when enough is enough, at the end of the day it is an activity he gets enjoyment out of. So studying this topic, and figuring out how to use screen time in a healthy way towards our mental health, and coping mechanisms for when this is at an unhealthy level, has been very interesting and helpful to me. In fact, we have hosted a series of events on the topic, and continue to fund research on where this is going next — the metaverse. More to come on that this fall as we host another event with the Child Mind Institute!

None of us can be successful without some help along the way. Did you have mentors or cheerleaders who helped you to succeed? Can you tell us a story about their influence?

I’ve been fortunate enough to have many mentors, starting early with the examples my parents set, particularly my Dad who truly epitomizes what it means to do the right thing and live by your values. I am also lucky that at Morgan Stanley I was embraced by a sisterhood of women who were a little ahead of me and who gave me the confidence to make hard calls and fight for what I thought was right. They reached forward to make room for me and importantly taught me to do the same for the women coming behind me.

According to Mental Health America’s report, over 44 million Americans have a mental health condition. Yet there’s still a stigma about mental illness. Can you share a few reasons you think this is so?

I think there are several contributing factors to continued stigma about mental illness. A few of these are:

• Lack of education or awareness: Many students don’t receive mental health education at school and many parents weren’t raised with that education either. It’s imperative that we learn about children’s mental health, understand the warning signs and familiarize ourselves with how to help lead people to professional help early if needed.
• Not openly being talked about enough: When something isn’t talked about openly or seems taboo, people don’t always feel safe to bring things that are troubling them to light. We can fight stigma with our own openness and understanding. We also need to encourage others to talk openly about mental health issues and ask for more mental health services.
• Underfunding: This underpins every aspect above. I mentioned it earlier on, but so many areas of youth mental health are severely underfunded. To help paint the picture, giving for mental health accounted for only 1.3% of overall foundation investments between 2015–2018 — and even less funding is specific to kids and teens. That lack of investment only perpetuates these stigmas as it widens the gaps of education, treatment and resources.

In your experience, what should a) individuals b) society, and c) the government do to better support people suffering from mental illness?

We can all play a part in better supporting people’s mental health.

Here’s a few ways individuals can do so:

• Just start talking. Having open, honest and non-judgmental dialogue about how we’re all coping mentally is the easiest place to start. Admitting you struggle too can make a huge difference in destigmatizing mental health challenges.
• Check in on those around you. Make it a priority to regularly check in on the mental wellbeing of your loved ones — no matter their age.
• Educate yourself. Learn about your own mental health and children’s mental health. Understanding the warning signs of deeper problems can help you and those around you get needed support before things get worse.From a societal perspective, I can speak to the need for organizations and business leaders to step up. It’s crucial they:
• Implement mental health programs. Make programs and benefits available to employees that allow them to better access and prioritize their mental health and the mental health of their families.
• Rethink your giving. Incorporate youth mental health advocacy into your company’s offerings, philanthropy or social good efforts. Less than two percent of funding goes toward those causes. We need to see leaders coming together to solve these problems.

When it comes down to it all private, public and non-profit organizations are key to truly making an impact.

What are your 5 strategies you use to promote your own wellbeing and mental wellness? Can you please give a story or example for each?

If you’re like me, making sure to promote your own wellbeing and mental wellness can be hard, but it’s so very important. Here’s a few ways I try to do this:

1. Find time to take care of myself. As a working mother with a young teenager and as my dad’s primary caregiver, it can be challenging to carve out time that is dedicated solely to my own wellbeing. Finding that time for me felt impossible — until it became obvious that I was simply not of use to others until I was well myself.
2. Pause for deep breaths. Doing this gives me clarity and then I can get back to it!
3. Take stock of progress. If solving the world’s problems was easy, we would all be out of jobs. Instead, I remind myself to reflect on where progress is being made and let that fuel other areas that seem to be plateauing. Rather than getting down about a failure or setback, I try to use them to reframe and retry.
4. Build a network of support. I’ve created a team of people that I know can go to when I’m getting stressed, overwhelmed or anxious. And make sure they feel comfortable to give honest feedback. This network has served as an amazing sounding board to get me on the right track. Identifying these people are crucial to getting through the day.
5. Talk the talk and walk the walk. I have made it a mission to talk about these issues openly in the workplace and encourage other leaders to do the same. This is as much for my mental health and wellbeing as it is for others. I want to show those around me that they can also seek help when they need it. Having more attention on these issues can only help.

What are your favorite books, podcasts, or resources that inspire you to be a mental health champion?

As a funder, I’m inspired by seeing new organizations and solutions pop up that are geared toward making meaningful impact and solving our mental health crisis. These aren’t books or podcasts, but I would encourage others interested in the mission of creating a brighter future for our nation’s youth to seek out organizations that are making a difference at the community level, such as Black Girls Smile, citiesRISE, Rural Behavioral Health Institute, Smart from the Start and Teen Line. These organizations make up our first cohort of Innovation Awards winners. When we first met with these organizations, I was blown away by just how impactful the programs were on young people around the country. Hearing their real-life stories of tangible impact made it easy to see that these organizations had the potential to take their programs to the next level, and we are thrilled to be a part of that work. These organizations are making a difference in the lives of young people across varying geographies, communities and needs through culturally responsive treatment models. We are currently creating a video series with the five winners, which can be found here.

If you could tell other people one thing about why they should consider making a positive impact on our environment or society, like you, what would you tell them?

We can’t turn back time and erase the terrible things we or our kids have experienced, especially during the last couple years of the pandemic. However, with action and urgent intervention from leaders across the public and private sectors, we can create a better future for ourselves and for the next generation.

How can our readers follow you online?

Readers can learn more and follow along at https://www.morganstanley.com/about-us/giving-back.

This was very meaningful, thank you so much. We wish you only continued success on your great work!