TED TALK: No Health Without Mental Health

Denny Morrison challenges three commonly held but irrational beliefs about behavioral health care:

First, that having a mental illness or addiction is a stigma.

“To compare ‘having a bad day’ to major depression,” he says, “is a bit like comparing a paper cut to an amputation.”

Second, that the body and mind are two different things.

Third, that if you have a diagnosis of mental health or addiction, it’s “a living death sentence.”

Morrison is Chief Clinical Officer for Netsmart, the leading provider of clinical solutions for health and human services organizations nationwide. He served previously as the CEO of the Center for Behavioral Health (CBH) in Bloomington, Indiana since 1995. Morrison has worked in the behavioral health field since 1969 and holds a doctorate in Counseling Psychology from Ball State University.

CBH was the first behavioural health company to ever win the JCAHO Codman Award for excellence in the use of outcomes measurement to achieve health care quality improvement; the second to win the HIMSS Nicholas E. Davies Award for Excellence in the implementation of Electronic Health Records and the only organisation ever to have won both awards. In 2007, CBH was awarded the Negley Chairman’s Award for Excellence in Risk Management.


If you or someone you know is having thoughts of suicide, please reach out. Call 13 11 14 for Lifeline’s 24hr Telephone Crisis Support or contact a mental health professional. If you are looking for other mental health resources, please browse our Find Help page.

If a life is in danger call 000 immediately.

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