Youth mental health is one of the most urgent crises in America today, yet it often gets pushed aside in broader healthcare debates. Heidi Baskfield, President and CEO of Speak Our Minds, is determined to change that. Through advocacy, policy reform, and a relentless push for systemic change, she’s ensuring young people get the support they deserve, and in this episode of Credo Voices, she shares how.
Speak Our Minds was born out of a recognition that the youth mental health crisis could no longer be treated as a side issue during the COVID-19 pandemic, when children’s hospitals across the United States raised alarms about being overwhelmed by young people in crisis. Heidi and her team set out to build a national movement that not only raised awareness but also forced accountability from the systems failing young people. The organization’s mission is rooted in the belief that children deserve the same timely, effective, and quality care for mental health as they do for physical health, and that families should not have to fight endlessly just to access what should already be a right.
In our conversation, Heidi paints a sobering picture of the gaps in America’s mental health system. Too often, she explains, policies exist on paper but never reach the families who need them most. She describes how states routinely fail to properly implement Medicaid benefits, leaving children without care, and how commercial insurers continue to exclude meaningful mental health coverage despite legal requirements. Even when care is available, it frequently lacks the safety and quality standards taken for granted in physical healthcare, standards designed to protect patients and ensure consistency of treatment.
Heidi’s vision is bold, but it’s also deeply practical: a future where access to youth mental health services is not an exception but a guarantee, where children’s well-being is treated with the same urgency and seriousness as any other healthcare issue. By breaking through the silence surrounding youth mental health, she is not only advocating for systemic change but also giving voice to millions of families who, until now, have felt unheard, advancing both SDG 3 (Good Health and Well-Being) and SDG 10 (Reduced Inequalities).
“What Heidi is doing is extraordinary,” says Awele Okigbo, CEO of Credo Advisory. “She is not only holding powerful institutions accountable but also making sure communities shape the solutions themselves. That is what real reform looks like.”
Listen to the full episode on Spotify and visit our website for more information. To learn more about Heidi and her work, follow her on LinkedIn, and Visit the Speak Our Minds website.
New episodes of Credo Voices are released monthly on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and YouTube as part of Credo Advisory’s commitment to advancing the Sustainable Development Goals and fostering a global community of change-makers.