DEI with Our Nonprofit Partners: A Q&A with Laurie Dewan

How does diversity, equity and inclusion come to life behind the scenes at Healthline Media? We sat down with key internal leaders to find out. In this Q&A series, we’re peeling back the curtain to show how we’re walking the talk at every level of our business.

What is the biggest focus for Healthline Media’s social impact initiatives right now?

Everyone deserves an equal chance at health, regardless of who they are, where they live and how much money they make. But the fact is there are still drastic disparities in the health industry. They are deeply rooted and systemic, and change won’t happen overnight. 

There’s a lot of work to be done, and we want to make sure we at Healthline Media are doing our part to influence positive change. That’s why we’ve made equity the main focus of our social impact programs, including our current initiatives. 

How do you choose which areas to address with social impact initiatives?

Healthline Media has a long-standing commitment to allyship and advocacy around mental and emotional health, so that always helps guide where we focus our attention. To deepen our impact, we focus on specific issues where our research shows we can make the most difference. Last year, we decided to zero-in on mental health in the Black community, and that remains a primary focus for us today.

Thankfully, we have a diverse group of nonprofit partners doing incredible work, so we’re still able to address a wide range of needs and issues.

BEAM’s focus on building movement around Village Care has truly resonated with our teams, and helped inform an actionable strategy. Healthline Media is BEAM’s premier partner in their Black Wellness Innovation Fund. The Fund will create a national model of care by supporting Black-led wellness innovation projects focusing on specific populations who experience barriers to mental health care today. We are proud to support this work through funding and advocacy across our sites and social channels.

Why are programs like these so important?

Psychological distress in Black communities across the U.S. is high and rising, and those communities are lacking adequate mental health resources. Only 4% of American psychologists are Black. That makes it that much harder for Black people seeking therapy to find the help they need, from a therapist who shares their racial or cultural identities. 

These are centuries-old systemic issues, but working with institutions committed to righting the ship is heartening.  

Every month, millions of people turn to Healthline Media for health and wellness support – more than any other property. We have a responsibility to use that reach to raise up the organizations and people working every day to address inequities in health. By partnering with organizations like BEAM on these types of initiatives, we’re able to use Healthline Media’s platform to influence tangible, positive social change. And that’s something really special to be a part of.

Learn more about our commitment to DEI in other areas:

Click here to explore more about our guiding approach.