TikTok Partners With Cleveland Clinic to Promote Verified Mental Health Information
In a move to help provide the community with quality, verified help and information on mental health, TikTok searches relating to mental health issues will now link directly to Cleveland Clinic and the National Institute of Mental Health.
The team-up between TikTok and Cleveland Clinic occurred to help quell the misinformation surrounding mental health that can circulate across social media platforms. Now, when TikTok users search for mental health terms such as depression, anxiety or trauma, the app will link them directly to verified online articles from Cleveland Clinic and NIMH.

According to TikTok’s Global Lead for Mental Health Policy Ryn Linthicum, there are hundreds of influences already discussing mental health issues and the #mentalhealth hashtag alone has over 100 billion views.
As online communities continue to grow, social media platforms must be considered as another new, effective tool for those studying a masters in school and mental health counseling, an online masters in school counseling or other similar degrees to utilize in their counseling methods moving forward, particularly with younger audiences.
When it comes to social media platforms, TikTok is one of the largest. It reached the milestone of one billion active users years earlier than its social media counterparts Facebook and Instagram, making it one of the fastest-growing social media platforms to date – and all this was achieved a mere year after the ban on the application made by the Trump administration.
TikTok is also geared towards a younger demographic, with nearly half of its users sitting in the 10 to 29-year-old age bracket. It also recently upstaged Instagram as the most used social media app in the 12 – 17-year-old demographic.
According to the Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance (BVSA) TikTok is being utilized as a new coping strategy for this younger generation who have an increased need for peer interaction and a higher sensitivity to social exclusion. Throw in a few lockdowns and some social distancing, and it’s little wonder the disruption to their lives has them turning to TikTok and other social platforms.

TikTok and other social media apps have become a coping mechanism for the younger generations. Photo by Solen Feyissa on Unsplash.
Another recent study reviewed 100 TikTok videos with the hashtag #mentalhealth and the video’s comments. Of the videos reviewed that received more than the average number of likes (greater than 2.67 million), 72% of the comments offered support or validation relating to mental health issues.
Based on these studies, healthcare professionals or organizations who share their own mental health-related content on TikTok can help create networks and opportunities for people to connect and share experiences and strategies for health and wellness.

Reducing the stigma surrounding mental health via social media can be an effective tool. Photo by Anthony Tran on Unsplash.
Taking advantage of and working in conjunction with social media platforms to promote better mental health is not a new concept.
Over the years Facebook has developed its own Emotional Health resource center in conjunction with mental health experts and organizations around the world to help connect, support and encourage conversations about mental health.
YouTube has shared a guide with their content creators on how to produce videos that can help address mental health, build connections and encourage others to take better care of one another. It involves advice around being inclusive, maximizing the impact of content and collaborating with experts.
X has also utilized hashtags like #mentalhealthawareness to prompt live Q&As and Spaces (live audio conversations) discussions with mental health organizations and leaders.
While it is clear social media can work as an excellent platform to talk about mental health issues and reach a broad audience to help reduce the stigma surrounding it, it is important to remember not all social media, including TikTok accounts, are subject to credibility checks.
With the new collaboration between TikTok, Cleveland Clinic and National Institute of Mental Health in place however, there are hopes the quality of information available will increase.
The collaboration was put in place as one of many initiatives launched for World Mental Health Day and comes not long after the Cleveland Department of Health announced their plans to add mental health to the city’s first responder options.
The department has stated it has begun developing the building blocks of a program that is designed to help police respond when encountering a situation involving people living with mental illness or addiction.
It is currently in the initial stages of implementing a pilot program in conjunction with the Alcohol, Drug Addiction and Mental Health Services (ADAMHS) Board of Cuyahoga County.
The proposed pilot will ideally outline the most effective ways to respond to crises involving mental health. This will include assessing data with the help of an epidemiologist – an expert in studying disease and outbreaks within a society – and a data analyst to determine the most common types of mental health-related calls, what hospitals people are being sent to, whether they are being admitted or immediately released and what locations have the most non-violent mental health-related calls.
Deep diving into this data will help build a successful program that can then be reproduced at scale.
The department will also be focusing on optimizing the first responder’s initial contact with people who are dealing with a crisis. This will involve retraining dispatch and 911 call taking – currently options when calling 911 are police, fire or EMS, however with this new initiative a mental health response will be included.
The new program is aimed to be launched by the end of this year.
According to the World Health Organization more than 264 million people worldwide suffer from a form of depression. By increasing awareness through new initiatives communities can work towards eliminating the stigma surrounding mental health, and help people develop a greater understanding of mental illness and how to recognize the symptoms of anxiety, depression or other conditions within their own circle of loved ones.
If you or someone you know requires professional services for their mental health you can find assistance via the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration or contact them via their national helpline.