The COVID-19 pandemic disproportionately affected individuals with mental disorders, and revealed fundamental flaws in how vulnerable persons are treated in the context of such crises. Much of this difficulty may be attributed to ignorance of the prevalence, severity and economic burden associated with these conditions, as well as to enduring inequalities in how physical illness is treated in comparison to mental illness. As mental disorders are now the single greatest cause of disability, we have reached the point where the tremendous personal and societal costs associated with these conditions can no longer be ignored. Dramatic changes are needed to replace the slow, incremental efforts that most often characterize public health policy. Such changes can no longer wait for the national or international-level solutions that were once hoped, but they may be just as effective through the use of new technologies, grass-roots organization, and initiatives on a local scale.