Jacob Berelowitz (left) and Ralph Gonzalez hold a receipt in from of a Stop & Shop Grocery store in Glendale, N.Y. Photo courtesy of the New York Daily News.

National Association of Social Workers member Jacob Berelowitz, MSW,  came up with a novel way to educate the public about mental health.

Berelowitz and Ralph Gonzalez, who already run a local public access television program on mental health, partnered with grocery stores to put mental health “quck facts”   on customer receipts, according to this article in the New York Daily News.

Berelowitz found that when he counseled clients he often had to first educate them about mental health. He hopes putting mental health facts (such as the fact people with serious mental health illnesses die on average 25 years sooner than others) on  receipts will get out such information to thousands.

“The idea is to do things that stick with people,”  Berelowitz said.

The initiative began in Queens and Long Island and will soon expand to the Bronx and Brooklyn.

SocialWorkersSpeak.org has a feature on Berelowitz’s Talk Therapy television program. To read it, click here.