A Student Journalist on How Her Team Coped with the Stress of Covering a Campus Under Siege
Isabella Ramírez, editor of the Columbia Daily Spectator, describes the stress experienced by her team of student journalists as they covered occupations and police actions – and coped with accusations of being anti-Semitic and anti-Muslim over the past eight months.
The Night Parade: A genre-bending memoir that helps reshape the cultural narrative on bipolar illness and grief
Jami Nakamura Lin has written a rich, exquisitely illustrated memoir that expands the cultural narrative on mental illness and grief.
A Former Hotline Counselor ‘Hands the Mic’ to Call-takers to Amplify Their Voices
The author of a survey of crisis hotline counselors talks about his experiences and why he wanted to tap into the wisdom of the people who answer calls to 988.
How Allen Ginsberg’s Poems About Madness Helped Change Psychiatry: An Interview with Biographer Dr. Stevan Weine
Dr. Stevan Weine talks about his recent book on how poet Allen Ginsberg’s writings helped change psychiatry for the better.
‘Retaliation is a reality’: How agribusiness attacks on a Colorado farmworkers rights law erode ranch workers’ mental health
Anxiety and depression, among the most common mental issues in migrant farmworkers, may be exacerbated by the backlash against a recent farmworkers rights bill.
Voices of Transgender Prisoners
A 2021 California law aimed to reduce the violence and degradation experienced by trans prisoners, but reporter Lee Romney found that trans women transferred to a women’s state prison in Chowchilla have suffered new forms of trauma.
Constant Fear, Death All Around: A Palestinian Psychologist Is Distraught For Her Family and the Impact of War on Gaza’s Children
Dr. Iman Farajallah, a California-based psychologist who grew up in Gaza, talks about her research on the widespread, severe trauma that was afflicting Palestinian children – even before the brutal war now underway.
A Therapist Who Puts Community at the Center of Healing Reflects on the Conflict in Israel and Gaza – and the Real Lessons of 9/11
Jack Saul led a community healing effort in New York after 9/11. He has seen the psychological impact of collective trauma throughout the world and worries that Israel is now making the same mistakes that the U.S. made back then.
Unpacking a ‘Watershed’ Legal Agreement to Improve Conditions for Mentally Ill People in L.A. County Jails
Advocates hail the settlement as a victory for mentally ill people and as a major step to reducing jail populations and improving conditions for those who remain.
Climate Change Can Harm the Mental Health of Older Adults
Climate change is expected to increase the severity and frequency of wildfires and other environmental disasters. San Francisco Public Press spoke with Robin Cooper, a psychiatrist and co-founder of the Climate Psychiatry Alliance, about what needs to be done locally to address climate change’s mental health toll.
Ashwin Vasan, New York City’s Doctor, on Trying to Fix a ‘Broken Mental Health System’
“We’re in the midst of the largest drop of life expectancy that we’ve faced as a city and country in a century. COVID, obviously, is one explanation. But there are many other reasons – overdoses, rising rates of chronic illness, premature deaths from birth inequities, increased rates of violence, suicide.…
A Healed Black Man Works to Heal Others
During his six decades on the planet, Douglas Reed has worn many uniforms. He spent two decades in Army fatigues, then did a tour in federal prisons as a corrections officer. Nowadays he tours the U.S. talking about his mental health journey. MindSite News Reporter Josh McGhee spoke with him…
State of Play: Companies and Clinical Trials in Psychedelic Research
Developments are happening rapidly in the world of psychedelic research and commercial development. We spoke with Josh Hardman, founder of the consultancy firm Psychedelic Alpha, and Dick Simon, co-founder and CEO of Sensorium Therapeutics, to unpack it all.
Thanksgiving Blues and Embracing Gratitude
Thanksgiving is a time of family celebration and gratitude, and some of us can hardly wait to see all our family again. For others, however, Thanksgiving dinner can be triggering. We turned to Bob Sege, a professor of pediatrics at Tufts University who studies childhood trauma and resilience, for his…
Cerebral CEO David Mou on Lessons Learned, ‘Distasteful’ Marketing and ‘Tripling Down’ on Clinical Quality
An interview with the CEO of Cerebral, the virtual mental health company that experienced explosive growth in its valuation and business and is now recalibrating and dealing with legal challenges.
Full of Mad Black Pride, She Tells Her Story and Helps Others Tell Theirs
Kelechi Ubozoh spent her childhood straddling two different worlds. She spent summers with her Nigerian father in New York, where she was born, and the rest of the year in suburban Atlanta, where her African American mother worked as a doctor. Today, she’s a mental health advocate, a convener and…
Michael Pollan on the Ebbing Drug War and the Fast-Growing Era of Psychedelic Research
For three decades, in eight books and untold articles, Michael Pollan has been writing and teaching us about the food we eat and the ways people and plants intersect in the natural (and unnatural) world. In the process, he helped create a new field of journalism centered on the food…
David Bartley Stepped Back from the Precipice and Now He Helps Others Do the Same
David Bartley may be the hardest working man in suicide prevention and also one of the most vulnerable. He has experienced both horrible abuse and deep depression and found a path forward. In the hundreds of talks and trainings he does, he doesn’t hesitate to mine these experiences and share…
