Despite Crisis Training for Mental Health Emergencies, Many Chicago Police Officers Still Resort to Force
Last year, 169 police officers who received crisis training used force at least once during a mental health-related incident in Chicago.
Investigations
Latest in Investigations
Expiring Federal Funds Threaten Chicago’s Alternative Crisis Response Effort
Chicago will need to dig deep to sustain and expand the CARE program, but state funds could offer hope.
18 Seconds, 16 Shots: A Crisis Veers Into Tragedy
Chicago police used force to respond to mental health crises more than 400 times in 2024.
Shadow Arrests: When a Call for Help Turns Into Involuntary Commitment
Thousands in crisis are being involuntarily hospitalized despite little evidence of effectiveness.
Crisis Response In Turmoil: Chicago’s CARE Program at a Tipping Point
Chicago’s mental health crisis teams were meant to replace police with clinicians. Bureaucratic dysfunction and fading federal support now threaten their survival.
Deadly Denials: When Insurers Fail to Cover Treatment for Eating Disorders, People Suffer. Sometimes They Die.
A four-part investigative series supported by the Pulitzer Center.
‘We’re Not Serving Our Rural Communities’: One Eating Disorder Specialist for 250,000 People
For people in rural America, finding treatment for eating disorders is nearly impossible. Nearly 20% of patients live in states with no residential treatment in their state.
Eating Disorders: They Don’t Just Happen to Skinny, White, Affluent Girls
For years, the media image of an anorexic youth was an emaciated white female teen. The stereotype was so pervasive that eating disorder specialists have an acronym for it: SWAG, or skinny, white, affluent girl.
The Deadly Cost of Eating Disorders: How Health Insurers Delay, Restrict and Deny Care
Eating disorders are America's deadliest mental health condition. For people struggling to get care, health insurers create some of the most formidable hurdles.
Social Worker or AR-15? Portland Struggles Over How to Respond to People in Mental Health CrisisÂ
As Portland weighs expansion of an alternative crisis-response program, new data from a MindSite News-Medill investigation shows police often deploy force on residents who are unhoused or grappling with mental illness.
Zombies No More: Former Foster Youth Reflect on Their Medicated Childhoods – and New Ways They HealÂ
Four former foster youth, now adults, talk about how psychiatric medications impacted their childhoods, and how they since have healed.
Monitoring Psych Meds for California Foster Youth: ‘It’s the Job of All Who Are Involved’
Prescribing to foster youth of psychiatric medications has fallen since judges were tasked with oversight. Still, says one, "constant vigilance" is needed.
‘All I Did Was Sleep’: Despite Years of Damning Reports, States Fail to Rein in Psych Meds for Foster Youth
An investigation by The Imprint reveals overmedication and spotty enforcement of federal requirements that child welfare agencies monitor psychiatric prescriptions for foster youth.
Inside America’s Mental Health Agency: Mass Firings and Work Stoppages Sap Morale, Impede Mission
The agency tasked with leading the fight to ease the country’s mental health and addiction emergencies is going through an existential crisis. About 100 of its 900 workers have been fired and those that remain are frightened and demoralized. Communications with agencies funded by SAMHSA has slowed or halted. "Nobody feels safe," one employee said.
Opioid Orphans: Grandparents Struggle to Raise Children Left Behind
From 2011 to 2021, more than 300,000 children lost a parent to fatal drug overdoses. Despite billions set aside in opioid settlement funds, grandparents who have stepped up to raise those children get very little support.
COVID Stole a Parent from Over 200,000 Children. Indian Country Lost the Most
COVID was not an equal-opportunity destroyer. American Indian and Alaska Native children were orphaned at three times the rate of white children, and Black children at double the rate. Without support, children who lose a parent or caregiver are at risk of developing lasting problems with depression, lower academic achievement, and behavioral issues.
Police Often Use Force on Black People in Response to 911 Mental Health Calls
Accounts of people in mental health crisis killed by police have gained wide public attention. Far less known are cases of non-fatal force. A two-year investigation identified thousands of incidents in which people in crisis had tasers, batons and other forms of less-than-fatal force used against them.
‘Bereavement Deserts’: Amid a Rise in Parental Deaths, Grief in Children Is Often Overlooked
Children who experienced the death of a parent due to Covid, gun violence and opioid overdoses often fail to get counted or served.
Forgotten Children: The Unseen Victims of Gun Violence Are the Children Left Behind
Parental death has been rising in the U.S. due to COVID-19, the overdose epidemic and gun violence. In this first part of Forgotten Children, we look at efforts to help children grieving from the loss of parents to gun violence.
‘The Fear Cut Through My Family’: Alarm Over Trump’s Return Sparks Deep Anxiety Among Chicago Immigrants
In the weeks before the election, fear and anxiety began to mount. Now mental health advocates and allies are getting ready to confront a new reality.
He attempted suicide. Peoria Jail restrained him in a chair for five days.
Peoria County Jail in Illinois has kept mentally ill charges in restraint chairs far past industry recommendations.
A mentally ill man was restrained in a chair for 68 hours at Franklin County Jail, violating policies, report says
The United Nations has declared that chair restraints are torture. But Illinois jails use them routinely, according to this story from the Illinois Answers Project.
Troubled Teen Industry Is ‘Taxpayer-Funded Child Abuse,’ Senate Report and Paris Hilton Say. Where Are the Government Regulators?
Physical abuse, rape, and emotional trauma is endemic to psychiatric residential treatment centers for kids and youth nationwide.
One Year Later: Family Demands Answers for Educator Shot to Death During Mental Health Crisis
One year after being shot in his own building during a mental health crisis, the family of Abnerd Joseph still waits for answers: Why has the man who shot him not been charged?
Expiring Federal Funds Threaten Chicago’s Alternative Crisis Response Effort
Chicago will need to dig deep to sustain and expand the CARE program, but state funds could offer hope.
18 Seconds, 16 Shots: A Crisis Veers Into Tragedy
Chicago police used force to respond to mental health crises more than 400 times in 2024.
Shadow Arrests: When a Call for Help Turns Into Involuntary Commitment
Thousands in crisis are being involuntarily hospitalized despite little evidence of effectiveness.
Crisis Response In Turmoil: Chicago’s CARE Program at a Tipping Point
Chicago’s mental health crisis teams were meant to replace police with clinicians. Bureaucratic dysfunction and fading federal support now threaten their survival.
Deadly Denials: When Insurers Fail to Cover Treatment for Eating Disorders, People Suffer. Sometimes They Die.
A four-part investigative series supported by the Pulitzer Center.
‘We’re Not Serving Our Rural Communities’: One Eating Disorder Specialist for 250,000 People
For people in rural America, finding treatment for eating disorders is nearly impossible. Nearly 20% of patients live in states with no residential treatment in their state.
Eating Disorders: They Don’t Just Happen to Skinny, White, Affluent Girls
For years, the media image of an anorexic youth was an emaciated white female teen. The stereotype was so pervasive that eating disorder specialists have an acronym for it: SWAG, or skinny, white, affluent girl.
The Deadly Cost of Eating Disorders: How Health Insurers Delay, Restrict and Deny Care
Eating disorders are America's deadliest mental health condition. For people struggling to get care, health insurers create some of the most formidable hurdles.
Social Worker or AR-15? Portland Struggles Over How to Respond to People in Mental Health CrisisÂ
As Portland weighs expansion of an alternative crisis-response program, new data from a MindSite News-Medill investigation shows police often deploy force on residents who are unhoused or grappling with mental illness.
Zombies No More: Former Foster Youth Reflect on Their Medicated Childhoods – and New Ways They HealÂ
Four former foster youth, now adults, talk about how psychiatric medications impacted their childhoods, and how they since have healed.
Monitoring Psych Meds for California Foster Youth: ‘It’s the Job of All Who Are Involved’
Prescribing to foster youth of psychiatric medications has fallen since judges were tasked with oversight. Still, says one, "constant vigilance" is needed.
‘All I Did Was Sleep’: Despite Years of Damning Reports, States Fail to Rein in Psych Meds for Foster Youth
An investigation by The Imprint reveals overmedication and spotty enforcement of federal requirements that child welfare agencies monitor psychiatric prescriptions for foster youth.
Inside America’s Mental Health Agency: Mass Firings and Work Stoppages Sap Morale, Impede Mission
The agency tasked with leading the fight to ease the country’s mental health and addiction emergencies is going through an existential crisis. About 100 of its 900 workers have been fired and those that remain are frightened and demoralized. Communications with agencies funded by SAMHSA has slowed or halted. "Nobody feels safe," one employee said.
Opioid Orphans: Grandparents Struggle to Raise Children Left Behind
From 2011 to 2021, more than 300,000 children lost a parent to fatal drug overdoses. Despite billions set aside in opioid settlement funds, grandparents who have stepped up to raise those children get very little support.
COVID Stole a Parent from Over 200,000 Children. Indian Country Lost the Most
COVID was not an equal-opportunity destroyer. American Indian and Alaska Native children were orphaned at three times the rate of white children, and Black children at double the rate. Without support, children who lose a parent or caregiver are at risk of developing lasting problems with depression, lower academic achievement, and behavioral issues.
Police Often Use Force on Black People in Response to 911 Mental Health Calls
Accounts of people in mental health crisis killed by police have gained wide public attention. Far less known are cases of non-fatal force. A two-year investigation identified thousands of incidents in which people in crisis had tasers, batons and other forms of less-than-fatal force used against them.
‘Bereavement Deserts’: Amid a Rise in Parental Deaths, Grief in Children Is Often Overlooked
Children who experienced the death of a parent due to Covid, gun violence and opioid overdoses often fail to get counted or served.
Forgotten Children: The Unseen Victims of Gun Violence Are the Children Left Behind
Parental death has been rising in the U.S. due to COVID-19, the overdose epidemic and gun violence. In this first part of Forgotten Children, we look at efforts to help children grieving from the loss of parents to gun violence.
‘The Fear Cut Through My Family’: Alarm Over Trump’s Return Sparks Deep Anxiety Among Chicago Immigrants
In the weeks before the election, fear and anxiety began to mount. Now mental health advocates and allies are getting ready to confront a new reality.
He attempted suicide. Peoria Jail restrained him in a chair for five days.
Peoria County Jail in Illinois has kept mentally ill charges in restraint chairs far past industry recommendations.
A mentally ill man was restrained in a chair for 68 hours at Franklin County Jail, violating policies, report says
The United Nations has declared that chair restraints are torture. But Illinois jails use them routinely, according to this story from the Illinois Answers Project.
Troubled Teen Industry Is ‘Taxpayer-Funded Child Abuse,’ Senate Report and Paris Hilton Say. Where Are the Government Regulators?
Physical abuse, rape, and emotional trauma is endemic to psychiatric residential treatment centers for kids and youth nationwide.
One Year Later: Family Demands Answers for Educator Shot to Death During Mental Health Crisis
One year after being shot in his own building during a mental health crisis, the family of Abnerd Joseph still waits for answers: Why has the man who shot him not been charged?
