Investigations
Cowgirl Boots, Anxious Nights: Transgender Youth and Families Grapple with Hostile Legislation – and Sky-High Rates of Mental Illness
It started with a pair of cowgirl boots – pink and blue with floral embroidery. Grandpa B. offered to take his grandchild Marty shopping for boots. At the store, which sells Texas-style western wear, 5-year-old Marty checked out the offerings and decided that the coolest by far was that special pair…
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Overdose Deaths Now Top 100,000 a Year. Why Do So Few People Addicted to Opioids Get Treatment that Could Save Them?
The opioid crisis that killed a record 108,000 Americans last year is by now a well-known tragedy. Yet many of these deaths are preventable with the use of medications like buprenorphine. Trouble is only a small fraction of the people in the U.S. addicted to opioids have access to these medications.
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‘I Can’t Have a Child In This Climate’
The Supreme Court’s ruling on abortion greenlights the criminalization of pregnancy.
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With Mental Health Concerns Often Ignored, Covid Long-Haulers Band Together for Research, Support
Many long COVID patients have struggled with mental illness – and felt their symptoms and needs dismissed. As a result, some “long-haulers” have become advocates and researchers, forming collaboratives to gather data and hunt for treatments. They’ve been joined by sympathetic specialists known as long COVID clinicians, who have set up…
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When Gayness was a Crime and a Mental Illness: One Man’s Journey from Involuntary Confinement to Pride
This is the story of Gene Ampon, a gay California teen who was arrested in the 1960s and sent to a psychiatric hospital to be “cured” of homosexuality — and the movement to pride and resilience that helped save him.
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Trial by Fire
California’s firefighters describe a broken and depleted fire service suffering a hidden, smoldering crisis. Across the state, Cal Fire crews that fight wildfires opened up to tell CalMatters their heart-wrenching stories — exhaustion on the firelines, weeks on duty without respite, suicidal thoughts, never-ending trauma and the terror and pain of…
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Ryan’s story: A hard-charging California firefighter loses his last battle to suicide
Cal Fire Captain Ryan Mitchell was the embodiment of the heroic archetype: 6–foot-4, strong and stoic, brave in the face of danger, the last person anyone expected to take his own life. Until he did.
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Back from the brink: A fire captain’s journey from terror to trauma to recovery — and then more terror
“I felt trapped.” For months, a firefighter kept reliving her colleagues’ screams when a Mendocino County wildfire encircled them. On the day she planned to take her life, she got help instead — just in time. (This article, the third in a four-part series, was first published by CalMatters.org. Republished with…
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Slow burn: Cal Fire has failed to fight PTSD, heavy workloads
California’s firefighting agency has been slow to react to a mounting mental health crisis within its ranks as firefighters around the state say Cal Fire has failed to get them what they need — including a sustainable workload, easier access to workers’ comp benefits and more counselors.
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