California's Surgeon General wants to give teachers tools to better support students grappling with Adverse Childhood Experiences – things like abuse, neglect, substance abuse in the home or community or domestic violence. These stressful events are a leading cause of self-sabotaging behavior at school, such as chronic absenteeism or fighting.
The CARE courts are coming soon to several California counties. Many families hope it will provide help for their loved ones who struggle with mental illness. County officials are trying to manage expectations.
A federal court case that initially produced a landmark ruling in favor of mental health patients against the nation’s largest health insurer – only to be gutted on appeal – moved back in the plaintiffs’ favor this week.
Residential treatment programs have become a key plank of New York state's response to addiction and mental illness, and one that is slated to expand. But New York Focus has found that residents of these programs are subject to the whims of providers and landlords – and subject to eviction.
A proposal from Gov. Gavin Newsom to overhaul the state’s behavioral and mental health system is likely to take nearly $720 million away from services provided by county governments annually, according to a new analysis.
California made it easier to call for help a year ago when it launched a simplified mental health crisis hotline: Dial three digits — 988 — and you can get in touch with a counselor immediately. Since then, crisis centers have received more than 280,000 calls. That’s twice as many as any other state, signaling to mental health advocates that the service was badly needed.
The Biden administration yesterday announced new, tougher rules aimed at pushing health insurers to comply with a 15-year-old federal law requiring them to cover mental health services on par with treatment for physical health.
What's behind this uptick, and more importantly, what would it take to change it?
Many people are caught in a vicious cycle: They are deemed 'restored' to competency, sent back to jail, and destabilize again.
"I would not dare to keep my dog in these conditions for fear of my dog dying." -Dr. Susi Vassallo, medical expert
The new bill means an independent medical review program would automatically review the case of anyone 26 and younger who was denied mental health treatment.
Two-thirds of California voters want mental health professionals involved in mental health crisis response, while police favor proposals that supplement the current system rather than supplant it.
David Oh, who is running for mayor of Philadelphia, takes a mental health lens toward violence prevention.
The CalAIM rollout is putting invaluable peer-based mental health services for low-income Californians in jeopardy.
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 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.
"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. All these link to mental health, either directly, like overdoses, or indirectly. We need to start looking at mental health as a cross-cutting issue that often manifests in conditions or causes of death we would otherwise not refer to as mental health. We have to see it almost in the groundwater."
Websites for mental health crisis resources across the country – which promise anonymity for visitors – have been quietly sending sensitive visitor data to Facebook, The Markup has found.
Eleven startup companies graduated form a 10-week accelerator program – and each got a $100,000 investment from One Mind, a nonprofit working to develop better treatments for mental illnesses. The goal is to launch a new set of companies that can address some of the most urgent unmet needs in mental health.
War isn’t only about bombs, bullets and deaths on the battlefield. It's also about people away from the fighting, struggling to maintain a modicum of normalcy and hope in their daily lives. In this three-part series, we learn about the lives of people living away from the front line and we hear from a Ukrainian psychologist about the effect the war is having on people's mental health and the strategies they can take to protect themselves.
Almost a year after the launch of the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline, only 13% of U.S. residents know the line exists and what it’s for – and many of those who do know are afraid that calling it will summon the police, according to a new survey.
Summer Oriyavong first heard the ringing bells and tapping sounds in her head when she was in middle school. Whispering voices and shadowy visions soon followed. When she ran out of her classroom in terror one day, her teachers and parents realized she needed help they couldn’t provide. The 16-year-old became the fortunate beneficiary of mental health care from an early psychosis program. But such programs only serve about one in 10 of the adolescents and young adults who need them.
When the federal COVID-19 Public Health Emergency comes to an end May 11, people will be able to continue getting prescriptions for drugs that treat ADHD, opioid use disorder and other conditions from medical providers via telehealth for as many as 18 more months.
Trauma, abuse, and mental health problems can make people more vulnerable to violent extremism. Here’s how a movement founded in part by former white supremacists is helping extricate Americans from violent hate groups.
Employees at the Jackson County Jail in Indiana locked a man having a psychotic episode in solitary confinement for three weeks – without care or toilet access – until he died of malnutrition. Surveillance footage over 21 days shows him screaming; rocking back and forth and licking the walls.
