“The price paid is not just in elevated healthcare spend on mental health crisis care but also in terms of public safety, the cost of law enforcement engaged in addressing mental health crises, the expense of incarceration and the impact on quality of life for individuals in the community.” This descriptor
When Lisa St. George was an 18-year-old in Lansing, Michigan, she mustered the courage to tell her psychiatrist she felt she didn’t deserve to live. The feelings were so strong they frightened her. Her thoughts of suicide grew emboldened, “sitting on my shoulder and talking in my ear.” Taking a deep
Victor Armstrong, MSW, says, as it exists now, the behavioral health system is inherently flawed for African Americans, pointing out that treatment modalities and the way they’re framed “don’t take into account the nuances of race, culture, or ethnicity.” Armstrong, who is the director of the North Carolina Division for
Psychologist Stephanie Woodard, senior advisor on behavioral health at Nevada DHHS, says the coronavirus pandemic’s universality has been profound. “Whether that’s directly by the illness or its effects,” says Dr. Woodard, “or indirectly through increased stressors, isolation, job loss, or school closures.” It has forced people to adapt rapidly to
Matthew L. Goldman, M.D., M.S., medical director of Comprehensive Crisis Services at the San Francisco Department of Public Health, says communities need to buckle down now to ensure that 988, the three-digit number the FCC designated to mirror 911 for mental health and suicide crises, fulfills its potential when it
When an ambulance is called to the scene of a crisis in the United States, no matter the type, there are a limited number of places it can go next. Emergency ground ambulance services can transport to a hospital, skilled nursing facility, or a dialysis center. More often than not,
Elijah McClain was walking home from a convenience store with iced tea when someone called 911, telling the operator he was wearing a ski mask and had his hands up. “He looks sketchy,” said the caller. When asked for a description, the caller said he thought he was a Black
Psychiatrist Rochelle Head-Dunham, M.D., executive and medical director for the Metropolitan Human Services District in New Orleans, says we’ve reached a point in American history where the collision of a viral pandemic and systemic racism has unveiled unequivocal racial disparities. Unlike COVID-19, racism, and how it infects all systems, is
CW Tillman has a 1 ½ inch semicolon tattooed on his wrist. Unless he wears a long sleeve shirt, it’s visible. People who’ve had a suicide attempt know what the symbol means—an attempt can be a pause in a person’s story, but it’s not the end of the sentence. He
Kevin Huckshorn, Ph.D. MSN, RN, CADC, was vacationing on Sanibel Island in 1992 when she received a call from her boss that she needed to go to Quail Ridge in South Miami, Florida, which, two days prior, had been slammed by Hurricane Andrew. She hopped in the car and headed
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