Steve Hamerdinger says living as a deaf person is an ongoing, exhausting battle for respect and to be understood. When he was young, his parents didn’t permit him to learn sign language. “They didn’t allow me to interact with deaf people,” he says. It wasn’t until he dropped out of
Ebony Chambers worked in mental health for years before her daughter experienced her first suicide attempt, and suddenly the entire family was thrust into crisis. “People often forget that families with children in crisis are in crisis themselves,” she points out. Navigating the Sacramento behavioral health system, Chambers quickly found
Tonja Myles has been in substance use recovery for over three decades, giving her a unique lens to provide Louisiana legislators feedback on impending bills and existing policy. She’s used her expertise to give voice to people who’ve faced chronic barriers and have been marginalized by the very systems designed
With 988 going “live” on July 16, there's been much discussion on capacity and funding. Behavioral health leaders have pointed out that supporting a robust crisis system will take a braided approach, including federal grants and sustainability through state telecom fees, Medicaid, Medicare, and private commercial insurers. However, while 988
Michele LeCloux believes 988 has the potential to decrease the stigma associated with mental health. “I’m excited for 988 and to see how it changes the general perception of mental health,” she says. LeCloux is the crisis services coordinator at the Milwaukee County Department of Health and Human Services Behavioral
In January 2020, a point-in-time count in the United States revealed homelessness continues to be a public health emergency. There were 580,466 people experiencing homelessness on a single night, a 2.2% percent jump from the previous year. Nearly 40% were unsheltered and living in abandoned buildings, cars, encampments, parks, or
Over the past two decades, Dr. Madelyn Gould has evaluated the SAMHSA-funded National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, studying whether the crisis intervention service significantly decreases suicide risk, despair, and hopelessness. (It does.) She’s a professor of epidemiology in Columbia University’s psychiatry department and a research scientist at the New York State
When Paul Galdys sat down to write the National Guidelines for Behavioral Health Crisis Care, there was a clear, simple objective: advancing an emergency response system for mental health, substance use, and suicidal crises. That was the directive of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. “Communities don’t need
There’s a fundamental change underway, where accessible, therapeutic, and community-based response to behavioral health crises is gaining recognition as a distinct and essential community service. No longer satisfied with choosing between criminalization and medicalization, nationwide, there’s momentum to define behavioral health crisis response on its own terms. On July 16,
Between the hours of 6 am and 10 pm, seven days a week, behavioral health call takers sit alongside 911 call takers at the Houston Office of Emergency Management, ready to meet the mental health crisis needs of Harris County’s 4.1 million people. The first of its kind in the
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