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August 2016 - Links to additional articles, videos, and information
from around the nation
NPR: Teen Bullies And Their Victims Both Face A Higher Risk Of Suicide
Bullying and cyberbullying are major risk factors for teen suicide. And both the bullies and their victims are at risk. That's according to a report from the American Academy of Pediatrics that urges pediatricians and family doctors to routinely screen teenagers for suicide risks. "Pediatricians need to be aware of the problem overall," says Benjamin Shain, a child and adolescent psychiatrist and lead author of the report published online Monday in the journal Pediatrics. "They should be screening for things like mood disorders, substance abuse as well as bullying." (Kodjak, 6/28)
Newnan Times-Herald: Certificate Of Need Approved For Newnan Behavioral Hospital
A company seeking to open a mental hospital in Newnan announced to supporters Monday that it had won approval from the state. In an email sent out to supporters of the facility, Larisa Klein, vice president of US HealthVest, confirmed last week’s approval and thanked supporters who sent out over 150 letters of support for the proposed Newnan Behavioral Hospital. "Each of the letters supporting this hospital were compelling, and the show of support was strongly recognized by the state of Georgia,” Klein said. “We could not have done this without each of you." (Neely, 6/28)
What People with Mental Illness Can Learn from “Finding Dory”
The Boston Globe: The Desperate And The Dead: Families In Fear
Fifty years ago, Lee Chiero might have been treated — and locked away — in one of the public psychiatric hospitals that once dotted Massachusetts. Today, nearly all of those institutions have been bulldozed or boarded up — and many had to be, having evolved into inhumane asylums for people who are, in the great majority, no threat to anyone. But the hospitals were not replaced with anything resembling a coherent care system, leaving thousands of people with serious mental illness to navigate a fragmented network of community services that puts an extraordinary burden on them to find help and to make sure they continue getting it. (Michael Rezendes, Jenna Russell, Scott Helman, Maria Cramer and Todd Wallack, 6/23)
The Des Moines Register: Republican Remedy For Health Law Disappoints
In the six years since the Affordable Care Act became law, Republicans in the U.S. House have voted dozens of times to repeal or dismantle it. Not once have they voted on legislation to replace it. Last week party leaders finally unveiled a 37-page blueprint of their alternative reforms. Written by a task force appointed by House Speaker Paul Ryan, the proposal is the fifth installment in a six-part “better way” agenda being rolled out by Republicans. It certainly does chart a new direction on health care for the country: Going backwards. The goal seems to be returning to a time when universal access to comprehensive health insurance didn’t exist. (6/29)
NPR: For Centuries, A Small Town Has Embraced Strangers With Mental Illness
At the center of Geel, a charming Belgian town less than an hour's drive from of Antwerp, is a church dedicated to Dymphna, a saint believed to have the power to cure mental disorders. It's a medieval church with stone arches, spires and a half-built bell tower, and it has inspired an unusual centuries-old practice: For over 700 years, residents of Geel have been accepting people with mental disorders, often very severe mental disorders, into their homes and caring for them. It isn't meant to be a treatment or therapy. The people are not called patients, but guests or boarders. They go to Geel and join households to share a life with people who can watch over them. Today, there are about 250 boarders in Geel. (7/1)
Washington Post supports passage of HF 2646
Mental Health and Civil Liberties: Unwell and Untouchable
Third Patient Dies After Transfer from Clarinda MHI
The Washington Post: Nation’s Psychiatric Bed Count Falls To Record Low
The number of psychiatric beds in state hospitals has dropped to a historic low, and nearly half of the beds that are available are filled with patients from the criminal justice system. Both statistics, reported in a new national study, reflect the sweeping changes that have taken place in the half-century since the United States began deinstitutionalizing mental illness in favor of outpatient treatment. But the promise of that shift was never fulfilled, and experts and advocates say the result is seen even today in the increasing ranks of homeless and incarcerated Americans suffering from serious mental conditions. (Beachum, 7/1)
Chicago Tribune: For-Profit Psychiatric Care Firm Says It's Filling Gap In Chicago Area
The shortage of beds comes as a complex mix of social and legal forces is driving up demand for mental health services. There is much less stigma today in seeking treatment for a mental problem. Changing attitudes have also led to regulations establishing parity in insurance coverage for treatment of behavioral and physical health. (Sachdev, 7/1)
Stat: Some Hospitals Resist New Fresh Air Rules For Psychiatric Patients
Friday, the Massachusetts Department of Mental Health issued new “Fresh Air” rules for psychiatric patients across the state. ... The rules require hospitals to grant mental health patients daily access to the outdoors. But up to 20 hospitals, including Massachusetts General, plan to seek waivers to the new rules, citing a lack of space. Those hospitals represent about one-third of psychiatric facilities statewide. The rules present a tug-of-war over patients’ rights, doctors’ judgment, and the logistical demands of running a hospital in an urban environment. (Bailey, 7/5)
The Associated Press: Texas Accused Of Ignoring Mentally Disabled In Nursing Homes
It took more than 40 years for Leonard Barefield to finally get to choose where he lived. The intellectually-disabled Texas native moved to a group home in Lubbock in September after he had first lived in near slavery conditions for more than three decades in a squalid house in Iowa and worked at a turkey processing plant there for 41 cents an hour. After being freed by social workers from that situation, he was sent in 2008 to a nursing home in Midland, Texas. His plight is not uncommon in Texas, where people with such disabilities are routinely warehoused in nursing homes. (7/3)
San Francisco Chronicle: $2 Billion To Go To Housing Mentally Ill Homeless People
Gov. Jerry Brown signed a bill Friday allowing the state to use $2 billion in bond money to house and treat mentally ill Californians who are homeless. The bipartisan bill, called “No Place Like Home,” will send counties bond money from future Proposition 63 mental-health revenues to create affordable-housing programs for mentally ill homeless people. Prop. 63, which is also known as the Mental Health Services Act, passed in 2004 and has raised more than $13 billion through a 1 percent income tax on residents who earn more than $1 million a year. (Gutierrez, 7/1)
The Hill: A Turning Point For Patients With Mental Illness
When it comes to providing care for individuals living with serious mental illnesses, we are caught in a vicious cycle. Extreme events bring about calls for change, but enthusiasm and accountability quickly wane. Initiatives begin, but rarely succeed. As a report from the National Alliance on Mental Illness noted, funding for mental illness increased after the Sandy Hook Elementary School shootings, but funding decreased in many states the following year. We can and should do better. (Andrew Sperling, 7/1)
The Des Moines Register: Why Are Jails Mental Health Treatment Centers Of Last Resort?
The state of mental health services in Iowa, especially as it relates to jails and prisons, has been in the news recently. There is no question the current mental health system needs improvement. We want Iowans to know there are many of us working hard, collectively and independently, to make that happen. (Craig Matzke, Teresa Bomhoff and Jessica Peckover 7/3)
Medicaid plans can now pay mental health institutions. Most won't until 2017
A policy that lifts a 50-year ban on Medicaid pay for mental health institutions kicked in Tuesday, but it may be months before many enrollees can take advantage of the new coverage. Read More
Wyoming Public Radio: When I Was Diagnosed With Bipolar Disorder, People Thought I Was Cursed
When I was diagnosed with bipolar disorder in Nairobi, Kenya, in 2008, at the age of 24, all I wanted to know was whether I would be all right. It was the first time I had ever heard about the condition, and many people around me simply believed that I had been cursed. Even though my parents sought medical help, the psychiatrist who diagnosed me did not give any information about the illness, the side effects of the medication prescribed for me, or the manic and depressive bouts that I could expect. (Wafula, 7/5)
Suicide Prevention: An Emerging Priority for Health Care
Newly formed Providence St. Joseph Health invests $100 million in mental health Providence St. Joseph Health, the system newly formed through the merger of Providence Health & Services and St. Joseph Health System, aims to improve awareness, diagnosis and treatment of mental illness. Maureen Bisognano will advise the organization on its efforts. Read More
This is One Reason It’s So Hard to Find a Psychiatrist
House Passes Mental Health Bill
Rap Pioneer DMC Explains How a Sara McLachlan Song Helped Him Stave Off Suicide
Distraught People, Deadly Results
The Tennessean: TennCare Expansion Plan Raises Mental Health Issues
The TennCare expansion proposal to offer access to coverage to those who suffer from mental health or substance abuse disorders tackles a historically underserved population — but it also confronts serious challenges that come with providing behavioral health care in Tennessee. (Fletcher, 7/7)
bp Magazine (Bipolar Disorder)
This Month's Article:
Richard Dreyfuss—
Brash, Bold & Proudly Bipolar
Click Here for Content & Images:
bphope.com/partners-this-month/
esperanza (Depression & Anxiety)
This Month's Article:
Mom to Mom: 5 Ways to Get
Through Depression and Guilt
Click Here for Content & Images:
hopetocope.com/partners-this-month/
The Tennessean: Mental Health Push Complicates TennCare Expansion
The TennCare expansion proposal to offer access to coverage to those who suffer from mental health or substance abuse disorders tackles a historically underserved population — but it also confronts serious challenges that come with providing behavioral health care in Tennessee. (Fletcher, 7/8)
In other news, a provision in New Hampshire's Medicaid expansion law allows the state to turn over information to the FBI's gun-buyer background check system—
New Hampshire Union Leader: AG: Medicaid Expansion Law Clamps Down On Gun Purchases By Mentally Ill
New Hampshire will start turning over the names of dangerously mentally ill people to the FBI’s gun-buyer background check system, thanks to a little-noticed provision in the state’s Medicaid expansion law, state officials said Friday. The provision, which went into effect on April 6, allows the state to disclose the names to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System, Attorney General Joseph Foster said in a letter sent Friday to Linda Dalianis, the chief justice of the state Supreme Court. (Hayward, 7/8)
Wyoming Public Radio: Court Ordered Mental Health Placements Are Costing Millions
Wyoming’s Title 25 program is $13 million dollars over budget and a group of legislators and others were told this week that reforms and policy changes are needed to slow down that spending. Title 25 covers court ordered hospitalizations for mental health and substance abuse patients. The state hospital doesn’t have enough beds to house those who need services, so the state has to pay private providers for that care. (Beck, 7/8)
The Des Moines Register: Union: In-Home Care Workers Go Weeks With No Pay
Many Iowans who are supposed to be paid by the state for providing in-home care for disabled people have gone for weeks or months without pay because of the state’s shift to private management of its Medicaid program, the state workers’ union alleged Friday....The dispute involves Iowans who work in a program that lets people with disabilities or long-term illnesses choose someone to provide services such as bathing, medication and feeding assistance in their homes. (Leys, 7/8)
The Boston Globe: Social Darwinism For The Mentally Ill
David Hill's problem wasn’t just that he had suicidal thoughts. The 23-year-old Eastham resident also needed more support than his family could wrangle for him in a state where mental health care hospital beds are hard to come by. Hill’s case figures prominently in the Globe Spotlight Team’s latest investigation, which shows how, as Massachusetts dismantled its psychiatric hospital system over a half-century, patients and their loved ones were left without adequate treatment options. Families like the Hills face a creeping new social Darwinism. Mentally ill citizens and their long-suffering relatives have to fend for themselves. (Dante Ramos, 7/10)
New Hampshire Union Leader: Mobile Mental Health Unit Coming To Manchester
A mobile mental health unit that was to open in Manchester in July is now on track for October, according to the winning vendor for the project, the Mental Health Center of Greater Manchester...The organization hopes to build office space and two apartments for the program in the former Hoitt’s Furniture building on Wilson Street, which already provides space for Families in Transition homeless services and Hope for New Hampshire Recovery addiction services. (Solomon, 7/11)
Sacramento Bee: Congress Steps Toward Helping Mentally Ill People
In an era when bipartisanship is rare, the U.S. House of Representatives has taken a step toward providing more care and treatment of severely mentally ill people. The U.S. Senate, including California Democrats Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer, should take a cue from the House and approve HR 2646, the Helping Families in Mental Health Crisis Act. The bill, introduced after the slaughter at Sandy Hook Elementary School in 2012, passed the House by a vote of 422-2 – not a typo. (7/11)
Richard Cho and Dr. Fred Osher: In San Francisco and Beyond, Homeless Crisis Should Not Derail Progress on Mental Illness
‘Nothing About Us Without Us’: People Affected by Mental Illness Share Their Stories
Opioid Bill Passes House by Vote of 407-5
Modern Healthcare—July 8 | National
Mental Health Reform Bill Overwhelmingly Clears House of Representatives
Time—July 6 | National
Baltimore Takes a Wider View of Public Health
Governing—July 1 | Maryland
Expanding Treatment in Correctional Facilities Can Save Lives and Reduce Recidivism
The White House—June 29 | National
Mental Health Courts Seek Better Outcomes
Albany Herald—June 27 | Georgia
County to Launch Mental Health Court
Courier of Montgomery County—June 21 | Texas
Is a Return to Old-School Policing Part of the Formula to Make Cleveland Safer?
Cleveland.com—June 8 | Ohio
Untangling Gun Violence from Mental Illness
The Atlantic—June 7 | National
An All-In Response to the Opioid Crisis
Pew Charitable Trusts—June 6 | National
Obama calls for revisiting the public option
President Barack Obama is laying out a blueprint for addressing unsolved problems with his signature health law, including a renewed call for a "public option" to let Americans buy insurance from the government. Read More
New York sues jail's medical provider, claims inadequate care
The state's attorney general claims in a lawsuit that a medical provider has failed to provide proper services to inmates in a suburban New York City jail, where 12 have died in the past five years, including four since March. Read More
Politico: Obamacare And Mental Health: An Unfinished Story
America’s mental health system is having a breakdown. Suicide rates are at a record high; drug addiction is epidemic. There aren’t enough therapists, particularly not enough who accept insurance. And too often the most vulnerable and severely ill end up on the streets, or fill our prisons and jails. The Affordable Care Act was never meant to mend every crack in the system. It did zero in on the insurance side of reform — but there’s still a lot of heartbreak. (Ehley, 7/13)
Stat: A Politician Dismissed Treatment As The Answer To Opioids. Now He See Addiction As A Disease
Frank Guinta was the kind of mayor who once walked into a seedy nightclub here wearing a bulletproof vest to show he was tough on crime. When he ran for Congress a third time and won his second term in 2014, he flatly dismissed treatment as the answer to the opioid epidemic in the Granite State. Instead, he wanted to get rid of the drug dealers. ... The Republican congressman now believes drug addiction is a disease, a lesson learned in the midst of a crisis that claimed more than 400 lives last year alone in New Hampshire. (Scott, 7/13)