The Department of Veterans Affairs found Black veterans may be more likely to develop post-traumatic stress disorder than their White counterparts. However, an internal VA report shows Black veterans were more often denied benefits for PTSD.
Mental Health
With Mayor Brandon Johnson vowing to reopen the city’s shuttered mental health clinics, some advocates are looking at the administration to reinvigorate and reimagine the city’s approach to providing mental health services.
“We are going to reopen the mental health clinics,” Mayor-elect Brandon Johnson said in an interview with WTTW News, putting it first in a list of his top priorities.
Over the first four months and six days of this year, 115 people have died in 22 mass killings — an average of one mass killing a week. That includes the bloodshed Saturday at a Dallas-area mall where eight people were fatally shot.
Researchers studied 1,200 elementary and middle school CPS students over the last four years and found that Latino students are up to twice as likely to be at risk for depression and anxiety.
A recent Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report showed almost 60% of U.S. girls reported persistent sadness and hopelessness. Rates are up in boys, too, but about half as many are affected. Adults have theories about what is going on, but what do teens themselves say?
A report examining the capacity and condition of Illinois’ response to behavioral health in young people has been in the works for nearly a year. It sketches avenues to help families understand mental illness, then make it easier for them to get required care without wrangling among disparate state agencies.
Mental health professionals are continuing to bridge the gap on mental health care in Latino communities by offering more culturally competent care and normalizing conversations about mental health.
On Thursday, the office of Pennsylvania Sen. John Fetterman, a Democrat who was elected to the Senate after a bruising campaign during which he suffered a stroke, announced he had checked himself into the hospital for clinical depression.
On Bumble, users may enter their height, occupation and political alignment. Tinder lets users list their Zodiac sign, alma mater and link a music app to show off their favorite artists. But for those dealing with mental illness, there’s no box to check to help disclose the ongoing struggles present in their lives.
ER staffers may be able to stabilize a child in a mental health care crisis, but research has shown that timely follow-up with a provider is key to their success long-term. Without the proper follow-up, children too often end up back in the ER.
An analysis by The Associated Press, Stanford University’s Big Local News project and Stanford education professor Thomas Dee found an estimated 240,000 students in 21 states whose absences could not be accounted for. These students didn’t move out of state, and they didn’t sign up for private school or home-school, according to publicly available data.
The COVID-19 pandemic has brought mental health issues to the fore. But as more people have been willing to acknowledge their struggles, the provision of mental health services has become a major challenge.
Push to Reopen Public Mental Health Clinics Closed 11 Years Ago Defines Another Chicago Mayor’s Race
A majority of candidates hoping to oust Mayor Lori Lightfoot from City Hall’s fifth floor office have pledged to reopen public mental health clinics. Lightfoot said her network of nonprofit Trauma-Informed Centers of Care provide better and more accessible service.
Since transitioning to a new line, in the past six months, about 2.1 million calls, texts and chats to the new 988 number have been routed to a response center and, of those, around 89% were answered by a counselor, according to a CNN analysis of data from SAMHSA, which oversees 988.
Organizations across the city are working to provide more mental health services to Black and Latino Chicagoans. Part of that effort involves growing a more diverse pool of therapists.
