While Washington’s system has been strained for years, state officials and disability rights advocates say it effectively ground to a halt during the pandemic. Continue Reading Stuck In Jail, Waiting For Psych Bed: How Read More
Under Washington's new Mental Health Sentencing Alternative, judges will have the option to sentence a person to community supervision and treatment in lieu of prison. Continue Reading Alternative To Prison Will Be Read More
The 500-student Lapwai School District takes an all-bases-covered approach to student well-being, including leveraging partnerships with the Nez Perce tribe and local community to address youth mental health. The small North Idaho district is among only nine rural districts in the state to provide four key behavioral health supports for all of its students, according to an Read More
In recent months, many suicidal children have been showing up in hospital emergency departments, and more kids are needing in-patient care after serious suicide attempts. "Across the country, we're hearing that there are increased numbers of serious suicidal attempts and suicidal deaths," says Dr. Susan Duffy, a professor of pediatrics and emergency medicine at Brown Read More
As 2020 came to a close, we asked artists and authors about the songs that helped them survive a strange and devastating year. We also posed that question to you, and compiled a playlist of 101 songs that you played over and over again this year. Some songs offered an escape. Some infused joy and despair. Read More
As we find ourselves in the coldest, darkest days of the year during the worst-case surge yet, it can feel like a herculean task just to take a daily walk around the block. Some studies found that even little five-minute outdoor excursions can benefit our health — but 20 to 60 minutes is even better. Read More
It stands to reason that all the stress, anxiety and isolation of the pandemic could lead more people to take their own lives. But newly obtained data for Washington and Oregon show this is one bad thing that 2020 has not delivered. Public health agencies and suicide prevention groups have been keeping an eye out since spring for a possible rise in suicides. Read More
A rule going into effect in the new year will allow only trained and certified dogs to accompany people with disabilities on commercial airline flights. Continue Reading No More Emotional Support Peacocks As Feds Crack Down On Read More
Catherine Perusse is a counselor in Sandpoint, Idaho, who knows first-hand about the devastation of suicide: Two of her sons died of self-inflected death six years apart. In this episode of StoryCorps Northwest, Catherine and her daughter, Ali Bretthauer of Moscow, Idaho, share how the deaths changed their lives. Read More
The British author writes beautifully of her own recent bout with a personal winter, a period when she felt low and overwhelmed — and aims to help others to embrace their winters. Continue Reading BOOK REVIEW: ‘Wintering,’ Read More
Tens of thousands of Americans die every year from gun suicide, and some of hardest-hit areas spend the least on prevention. In the Idaho Panhandle, some small-town residents are stepping in where the government has failed. Read More
Skagit County Sheriff's Office Detective Anne Weed broached the idea for a partnership months before the killing of George Floyd by Minneapolis police ignited the national debate about reform. Weed said two existing mental health clinicians from Compass Health are now being "embedded" with regular patrol deputies. They get assigned the 911 calls involving people acting out Read More
The disruption in the illegal opioid trade had varying impacts around the country. As stay-at-home orders lift, that creates different risks of overdose that public health is trying to manage. Continue Reading Changes In Opioid Supply Read More
Nearly a year-and-a-half after a series of vicious patient-on-staff attacks, including one that cost a nurse part of her ear, Western State Hospital is poised to open a new unit to treat its 10 most violence-prone patients. Read More
Depression symptoms dropped significantly in a group of young adults who ate a Mediterranean-style diet for three weeks. It's the latest study to show that food can influence mental health. Continue Reading Study: Changing Diet Can Help Boost Read More
The Trump administration is trying to legalize indefinite detention of migrant families. But detention can be emotionally crushing for kids, leading to long-term mental health problems like PTSD. Continue Reading Lengthy Read More
The Developmental Disabilities Administration (DDA) announced the contract terminations Tuesday, the same day the state placed Aacres Washington LLC (Spokane) and Aacres Washington LLC (Spokane County #2) on provisional certification status “based on serious non-compliance with the law and regulations.” Read More
Strong majorities of Americans from across the political spectrum support laws that allow family members or law enforcement to petition a judge to temporarily remove guns from a person who is seen to be a risk to themselves or others, according to a new APM Research Lab/Guns & America/Call To Mind survey. Read More
There's a rise in cyberbullying nationwide, with three times as many girls reporting being harassed online or by text message than boys, according to the National Center for Education Statistics. Continue Reading Girls Are Bearing The Brunt Of A Rise Read More
No figures on wildland firefighter suicides are available because federal agencies often track only fatalities that occur during work hours, and families don’t always release a cause of death. But lang management agencies are concerned about an increasing number of suicides, and seeking to address ways to help. Read More
Seattle is grappling with a crisis of what is sometimes called "visible homelessness" — people who live in the street and struggle with mental illness or drug addiction. It's a population that often commits small crimes, such as disorderly conduct or shoplifting to pay for drugs. And public frustration is growing. Read More
Researchers are using brain scans, blood and spinal fluid to detect early signs of Alzheimer's disease. These "biomarkers" may also offer a quicker way to test new Alzheimer's drugs. Continue Reading New Markers For Read More
The latest NPR-IBM Watson Health poll found that 29% of people said they were often angry when checking the news. Another 42% said the news sometimes made them angry. Continue Reading Poll: Americans Say We’re Angrier Than A Generation AgoRead More
A federal judge is set to hear arguments Portland this week from mental health advocates who say the state is failing dozens of criminal defendants in need of treatment. Continue Reading Federal Judge To Hear Arguments Read More
Civil commitments have been appealed so many times that the legal standard has gradually become harder and harder to meet. “Just because we have a mental illness and we’re symptomatic doesn’t mean we’re stupid or drooling on ourselves... We’re able to understand, if we’re before a judge, that I may lose my liberty,” Read More
Some psychiatric patients are spending not just hours in the emergency room, but days or a week. They're living there in the ER because there is nowhere else to send them. Northwest policymakers are now making it a priority to create more treatment capacity for people in mental health and addiction crises. Read More
The enforcement action this week by the Washington Department of Labor and Industries follows a months-long investigation triggered by three violent patient-on-nurse assaults last year at Western State Hospital in Lakewood. Read More
Nearly three years after the state of Illinois agreed in a court settlement to revamp mental health care in prisons and provide better treatment, a judge says the care remains "grossly insufficient." Continue Reading Most Inmates With Mental Illness Read More
Warning that Washington state is at a "tipping point," Democratic Gov. Jay Inslee on Tuesday delivered a State of the State address that called on lawmakers to address carbon pollution, "transform" the mental health system and save Puget Sound orcas. Read More
Washington Gov. Jay Inslee is taking the first step toward a plan to help house and treat psychiatric patients who have been involved in the criminal justice system: a new, 500-bed state mental hospital. Continue Reading Read More
Ranchers and farmers living in the Mountain West are vulnerable to all kinds of things—drought, fluctuating crop prices, trade wars—and in part because of those things - depression and suicide. But there's some help out there, from an unlikely source: Twitter. Read More
In the wake of three serious patient-on-staff assaults, more than 150 nurses at Washington's Western State Hospital have signed a "no-confidence" letter calling for the replacement of the psychiatric hospital's chief nursing officer Karen Pitman and her deputies. Read More
A Washington state senator who says he’s heard from “literally hundreds of parents” of adult children who are struggling with mental illness or addiction wants to allow families to petition for temporary guardianship. Read More
More than 80 people gathered at the local affiliate of the National Alliance on Mental Illness. They were there for a forum organized by a fledgling group of moms whose severely mentally ill children have struggled to get the help they need in Washington state — sometimes with deadly consequences. Read More
Despite a two year turnaround effort, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services announced Monday that it will strip Washington’s Western State Hospital of federal certification for failing to comply with standards. Read More
Last week, federal inspectors found serious safety violations at Western State Hospital that could put patients at risk of suicide. They spent several days at Western State looking for full compliance with federal standards. Now the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has accepted the hospital’s immediate plan to address the suicide risk issues. Read More
Federal inspectors have found serious safety violations at Western State Hospital that could increase the chances of patient suicides. The finding this week has the potential to further imperil $65 million in annual federal funding the state receives to operate the 857-bed psychiatric hospital near Tacoma. Read More
On any given day, nearly half the civil, or non-criminal, patients at Western State are ready to be discharged, but there's nowhere to send them. That means they take up beds that patients in crisis, like Brian's daughter, may desperately need. In other words, there's a waitlist to get into Western State because there's a waitlist to get out. Read More
Larry and his wife Crystal used Joel’s Law to get their adult son involuntarily committed to a mental health facility earlier this year. AUSTIN JENKINS / NORTHWEST NEWS NETWORK Listen In the living room of her Olympia home, Crystal opens up a large file box that contains her son’s life history. “As a mom you… Read More
Denise Vermillion petitioned to have her stepson involuntarily committed under Joel’s Law. AUSTIN JENKINS / NORTHWEST NEWS NETWORK Listen On a recent Wednesday morning, Denise Vermillion stood outside the Thurston County Courthouse and expressed the frustration that had been building inside her for days. “I have a loved one who’s having some mental issues and… Read More
In 2014 and 2015, Washington's prison system experienced a spike in inmate suicides. During those two years 11 inmate deaths were ruled suicides, giving Washington one of the highest prison suicide rates in the country. Austin Jenkins has spent the past year investigating how this happened and how the prison system responded. Read More
