Washington State University offers a Farm Stress Counseling Voucher program for farmers. Roni Ryan, pictured, is one of the farmers who has received counseling from the program. (Courtesy: Roni Ryan) […]Read More
Washington state lawmakers still can’t pass bills to allow for some legal access to psychedelics.
With Feb. 21 as the cutoff for bills to move out of policy committees, two pieces of legislation that would have allowed regulated and supervised access to psilocybin for adults won't be moving forward — Senate Bill 5201 and House Bill 1433. The bills faced opposition from Read More
In small towns, such as Walla Walla, Washington, behavioral health care providers can be hard to come by. (Credit: Susan Shain / NWPB) watch Listen (Runtime 3:49) Read By Rachel […]Read More
Chestina Dominguez explains to the Saturday wa’paas class why weaving is important to her. Dominguez, an enrolled member of the Yakama Nation, was taught to weave by her maternal grandmother […]Read More
Angelo Avila is a licensed mental health counselor based in Bellingham. (Credit: Connor Henricksen / NWPB) Listen (Runtime 3:34) Read Connor Henricksen: A lot of people aren’t feeling great about […]Read More
Gritman Medical Center will now serve more people in the Lewiston-Clarkston Valley after taking over a student clinic.Read More
An assessment by the Asotin County Health District shows that mental health, housing and aging in place, along with substance use, are some of the largest health issues facing the community. Read More
Employees at Cornerstone Cottage alerted state officials to the dangers, only to be fired themselves Cornerstone Cottage opened in 2016 in Post Falls, Idaho, a booming bedroom community 25 miles […]Read More
Wildfires can be frightening and result in overflowing emotions. Fear, anxiety and even depression can arise before, during and after these natural disasters, but specialists say there are still resources to cope with the trauma that environmental emergencies can cause.Read More
In Yakima, some organizations use art to promote mental health. After-school activities and events help people to explore self-expression and creativity to improve their emotional and social well-being. Read More
Providers say education, building trust among communities and building out mobile response teams are top prioritiesRead More
As the United States sees an increase in the number of anti-gay, anti-trans laws, one group of LGBTQ+ people on the Palouse is making its own space for queer joy and community Read More
Photo courtesy of Melyssa Andrews Listen (Runtime 1:23) Read When COVID-19 reached the Inland Northwest, few people could have predicted how profoundly it would change their lives. NWPB’s Rachel Sun […]Read More
When COVID-19 reached the Inland Northwest, few people could have predicted its profound changes. NWPB’s Rachel Sun interviews local residents about how the pandemic changed their mental health, lives and perspective. This is the first in a four-part mini series.Read More
Farmworkers are among the groups disproportionately affected by stress and anxiety. Researchers and healthcare providers say the pandemic increased economic struggles and job pressures. Still, agricultural workers are not always aware that it could impact their mental health. Read More
Native and Strong crisis counselor Robert Coberly is blanketed by Mia Klick, Native and Strong Lifeline coordinator on the left, and Vicki Lowe, executive director of the American Indian Health […]Read More
What do you really know about psilocybin, commonly known as magic mushrooms? Research on the substance has lagged behind in the U.S. but, recent grassroots movements and a non-profit in […]Read More
Photo via Pixabay Listen (Runtime 1:32) Read While police continue to search for the killer of the four University of Idaho students who were murdered in Moscow last month, local […]Read More
Kennewick General Hospital Credit: Washington State Department of Ecology, Flickr Creative Commons Listen (Runtime 1:08) Read Benton County is closer to opening a Behavioral Health Recovery Center after purchasing the […]Read More
Courtesy SAMHSA Listen (Runtime 1:59) Read Since July of this year, people experiencing a mental health crisis have been urged to call 988. When they reach it, an automated message […]Read More
Photo courtesy CHAS Health Read LEWISTON — Residents of the Lewis-Clark Valley could have access to more behavioral health care services by this spring. CHAS Health will open the first […]Read More
Janet Schroeder puts on protective gear for COVID precaution before heading into a patients room at the Pullman Regional Hospital Emergency Room on Saturday, Sept. 24. Photo courtesy August Frank/the […]Read More
Sarah Zabel is focused during the interview with Sueann Ramella. This interview of Traverse Talks was recorded on March 15, 2022 at the Spokane Public Radio station. Sarah Zabel is […]Read More
Sarah Zabel is a retired U.S. Air Force major general and former vice director of the U.S. Defense Information Systems Agency. After witnessing one of her best friends experience a […]Read More
Franklin County Commission Meeting July 5th, 2022 Listen (Runtime 2:25) Read There was contentious dialogue at the Franklin County Commissioner’s regular business meeting in the Tri Cities this week as […]Read More
Benton County Image Listen (Runtime 1:44) Read Benton County Commissioners purchased the old Kennewick General Hospital, l K–G–H building. The Three Rivers Behavioral Health Recovery Center is to become the […]Read More
A new report by the pharmaceutical provider NiceRx ranked Washington and Idaho sixth and seventh respectively for states with the highest prevalence of mental health problems. It ranked each state […]Read More
Randy Brooks, a University of Idaho professor and extension forestry specialist, poses for a portrait in the College of Natural Resources building. Zach Wilkinson/The Lewiston Tribune Listen Randy Brooks, a […]Read More
Cornelia Kirchhoff is the assistant director at the Washington State University Psychology Clinic. She’s noticed a significant increase in the number of people seeking ADHD testing in the past year. Read More
Matthew, a 14-year-old who is autistic and nonverbal, watches YouTube and holds a fidget device. After being removed from his group home last September, Matthew was stuck in a hospital […]Read More
Social support for middle-aged Native Americans goes a long way in mitigating the physical effects of mental health problems.Read More
Franklin County Commissioners voted to raise taxes a tenth of a percent to fund mental health and drug treatment.Read More
Benton County Commissioners approved to move forward with a new sales and use tax.Read More
Since 2000, more than 200 people have died by suicide in Washington and Oregon jails putting the Northwest states above the national average for jail suicides, according to a new report by the federal Bureau of Justice Statistics.Read More
Starting in mid-2022, people in Washington will be able to dial 988 instead of 911 to access different types of services in a mental health crisis.Read More
The pandemic has taken a massive toll on people's mental health. But a new report by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirms what many of us are seeing and feeling in our own lives: The impact has been particularly devastating for parents and unpaid caregivers of adults.Read More
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.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.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 University.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.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.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.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
