mental health Archives | Northwest Public Broadcasting

Those Experiencing Mental Health Crisis Find Themselves Stuck In ER, With Nowhere Else To Go

By Tom Banse April 7, 2019

People in mental health crisis can be lodged for days on a gurney in a hallway, like these at Olympia's St. Peter Hospital emergency room, because there's nowhere else to go. TOM BANSE / N3

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

Washington’s Largest Psychiatric Hospital Cited And Fined For Failing To Protect Assaulted Nurses

By Austin Jenkins March 27, 2019

Western State Hospital is Washington state's largest psychiatric facility. CREDIT: AUSTIN JENKINS / NORTHWEST NEWS NETWORK

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

Most Inmates With Mental Illness Still Wait For Decent Care

By NPR News February 4, 2019

The Joliet Treatment Center, southwest of Chicago, is one of four facilities now providing mental health care to some of Illinois' sickest inmates. It's a start, say mental health advocates, but many more inmates in Illinois and across the U.S. still await treatment. CREDIT: Christine Herman/Illinois Public Media

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

In State Of State Address, Jay Inslee Calls For Climate Change Action, Addressing Mental Health

By Austin Jenkins January 15, 2019

Climate change topped Gov. Jay Inslee's list of priorities in his 2019 State of the State speech. CREDIT: AUSTIN JENKINS/N3

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

Inside Jay Inslee’s Proposed Budget: A New, 500-Bed Mental Hospital To Replace Western State

By Austin Jenkins December 11, 2018

Washington Gov. Jay Inslee, pictured here outside Western State Hospital, is proposing the state explore building a new state hospital. CREDIT: AUSTIN JENKINS / NORTHWEST NEWS NETWORK

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

Mountain West Farmers Turn To Twitter To Discuss Depression Amid Concern For Their Well Being

By NWPB News December 10, 2018

Larry McMillan drives a combine as he harvests barley Friday, Aug. 24, 2007, near Moscow, Idaho. The region's warm and dry weather has provided optimal conditions for the continued harvest season. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren)

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

Western State Hospital Nurses Sign No-Confidence Petition Over Attacks By Psychiatric Patients

By Austin Jenkins November 2, 2018

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

Does Washington Need New Guardianship Rules For Adults With Severe Mental Illness Or Addiction?

By Austin Jenkins October 4, 2018

Western State is one of the largest psychiatric hospitals west of the Mississippi River. CREDIT: AUSTIN JENKINS

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

A ‘Miserable Underworld.’ One Washington Mom’s Fight To Change The Mental Health System

By Austin Jenkins August 27, 2018

Jerri Clark of Vancouver, Washington started the group Mothers of the Mentally Ill after her son struggled to get the help he needed after he was diagnosed with bipolar disorder. CREDIT: AUSTIN JENKINS

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

Western State, Washington’s Largest Psychiatric Hospital, To Lose Certification And Federal Funds

By Austin Jenkins June 25, 2018

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

Feds Accept Plan To Mitigate Suicide Risk At Western State Hospital

By Austin Jenkins May 29, 2018

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

Suicide Risk Prompts Emergency Measures At Western State Hospital

By Austin Jenkins May 25, 2018

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

At Western State Hospital, A Waitlist To Get In And A Waitlist To Get Out

By Austin Jenkins May 17, 2018

Brian (who asked us not to use his last name) holds a piece of artwork that his daughter made. He says she's struggled with mental illness since college and needs a safe, stable placement in the community. CREDIT: AUSTIN JENKINS

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

These Parents Used ‘Joel’s Law’ To Get Their Son Involuntarily Committed

By Austin Jenkins October 16, 2017

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

A 911 Call, A Werewolf At The Door And A Family’s Quest To Involuntarily Commit A Loved One

By Austin Jenkins October 10, 2017

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

How 11 Suicides Forced Change Inside Washington Prisons

By Austin Jenkins March 6, 2017

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