Mental Health

The launch of 988 is something that’s been celebrated as a long-time need by mental health advocates and law enforcement agents. But rolling out the service is proving to be complicated.

In Illinois, providers hope the Living Room model will help fill the gap in mental health services, as the nation’s new mental health crisis number, 988, rolls out this month.

Advocates are hopeful the three-digit mental health crisis number, 988, will make it easier for people to reach out for help starting July 16. But some worry about states where crisis call centers already struggle to keep up with demand.

America’s new national mental health crisis line — 988 — is going live on July 16. The new 3-digit hotline is supposed to make it easy for people struggling with addiction, suicide and mental illness to get help fast. But with just weeks to go, hundreds of positions remain unfilled.

Two years into the pandemic, data shows that the toll on children’s mental health has been profound. Children of frontline health care workers had a front row seat to the pandemic’s scariest moments from day one.

In a live-streamed event, Side Effects and the national Well Beings campaign discussed the growing concern around children’s mental health, which experts have deemed a national crisis.

As competition for low-wage workers heats up, residential treatment centers across the U.S. are suffering from staff shortages. When the facilities that care for the nation’s most vulnerable youth are short-staffed, the consequences can be dire.

The job of a correctional officer is to keep people safe. But inside prisons across the U.S., allegations of sexual abuse are common. The latest national data shows nearly 6,000 reports of staff sexual misconduct in 2018.

Libraries play a central role in many communities, providing books and information and helping people navigate challenges. Increasingly, those challenges are beyond the scope of what librarians are trained to handle — like housing insecurity and mental illness. To meet the need, some libraries are hiring social workers.

The U.S. was dealing with a shortage of nurses even before the pandemic. Now, with COVID-19 hospitalizations rising once again, there’s concern that nurses on the frontlines are at even greater risk of burnout.