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mental health

Kaiser Permanente Therapists To Strike

August 3, 2022 Jessica Goodheart, Capital and Main. , , , , ,
California - Mental health workers at Kaiser Permanente announced plans Tuesday for an open-ended strike that could lead as many as 2,000 Northern California mental health workers to curtail appointments beginning on Aug. 15. The announcement came in response to frustration with the level of service provided to patients at the nation’s largest nonprofit HMO, which Capital & Main reported on in a recent story. As a result of understaffing, patients who should receive weekly therapy are waiting months to start treatment and as long as two months between appointments in violation of clinical guidelines, according to a statement released by the National Union of Healthcare Workers (NUHW), which represents the workers. (Disclosure: NUHW is a financial supporter of this website.)

Houston’s Fight To Decriminalize Mental Illness And Homelessness

July 16, 2022 Atirikta Kumar, The Real News Network. , , , , ,
While Harris County is spending millions of dollars on mental health services and service-providing agencies to reduce the number of mentally ill people entering its county jails, activists on the ground are tackling the problem from another angle—by providing direct support to the county’s homeless population. “We don’t have the best safety nets in Texas, and from the mental health standpoint, there really aren’t the mental health services available that people need,” Catherine Villarreal, director of communications at the Coalition for the Homeless, told TRNN. But Villarreal also stressed that, for people experiencing homelessness and/or mental health crises, the lack of healthcare resources and social support is a crisis unto itself: “when someone ends up homeless, often that didn’t happen overnight.”

Mental Health Workers At Three Minneapolis Hospitals Strike

May 25, 2022 Fight Back News. , , ,
Minneapolis, Minnesota - On Tuesday May 24, over 500 mental health workers will walk off the jobs at three hospitals in the Minneapolis metro area. The striking groups include mental health coordinators and psych techs, along with other job classes that perform mental health work. All three of the groups have organized and joined SEIU Healthcare Minnesota and Iowa (SEIU HCMNIA) in the last eight months and are fighting for their first contract. They work at Allina Health’s Abbott Northwestern Hospital in Minneapolis, Allina Health’s Unity Hospital in the Twin Cities suburb of Fridley, and MHealth Fairview Riverside Hospital in Minneapolis. While they work for three different hospitals, each with their own separate contract negotiations, the mental health workers are coordinating across the three locations and two health systems as they see the fight for a first contract with real improvements to working conditions and for safety in their jobs as a shared fight throughout the hospital industry.

A Radical Approach To Psychedelics And Mental Health

March 25, 2022 Mike Pappas And Dimitri Mugianis, Left Voice. , , ,
It seems that every day there is a new article or study showing how psychedelics can be beneficial in treating the effects of psychological suffering. Now, state and local governments have passed laws decriminalizing or regulating the use of psychedelics. The battle to make these substances available to the public has been one hundreds of physicians and activists have had put forward, fighting the conservatism and insatiable thirst for profit of the healthcare system. Although the acceptance of psychedelics is a step forward, unfortunately the tendency is for these new treatments to be assimilated by the current health system that considers mental illness an individual issue and that considers health care in general as just another avenue to maximize profit.

Suicide, Indian Farmers, Indigenous North Americans . . .

January 15, 2022 Bruce E. Levine, Counterpunch. , , ,
By explaining to mental health professionals and the general public that the root cause of suicide among their people is a sociopolitical one and not a brain disease, Roland Chrisjohn and Sudarshan Kottai do their part to foment rebellion against the sociopolitical status quo rather than—as most professionals do—enable it. There are other things professionals can do to help. Kottai offers Rachel Morley as one model. Morley, a clinical psychologist and a psychosocial practitioner for the British Red Cross, is the author or the 2015 article “Witnessing Injustice: Therapeutic Responsibilities” (in the Journal of Critical Psychology, Counseling and Psychotherapy). For Morley, when working with victims of social and political violence, therapeutic responsibilities include “bearing witness” to stories of injustice.

Veterans’ Health Care For Mental And Environmental Illnesses Under Attack

January 6, 2022 Steve Early And Suzanne Gordon , Portside. , , ,
In recent years, both Republicans and Democrats in Congress have backed privatization of services provided by the Veterans Health Administration (VHA).  As part of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), the VHA serves about nine million patients and operates the largest public healthcare  system in the country. Since 2015, billions of dollars have been diverted from VHA care to private doctors and for-profit hospitals who treat veterans in costlier and less effective fashion.  This cannibalization of the VHA budget began under President Obama, escalated during the Trump era, and continues under Joe Biden.

People In Prison Organize Collectively For Survival

December 11, 2021 Kelly Hayes, Truthout. , , ,
On this show, we talk about how to build the relationships and analysis we need to create movements that can win. When we have talked about the rise of fascism, and how to fight it, I have often made the point that we have a lot to learn from prison organizers, who operate under the most fascistic conditions in the United States. But amid this pandemic rollercoaster of hope, disappointment and uncertainty, I feel like we also have a lot to learn from imprisoned and formerly incarcerated organizers about how to sustain ourselves and each other psychologically during hard times. So, today we are going to hear from Monica Cosby, a formerly incarcerated Chicago organizer whose insights about mutual aid as a form of social life support are invaluable right now. We are also going to hear from Alan Mills, the executive director of the Uptown People’s Law Center about the fight for mental health care in Illinois prisons, how COVID has affected the situation, and what we can do about it.

Co-op Group Urges Help For The ‘Ghosted Generation’ Of Youth

September 10, 2021 Miles Hadfield, Co-operative News. , , ,
Children as young as 10 are afraid the Covid-19 pandemic will set them back for the rest of their lives, a new study from the Co-op Group reveals. The report, the Ghosted Generation, is one of the largest post-pandemic studies of its kind, asking more than 5,000 10-25-year olds about their attitudes, life chances and aspirations. It finds that almost two thirds (60%) 13-25-year olds feel their generation will be permanently disadvantaged by the pandemic, starting with a devastating impact on their education. The Group is urging more support for young people as the UK emerges from the pandemic, and says it is making its own efforts to develop opportunities, through apprenticeships, virtual work experience and its Young Members Board. Among school-aged children, the research shows nearly 47% of 10-15-year olds feel they have fallen behind in the past year, with 59% also feeling the pressure to catch up quickly.

Cities Sending Mental Health Experts, Not Cops, And It Works

February 15, 2021 Matt Agorist, Free Thought Project. , ,
As TFTP reported last week, Christian Joseph Hall, 19, was in the midst of a mental health crisis. He positioned himself on top of an overpass on I-80 leading to police closing off the road and engaging with him. Moments after police arrived, however, Hall would be dead. Video would prove he had his hands in the air and had surrendered when cops opened fire. Hall has now become one of over 1,400 people in a mental health crisis to lose their lives to police since 2015. As TFTP has pointed out, even cops who voluntarily attend Crisis Intervention Training (CIT), have shown that they are quick to the trigger when dealing with the mentally ill.

Philadelphia Victim’s Family Sought Ambulance, Not Police

October 28, 2020 Claudia Lauer, WKYC. , , ,
Philadelphia - The family of a Black man killed by Philadelphia police officers in a shooting caught on video had called for an ambulance to get him help with a mental health crisis, not for police intervention, their lawyer said. Police said Walter Wallace Jr., 27, was wielding a knife and ignored orders to drop the weapon before officers fired shots Monday afternoon. But his parents said Tuesday night that officers knew their son was in a mental health crisis because they had been to the family's house three times on Monday. Cathy Wallace, his mother, said one of the times, “they stood there and laughed at us.”

Julian Assange Trial: Monday, September 21, 2020

September 22, 2020 Joe Lauria, Consortium News. , , ,
Prof. Michael Kopelman has been sworn in, standing in the actual wooden stand of the court, as the defense’s first witness on Tuesday.  Kopelman is a professor of neuropsychology at King’s College, London. He testifies that Assange is suffering from severe depression with loss sleep, appetite and weight loss. He also found a high risk of suicide “if extradition appears imminent.”  Kopelman said Assange has had a history of clinical depression and said his risk of suicide would increase if extradition was imminent. Consortium News is limiting the detail of testimony about Assange’s mental health conditions after an appeal from Kopelman and defense attorney Edward Fitzgerald to the media to do so. 

911 Services That Dispatch Mental Health Counselors, Gain Traction

June 23, 2020 Candice Bernd, Truthout. , , ,
Austin-Travis County Emergency Medical Services (EMS) Capt. Jason Castleberry grabbed his shoulder radio, responding to a dispatcher from his office at Austin EMS’s Station 5, “Chip 100, chip 1, are you calling me?” “Yes, we’ve got a confirmed psych call. Are you available?” “Yes, we’ll get moving.” Castleberry helps oversee the city’s Community Health Paramedic team, abbreviated as CHP, or “chip,” and this was just the type of call I had come to the station that morning to witness. We hopped into the station’s marked SUV, and rolled. “Normally for these, I would go lights and sirens. The reason we’re not is I can tell medic 3 is already on scene,” he tells me, pointing to his monitor. The monitor also showed that mental health counselors with Integral Care’s Expanded Mobile Crisis Outreach Team (EMCOT) had been dispatched; it didn’t show police among the responders at or heading to the scene.

Mental Health Alternatives To Police + Dangerous Talk

January 23, 2020 Eleanor Goldfield, Occupy.com , ,
Talk talk, theories, ideologies, talk talk talk. A few words of wisdom from the past to serve as a reminder in the present and future – just in time for all the TALK of the 2020 caucuses and primaries. Next, what if a call to 911 could mean a call to mental health and social workers – instead of law enforcement? CAHOOTS outlines and shares the possibilities.

Make ‘Em Laugh Or They’ll Kill You + The Math Of A Broken System

August 22, 2019 Eleanor Goldfield, Occupy.com , ,
Building and healing civilizations: as we stare down the 2020 presidential elections, here's a little food for thought on how our system is built – and what advanced math of all things can tell us about the pit falls of having a president, or a “democracy” like ours in general. Next up, the power of art – the power of laughter, and the power of blending that with political commentary. Comedian Krish Mohan joins us to talk more.

Mindfulness And Social Change

August 21, 2019 By Luke Wreford and Paula Haddock, Opendemocracy.net ,
As mindfulness becomes more prevalent in western societies, it’s understandable that its popularity as a practice for reducing stress and improving mental health is attracting greater scrutiny. In a recent article on Transformation, Ron Purser argues that mainstream mindfulness needs to move beyond a focus on individual wellbeing towards more collective and systemic responses to the personal, social and ecological challenges we face.
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