State leaders announce FFA mental health awareness grant program
$1,000 grants to FFA chapters will be available this fall
Tag: Mental health
Illinois governor lays out a roadmap for a ‘transformed’ youth mental health care system
CHICAGO — Gov. JB Pritzker on Friday released a blueprint for transforming what the state acknowledges is a confusing patchwork system for families who need greater access to mental health care for their children at a moment of overwhelming need both in Illinois and across the country. The current fragmented system, compounded by a workforce
COVID federal funding will expire. How are schools investing in student mental health for the long term?
LA MOILLE — Students in the La Moille School District don’t have a full-time school social worker or psychologist. For tiny, rural districts like La Moille — which has only 170 students — that’s not unusual. Rural schools are much less likely to offer mental health services than urban and suburban schools. 37% of high
Central Illinois police training for mental health cases questioned, involuntary commitment issues remain
Tisha Bryson has been shackled, hospitalized and shoved to the ground by central Illinois law enforcement officers more times than she can count while experiencing a mental health crisis. “I try not to hold grudges,” Bryson said, a resident of Hammond in Piatt County, about 40 miles southwest of Champaign. “But some of the ways
Concerns for safety rise as oversight of Illinois prison mental health care ends
An independent expert who has monitored the mental health care was terminated reducing the transparency around an often failing system. CHICAGO — The Illinois Department of Corrections has long faced accusations of abuse and violence toward people with mental illness and has continually failed to fill positions for mental health care workers. Now for the
A disabled young patient was sent to get treatment. He was abused instead. And he wasn’t the last.
This article was produced for ProPublica’s Local Reporting Network in partnership with Capitol News Illinois and Lee Enterprises . As Blaine Reichard rose from a breakfast table at the Choate Mental Health and Developmental Center in southern Illinois, a worker ordered him to pull up his sagging pants. A 24-year-old man with developmental disabilities, Reichard was accustomed
Amidst a lack of mental health services, the ‘Living Room’ approach aims to plug gaps
If you or someone you know may be considering suicide, contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255 (En Español: 1-888-628-9454; Deaf and Hard of Hearing: 1-800-799-4889) or the Crisis Text Line by texting HOME to 741741. Beginning July 16, the Lifeline can be reached by dialing 988. CHICAGO — After a bad breakup, 19-year-old
Hope and questions abound as a new mental health crisis line is set to launch
If you need to talk, or if you or someone you know is experiencing suicidal thoughts, text the Crisis Text Line at 741-741 or call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255. America’s new national mental health crisis line—988—goes live on July 16. The three-digit hotline is supposed to make it easier for people struggling with addiction, suicide, and
A new national mental health crisis line launches soon. Some states aren’t ready
If you or someone you know is struggling with suicidal thoughts, help is available. Contact the National Suicide Prevention Hotline at 800-273-8255 or the Crisis Text Line by texting HOME to 741741. Updated June 16 at 2 p.m. SPRINGFIELD — Staff at Memorial Behavioral Health in Springfield, Illinois, are on call around the clock to
Call centers struggle to hire for nation’s new mental health crisis line
If you or someone you know is struggling with suicidal thoughts, help is available. Contact the National Suicide Prevention Hotline at 800-273-8255 or the Crisis Text Line by texting HOME to 741741. HOUSTON — Jennifer Battle is open to just about anything to find people to answer the phones at her Houston-area crisis line. “It’s
‘It’s given me purpose’ – Woodworking becomes an outlet for some veterans
AURORA — After hearing about the number of veterans who die by suicide, one northern Illinois man decided to do something about it. A total of 167 Illinois veterans took their lives in 2019, according to Illinois Department of Public Affairs. The average number of Illinois veteran suicides from 2015 through 2018 is 159. https://cpa.ds.npr.org/s528/audio/2022/04/0421vetf.mp3
Champaign County nonprofits train indigenous interpreters and expand mental health services with COVID-19 relief money
CHAMPAIGN — Champaign-Urbana nonprofits are using COVID-19 relief to help victims of labor and sex trafficking free themselves. To become free and independent, victims need a legal status via a trafficking – or “T” — visa. Lisa Wilson is the executive director of The Refugee Center in Champaign. She says T visa applicants need a
Children of health care workers had a front row seat to the pandemic. It took a toll
INDIANAPOLIS — Seven-year-old Phil Will still recognizes where the tape that split his house into two sides was glued to the ground. The kitchen and shelves where his mom stores board games were on one side, and the staircase leading to the basement was on the other side. That tape stayed there for more than
State bill addresses addiction, mental illness stigma by paying employers
SPRINGFIELD — Lawmakers in Springfield are attempting to address stigmas around mental illness and substance abuse – by paying employers to hire those in recovery. If the Recovery Tax Credit bill passes, the state would lower taxes for businesses that hire people who have, at minimum, started treatment for mental illness or substance abuse. “One
Children caught in fight between youth treatment facilities and state agency
INDIANAPOLIS — When Lutherwood Residential Treatment Center is fully staffed, it treats about 80 children and teens with severe emotional and behavioral health needs. But the Indianapolis facility is suffering such a major staffing shortage, and it can only help half that many people. https://cpa.ds.npr.org/s4780019/audio/2022/01/youth-residential-treatment-seweb.mp3 Listen to this story here. Lutherwood is just one example