General Mental Health Articles
- Value-based care in behavioral health involves measuring an organization’s impact on a client’s health. How overall impact is defined and translated into value varies depending on several factors. At the broadest level, the various levels of care require different system approaches. They may also have advantages and disadvantages when it comes to value-based care in the first place. Read more here.
Youth Mental Health
- When it comes to the online safety of their children, parents could build a family social media plan to set expectations, maintain open conversations with their kids about their social media use, choose content that’s developmentally appropriate for their child, set good examples, and balance time with and without devices by creating “screen-free” times. Those are just some of the latest strategies put forth in a first-of-its-kind report released by the White House’s Task Force on Kids’ Online Health and Safety. Read more here.
The Opioid Crisis and Addiction Issues
- Even as increasing numbers of North Carolina judicial officials and lawyers embrace the use of continuous alcohol monitoring in criminal contexts, uncertainty remains over how the technology can be implemented in matters of child custody. Both the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services and the Haywood County Department of Social Services told CPP they do not have the legal authority to use those tools, which have proven effective in reducing future alcohol-related incidents. Read more here.
- It’s become one of the most concerning signs of the fentanyl crisis happening across California: Seemingly zombified drug users slumped over in awkward positions. Alternately called "the fentanyl fold” or "the fentanyl bend over," videos and newspaper photos of people reportedly using the drug have spread through social media. Read more here.
- Maryland's health department launched a new tool that can paint a clear image of the opioid crisis. The interactive dashboard allows individuals to zoom in and see where fatal doses are located and who is impacted the most by the ongoing opioid crisis. The dashboard is a new iteration of the state's previous website. It will be updated monthly to track the crisis that is plaguing the state. Read more here.
- The arrest of Ismael El Mayo Zambada represents a huge blow to the Sinaloa Cartel. The criminal organization, one of Mexico’s largest, has been resisting the manhunt by the United States in its war against fentanyl trafficking, as well as an internal war for territorial control. Read more here.
- Fentanyl is a synthetic drug, which means it’s not created from plants like marijuana or cocaine, but rather entirely from chemicals. Fentanyl can be easy to make using compounds known as “precursors.” These are ready-made building blocks created from common industrial chemicals. Certain types of precursors are particularly prized by illicit fentanyl producers because they function as shortcuts to making the finished product. Read more here.
988 Hotline
- Dispatchers now have another option when someone in Tampa, Florida calls 911 with a mental health emergency. Instead of police officers, crisis counselors now respond. The program partners the Tampa Police Department and the Crisis Center of Tampa Bay. "The dispatcher will do a quick assessment to figure out what's going on," said Clara Reynolds, president and CEO of the crisis center. "And if it meets the criteria that has been set, those calls are routed directly to our staff that are sitting in the 911 dispatch center." Read more here.
Climate Change and Mental Health
- When the summer heat climbs to unbearable levels, meteorologists, school administrators, and government officials often discuss ways to stay cool – but what about the impact on our mental health? Heat records are being broken with regularity, and 2023 was no exception. During a brutal and deadly summer in 2023, July became the hottest month ever recorded with modern weather equipment. Read more here.
Medicaid Redetermination
- In June 2023, the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services began verifying the eligibility of nearly 2.5 million Medicaid participants for the first time since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. This marked the start of the so-called unwinding of the continuous coverage health insurance requirement, a federal provision that provided individual states with increased funding for Medicaid in exchange for not removing beneficiaries from the rolls while the national emergency declaration for COVID-19 was in place. Read more here.
Gender-Affirming Care and LGBTQ Issues
- Gov. Chris Sununu (R-N.H.) signed a bill into law that bans medical professionals from performing gender-affirming surgeries for minors. Sununu signed a companion bill that will ban transgender athletes from competing on school sports teams that align with their gender identity. Read more here.
- Gay and transgender “panic” defenses are no longer viable in Michigan courts under legislation signed by Democratic Gov. Whitmer. Michigan is the 20th state to outlaw such defenses, which allow individuals accused of violent crimes to receive lesser sentences by arguing that the victim’s sexual orientation or gender identity caused them to panic. Read more here.
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