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Former staff at Spokane youth psychiatric unit blame Providence for closure

January 17, 2025
Austin Turley became depressed and suicidal after a classmate died following an accident at school. Turley's mother took him to Inland Northwest Behavioral Health for help but instead of admitting Austin, staff called the police when he told them he had thoughts of hurting others. Austin was arrested and spent weeks in juvenile detention. ©Erick Doxey/InvestigateWest

Some Oklahoma parents turn kids over to the state after struggling to get mental health care for them

December 22, 2024
The sign outside of Youth Services of Tulsa. The non-profit agency runs an emergency youth shelter. DYLAN GOFORTH/THE FRONTIER

Lack of oversight, coordination hinder efforts to reform Arizona’s rise in maternal mortality

December 22, 2024
AZCIR Staff

Amidst a lack of mental health services, the ‘Living Room’ approach aims to plug gaps

Christina Gerlach is a crisis services manager at UnityPlace, a Living Room managed by UnityPoint Health in Peoria, Illinois
Christina Gerlach is a crisis services manager at UnityPlace, a Living Room managed by UnityPoint Health in Peoria, Illinois

Side Effects Public Media, July 13, 2022, by Carter Barrett: After a bad breakup, 19-year-old Benjamin Kowalczyk said everything felt like it was crumbling around him. He dropped out of college, and felt himself getting angry with his family.

“I had fallen into a bad depression state,” said Kowalczyk, who lives outside Chicago. “So, you know, at that point, I realized, like, I need to get back into therapy. And I need to do something about my mental health because it’s declining very quickly.”

He worried it would take too long to see his old therapist. Kowalczyk’s mom called around, and was told about Forever Hope, a “Living Room” in Chicago operated by Thresholds, a community-based mental health provider.

Kowalczyk had never heard of a Living Room — places designed as an alternative to emergency rooms, where people having suicidal or homicidal thoughts, panic attacks, severe depression, or struggling with substance use can easily find help. There are nearly two dozen Living Rooms scattered across Illinois – and at least a dozen other states have similar models – all aiming to give people in crisis a safe, comfortable place to go.

Kowalczyk and his mother made the half-hour drive and spent about 30 minutes with one of Forever Hope’s counselors. In their follow-up meetings, the counselor helped him find a therapist and psychiatrist.

“It was just such an enlightening experience going there for the first time. It made me feel like I actually had somewhere safe to go,” said Kowalczyk, who says he’s doing a lot better today. He still goes to the Forever Hope once or twice a week, in addition to therapy.

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. The three-digit version of the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline launches July 16 and aims to make it easier for people in crisis to connect with trained counselors.

Read more at Side Effects Public Media here.