Religious Contacts, Student Volunteers Find Themselves in Midst of Mental Health Crisis

(Illustration/Je’Leah Laurenceau)
From partner Grady Newsource

A 12-year-old killed herself at a Spokane hospital that recently closed its youth psychiatric unit

Asha Joseph spoke at her 12-year-old sister's funeral on Tuesday. Sarah Niyimbona had been receiving psychiatric treatment at Providence Sacred Heart Medical Center intermittently for eight months when she died by suicide at the hospital. Erick Doxey/InvestigateWest

Language lives on for tribes in Oklahoma despite determined erasure attempts

Martie Woothtakewahbitty teaches her students how to speak the Comanche language in a classroom at the Life Ready Center in Lawton on September 26, 2024.
Abigail Siatkowski
/KOSU

Can telehealth solve America’s mental health crisis in schools?

Cartoon illustration of a video call with psychologist through computer by web cam.
©Olga Strelnikova/Getty Images/iStockphoto

Texas Public Radio: Petrie Dish by Bonnie Petrie, September 16, 2022: 

The kids are not alright. A CDC analysis released earlier this year found that in 2021— the second year of the pandemic — more than 37 percent of high school students reported experiencing poor mental health, and 44 percent reported they felt persistently sad or hopeless throughout the year.

Before the pandemic, mental health was already getting worse — according to previous studies from the CDC.

Bonnie Petrie guest hosted TPR’s The Source to talk to experts about this issue and the telehealth program in Texas that hopes to help solve the mental health crisis.

  • Dr. Laurel Williams, D.O., professor of psychiatry at Baylor College of Medicine and Texas Children’s Hospital, medical director of the Centralized Operation Support Hub, which supports the Texas Child Mental Health Care Consortium
  • Reena Pardiwala, PA-C, clinical director of the Texas Child Health Access Through Telemedicine at UT Health San Antonio
  • Josette Saxton, director of Mental Health Policy at Texans Care for Children

Listen to the TPR Petrie Dish piece here.