Partner News

Partner News

81 Posts

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

‘Not knowing where to go’: Montana’s sparse landscape for alcohol detox

December 20, 2024
An emergency department sign in Missoula, Montana on Thursday, December 12, 2024. With very few treatment options available in Montana, hospital emergency departments are often the only place people can go when they are experiencing alcohol withdrawal. However, patients often end up leaving without the medication they need to manage withdrawal symptoms and they typically aren’t referred to inpatient or outpatient treatment programs. Credit: John Stember

In a pandemic, people might know they need food or housing. But how do you help them realize they also need therapy?

Kayode Martin, center, participates in a spiritual reflection group session at an Inner-City Muslim Action Network facility in Chicago Lawn on March 2, 2022. ©Brian Cassella / Chicago Tribune
Kayode Martin, center, participates in a spiritual reflection group session at an Inner-City Muslim Action Network facility in Chicago Lawn on March 2, 2022. ©Brian Cassella / Chicago Tribune

Chicago Tribune, March 30, 2022, By Alison Bowen: As the pandemic wore on, Kayode Martin felt stuck.

He’d graduated virtually, a high school senior when COVID-19 arrived in Chicago. A year later, in 2021, he was working at a store but struggling to find a routine that felt on good footing.

When his grandfather told him about a construction training program at the Inner-City Muslim Action Network, he applied. During the intake process, a social worker there also suggested counseling, and the 19-year-old was connected with therapy. A year later, he looks forward to the weekly Monday morning appointments.

“I actually never really thought about going to a therapist,” he said. “I kept a lot of my emotions bottled up inside.” Now, he said, “I feel more relaxed. I feel more in touch with myself.”

Martin is one of the Illinois residents who reached out for help during the pandemic with an immediate need — housing help, groceries — and were also connected with a therapist. During the pandemic, many Chicago organizations began rethinking how to provide mental health help as the virus swept into the city and many were left for the first time feeling in need amid the psychological rubble of upended lives.

Read more here at the Chicago Tribune.