SF Has a Chance to Reinvent Its Mental Health Care System

©Noah Arroyo using Canva AI/San Francisco Public Press: A person’s journey through San Francisco’s behavioral health system can start at many points, including after their deteriorating condition lands them on the streets.

Montana’s youth need help. Here’s how educators are confronting a mental health crisis.

Hardin High School., ©TAILYR IRVINE, Gazette Staff

Behavioral health care in Montana’s schools: ‘Not a luxury, it’s a necessity’

©MSU Photo by Adrian Sanchez-Gonzalez/Posters designed by freshmen graphic design students in the College of Arts and Architecture at Montana State University hang in the hallway of Haynes Hall, Wednesday, April 27, 2022, in Bozeman, Mont. The posters are part of the 988 campaign to bring awareness to Montana’s suicide prevention lifeline.

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.