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‘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

Gaps in mental health training, rural access to care compound Arizona’s maternal mortality crisis

December 20, 2024
Araceli Aquino-Valdez, shown at her Yuma home on Dec. 17, 2024, struggled to find mental health care after experiencing postpartum depression following the birth of her first child. Photo by Izabella Mullady | AZCIR

Black farmers face specific, outsized challenges in rural mental health crisis

October 1, 2024
Two road signs in Tatums, Oklahoma. One reads "TATUMS: The friendly people make the difference," and the other "Tatums, Okla: Home of T-Okie."

The Girl Scouts of Northeast Texas are tackling mental health, one patch at a time

McKinley Reid, Audrianna Guerrero and Sydney Judge are all part of Girl Scout Troop 5596. They started working on activities for their Okay to Say mental health badge in April. "We were learning about stress and empathy and gratitude," Judge explained. ©Trevon McWilliams/KERA
McKinley Reid, Audrianna Guerrero and Sydney Judge are all part of Girl Scout Troop 5596. They started working on activities for their Okay to Say mental health badge in April. "We were learning about stress and empathy and gratitude," Judge explained. ©Trevon McWilliams/KERA

KERA, May 19, 2022, by Elena Rivera: The COVID-19 pandemic worsened stress, anxiety and depression for young people—especially young girls. Those are things the Girl Scouts of Northeast Texas have addressed through their mental health patch, called Okay to Say. It’s one part of a wider prevention effort to mitigate worse health outcomes for young people as they grow up.

Troop 5596 gathered around tables at the Methodist church in Justin, a community about 25 miles north of Fort Worth, one afternoon in late April. Groups of two and three girls were huddled over worksheets, talking about mindfulness and stress—and there was plenty to say.

Sydney Judge, 9, wrote “sisters” and “state testing” as her top stressors. Audrianna Guerrero, 10, asked her how she feels when she’s stressed.

“Like I’m gonna blow up,” Sydney said. “I feel frustrated. Sometimes I feel like no one believes in me.”

Her troop leaders, Rebecca Bartolomeo and Michelle Smith, asked her what she does when she feels that way.

“I go up to my room and play with my giant stress ball,” said Sydney, “or I go down to the garage and punch my punching bag.”

As the night continued, the Girl Scouts assembled mindfulness kits: plastic pencil cases filled with candy, colorful stickers and small books with activities to do when they feel anxious.

Read more here at KERA.