mental health care

CVS is adding mental health counseling to the services offered at about a dozen of its stores with HealthHUBs in Florida, Pennsylvania and Texas.

Health & Safety

CVS To Offer In-Store Mental Health Counseling

4:13pm April 29, 2021

by Yuki Noguchi

As the number of people seeking therapy soars during the pandemic, CVS has begun testing a model to offer counseling services in its stores. It hopes to reduce costs for both patients and itself.

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A health care worker prepares to screen people for the coronavirus at a testing site in Landover, Md., in March.

Health Care Workers Ask Therapist: 'Why Aren't More People Taking This Seriously?'

6:51pm October 20, 2020

The pandemic continues to exact a heavy emotional toll on health care workers, says Kimberly Johnson, who provides them with free therapy. "I wish people knew ... what I saw," clients tell her.

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Mental health advocates say 988, a simple three-digit number, will be easier for people to remember in the midst of a mental health emergency.

New Law Creates 988 Hotline For Mental Health Emergencies

2:54pm October 20, 2020

by Rhitu Chatterjee

President Trump has signed a bipartisan bill creating a three-digit hotline for mental health emergencies. Mental health advocates say it'll bring mental health crisis response into the 21st century.

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Arline Feilen (left) and her sister, Kathy McCoy, at their mother's home in the Chicago suburbs. The biggest chunk of Feilen's bill was $16,480 for four nights in a room shared with another patient. McCoy joked that it would have been cheaper to stay at t

Health & Safety

A Woman's Grief Led To A Mental Health Crisis And A $21,634 Hospital Bill

11:25am October 31, 2019

by Laura Ungar

A woman in Illinois spent five days in the hospital undergoing psychiatric care to help her through a mental health crisis. The bill she got is about the same price as a new Honda Civic.

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Officer Brian Cregg checks in with a man who says he is homeless and living in his car in Concord, N.H. In Concord, as in many parts of the Northeast, widespread use of meth is new, police say, and is changing how they approach interactions with people wh

Is It A Meth Case Or Mental Illness? Police Who Need To Know Often Can't Tell

7:53pm October 22, 2019

by Martha Bebinger

Calming techniques officers learn during training for intervening in a mental health crisis don't seem to work as well when a suspect is high on meth. Police say meth calls can be much more dangerous.

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Meme, a New Hampshire woman using a family nickname, ended up spending 20 days locked inside a wing of the emergency department at St. Joseph Hospital in Nashua, N.H.

Woman Detained In Hospital For Weeks Joins Lawsuit Against New Hampshire

5:00am October 22, 2019

by Jason Moon

She was detained because she couldn't get a court hearing. She couldn't get a hearing because they are available only to people in psychiatric beds and the state's psychiatric facilities are full.

John Poynter of Clarksville, Tenn., uses a wall calendar to keep track of all his appointments for both behavioral health and physical ailments. His mental health case manager, Valerie Klein, appears regularly on the calendar — and helps make sure he ge

Health & Safety

Coordinating Care Of Mind And Body Might Help Medicaid Save Money And Lives

4:35pm August 07, 2019

by Blake Farmer

Tennessee's innovative Medicaid program is offering bonuses to mental health providers who help make sure their Medicaid patients get preventive help and treatment for physical ailments too.

The best help for patients struggling with addiction, eating disorders or other mental health problems sometimes includes intensive therapy, the evidence shows. But many patients still have trouble getting their health insurers to cover needed mental heal

'Mental Health Parity' Is Still An Elusive Goal In U.S. Insurance Coverage

5:00am June 07, 2019

by Graison Dangor

The Affordable Care Act and other U.S. laws sought to put insurance coverage for mental health conditions on equal footing with coverage for physical conditions. But patients say that's not happening.

Sherrie Lawson struggled with PTSD, depression and anxiety after she survived the Washington Navy Yard shooting.

Dealing With Trauma After A Mass Shooting — Over The Long Term

4:25pm March 30, 2019

by Scott Simon

After apparent suicides rocked the communities of Newtown, Conn., and Parkland, Fla., one shooting survivor speaks out about the lasting mental health repercussions of these traumatic experiences.

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A fence stands at Elmore Correctional Facility in Elmore, Ala., seen in 2015. A federal judge ruled that mental health care for inmates is "horrendously inadequate."

National

After Inmate Suicides, Alabama Prisons On Trial

8:12pm March 28, 2019

by Richard Gonzales

A federal judge already has ruled that mental health care for inmates in Alabama's prisons is "horrendously inadequate." Now he's looking at the system's response to 15 suicides in the past 15 months.