- http://centerforhealthreporting.org/article/photography-gallery-faces-mental-illness886
- http://centerforhealthreporting.org/article/blog-what-mental-illness-looks981
- http://centerforhealthreporting.org/article/normalizing-mental-illness-one-moms-hope-multimedia888
- http://centerforhealthreporting.org/article/small-dreams-mental-illness-and-primary-care-multimedia898
List date(s) this work was published or aired.
May 20-22, 2012
Provide a brief synopsis of the story or stories, including any significant findings.
In California’s economically challenged Stanislaus County, where unemployment and poverty rates are among the state’s highest, help for the mentally ill has virtually disappeared. County mental health has lost more than 200 positions, about 37 percent of staff. Hospital ERs are clogged with mentally ill patients, with several reporting double the numbers of 5 years ago. The county jail is also suffering effects from the cuts, with a nearly 50 percent increase in mentally ill inmates in the past 6 years. ER doctors and sheriff’s deputies have become de facto mental health crisis workers. Meanwhile, the mentally ill are left to cope largely on their own, with advocacy groups and a few mental health professionals trying innovative approaches to cast light in a dark tunnel of need. The team’s work included up-close-and-personal photos and audio of this very sensitive subject.
Explain types of documents, data or Internet resources used. Were FOI or public records act requests required? How did this affect the work?
State and county budget, staffing and mental health data; hospital and ER admissions data; sheriff’s department jail admissions data; superior court documents, reports by national advocacy groups
Explain types of human sources used.
County health department officials and staff, sheriff’s officials and personnel, hospital officials and doctors, health clinic officials, nurses, state and local mental health advocates, mental health/illness experts, psychiatrists, mentally ill residents, family members of mentally ill
Results:
Substantial buzz in the form of comments from readers to the paper and comments from the local, state and national professional mental health communities. Lots of pass-alongs from them. The multimedia photo gallery of mentally ill individuals received hundreds of hits. Obviously, with the state of the state budget, there were no new funding proposals for mental health.
Follow-up (if any). Have you run a correction or clarification on the report or has anyone come forward to challenge its accuracy? If so, please explain.
No.
Advice to other journalists planning a similar story or project.
Try early on to connect with mental illness support groups. It is critical to get the voices of the mentally ill into stories about them. They need to be allowed to speak for themselves, and as members of the community and not as outsiders.