Tuesday, September 6, 2011

A Nationwide Story About Mental Health That Smells Local

Posted By on Tue, Sep 6, 2011 at 11:00 AM

Check out this "All Things Considered" story on NPR. A larger-picture story about exchanging one institutional view of mental health (asylums) for another (no acknowledgment of the mentally ill, and having them wind up in jail and prison instead).

Hopefully Tucson's new Behavioral Health Pavillion and Crisis Response Center can help with our version of this story.

Government officials across Pima County have acknowledged there's a vacuum left for poor in need of mental health services, some of which they say has contributed to South Tucson's $1.4 million jail bill, not to mention Pima County Jail's overall status as a mental health institution, as corrections officers there have said flat-out to me during interviews.

Guess we're not the only place dealing with this problem.

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