Wash. Governor Releases Plan That Would Radically Reshape State’s Much-Criticized Mental Health System

Seattle Times: Inslee Unveils $675 Million Plan To Reverse Crisis In Washington’s Mental-Health System
Seeking to reverse the multitude of crises that have engulfed Washington’s mental-health system, Gov. Jay Inslee on Tuesday released a plan that would radically reshape the care of patients. Inslee’s $675 million proposal would fund hundreds of new community mental-health beds and create a partnership with the University of Washington to establish a new teaching hospital focused on behavioral health. It would boost the ranks of mental-health workers, who have been in short supply, and provide long-term housing options to ease the bed shortage. (O'Sullivan, 12/11)

ProPublica: Illinois Regulators Are Investigating A Psychiatrist Whose Research With Children Was Marred by Misconduct
Illinois regulators have launched an investigation into a prominent former University of Illinois at Chicago psychiatrist whose research into children with bipolar disorder was shut down because of her misconduct. The state Department of Financial and Professional Regulation has issued three subpoenas to UIC seeking records related to Dr. Mani Pavuluri, who resigned from the university in June amid controversy. (Cohen, 12/12)

ProPublica: Criminally Insane In Oregon Attack Twice As Many People Than Previously Known, New Data Shows
People freed by Oregon officials after being found criminally insane are charged with new felonies more often than convicted criminals released from state prison, with family members and first responders often the targets of violence, a new analysis by the Malheur Enterprise and ProPublica shows. All told, 23 percent of people freed by the state’s Psychiatric Security Review Board are charged with felonies within three years of their release, compared with 16 percent of those released from Oregon prisons. (Fraser, 12/12)

San Jose Mercury News: California Parents Trusted Their Son's Mental Health Treatment, But ‘Our System Failed Them’
It turns out that the Sovereign “step-down” house Nelson went to after release from a hospital was not licensed by the state as either a mental health facility or an addiction treatment facility. Nelson didn’t have a team of professionals overseeing his transition — he apparently didn’t even get his medications on time, according to his parents and police reports. (Sforza, 12/11)

WBUR: Survey: More Than Half Of Mass. Adults Struggle Finding Help With Mental, Substance Abuse Problems
It found that more than half of Massachusetts adults who tried finding help for mental health or substance abuse problems said they had difficulty finding anyone who would see them. More than one-third gave up seeking help entirely, and about 1 in 8 went to the emergency room for treatment. (Bebinger, 12/11)

Boston Globe: Tech Firms Enter The Business Of Campus Mental Health Care
At many college counseling centers therapists are overwhelmed and students are forced to wait weeks for an appointment, even as more of them seek help for anxiety, depression, and sleep and eating disorders. Christie Campus Health, a Lexington start-up that will be launched Wednesday, thinks it has a solution: technology. (Fernandes, 12/12)

The Washington Post: McKenzie Adams, Alabama 9-Year-Old Who Hung Herself, Faced Racist Bullying, Her Family Says
McKenzie Adams wanted to be a scientist when she grew up. The 9-year-old excelled in math. But she also liked riding her bike, playing with dolls and PlayStation 4 and recording goofy home videos with her cousins, according to media reports in Alabama, where Adams attended elementary school in the city of Demopolis. Instead of making plans to gather McKenzie and her cousins for Christmas, the child’s family is preparing to bury her on Saturday after she hung herself. Her body was discovered at their home in Linden, Ala., on Dec. 3 by her grandmother, family members told the Tuscaloosa News. (Stanley-Becker, 12/12)