Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
988 Suicide Hotline Comes Back Online After Major Outage
WHIO TV: 988 Mental Health Hotline Back Online After Widespread Outage
The nation’s new 988 hotline, intended to help anyone experiencing a mental health emergency, was out of service for several hours Thursday, the Associated Press reported. The hotline is now back up for those in crisis. Those who were trying to reach the line for help with suicide, depression, or other mental health crises were greeted with a message that says the line is “experiencing a service outage.” (12/2)
AP: Widespread Outage Shuts Down 988 Mental Health Hotline
Intrado, the telecommunications provider for the service, could not immediately be reached for comment. In a statement on its website, the company said it [was] “experiencing an incident that is impacting production across numerous systems” and is “working diligently to restore service.” (12/1)
In other news about suicide and mental health —
NBC News: 4 Navy Sailors Assigned To Same Facility Die By Apparent Suicide Within Weeks, Amid Growing Concerns Of Mental Health Crisis
At least four U.S. Navy sailors assigned to the same facility in Virginia died by suicide in the last few weeks, including one as recently as Saturday, military officials and family members said. It is the latest cluster of Navy suicides this year to spark concerns of a fleetwide mental health crisis. (Chan, 12/1)
The New York Times: 35 Years Of Efforts To Address Mental Illness On New York Streets
An audit by the state comptroller, Thomas DiNapoli, released on Thursday, found that the city was not making use of one of the tools it already has — the ability to place people with mental illness in specialized shelters. The audit found that the city had failed to place a quarter of homeless shelter residents with serious mental health issues in a mental-health shelter. (Newman, 12/2)
Bloomberg: Holiday Stress Is Surgeon General Vivek Murthy's Next Challenge
Murthy on Dec. 1 announced a series of online sessions in partnership with Calm, a mindfulness app. Called “Mindfulness Tools,” the series of five YouTube videos are designed to target holiday stress and loneliness, among other sources of chaos and instability. Murthy said stressors such as loneliness and instability far predate the Covid-19 pandemic, which only exacerbated existing pain points. (Adegbesan, 12/1)
Columbus Dispatch: How To Make Mental Health & Well-Being A Priority In 2023
Regan Walsh, a business and career coach based out of the Short North, said there is one tactic that can both reduce stress and improve your productivity: breaks from work. Countless pages of research shows that workers get more done if they have a full lunch break or take short breaks regularly throughout the day. (Cooley, 12/2)
Axios: Tampa Startup Therapy IQ Wants To Free Therapists Of Paperwork
Nate Mangi knew being a social worker would be hard. But he never imagined his biggest problem would have little to do with directly helping clients. ... Mangi and his wife and business partner, Amy Query, who live in Seminole, created Therapy iQ, a Tampa-based software company that recently closed a $1.5 million pre-seed round. The system, which launched last year, frees up time for therapists by streamlining clinical and financial paperwork and making it easier for practices to communicate with clients, Mangi said. (Felice, 12/2)
