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Japan's tsunami survivors call lost loves on the phone of the wind

Issei Kato Mari Saito

March 05, 2021 |

Reuters |

Photojournalism |

Under 800 Words

Response Location: Japan, Otsuchi

A man who lost a cousin to cancer built a phone booth with an unconnected rotary phone to imagine conversations with his loved one. It became "the phone of the wind," used by thousands across Japan who lost family in the 2011 tsunami and others whose longing for contact with lost loved ones turns the "conversations" into a deep form of relief and grieving. People in Poland and Britain plan to adopt this approach for survivors grieving losses in the COVID-19 pandemic.

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Will New York allow incarcerated people to access treatment for drug addiction?

Sam Mellins

March 05, 2021 |

New York Focus |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, New York

Medically assisted treatment is proven to reduce fatal opioid overdoses, particularly among formerly incarcerated people. When people are denied treatment in jail or prison and then resume their previous doses once they're released, they are up to 40 times more likely to die of an overdose. Only 18 of New York's county jails and fewer than one in five of its prisons provide access to such treatment drugs as Suboxone and methadone. When Rhode Island became the first state to make MAT available throughout its prisons, its overdose deaths among people recently released from incarceration dropped 60%.

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Schools Look To Algorithms To Flag Students Who May Harm Themselves

Alisa Roth

March 03, 2021 |

NPR |

Radio |

3-5 Minutes

Response Location: United States, Mason City, Iowa

Companies like Gaggle are typically used by school districts to track student online behavior, but now they are tracking something else—self-harm. Machine learning flags words that might indicate a student is thinking of hurting themselves. “It gives us insight into what the student's thinking.” Gaggle identified 64,000 student references to suicide and self-harm. The company claims to have saved 927 student lives. In Mason City, districts receive alerts when a student’s search is flagged. “Nicole Pfirman says there have been a few times where she believes an alert saved a kid's life.”

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Early intervention program to stem domestic violence in Poughkeepsie faces resistance

Saba Ali

March 03, 2021 |

Poughkeepsie Journal |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Kingston, New York

An early-intervention program targets people suspected of domestic violence with services meant to end the abuse through deterrence and counseling rather than after-the-fact punishment. In Kingston, New York, the Intimate Partners Violence Intervention program has contributed to a 36% drop in reported abuse and a low recidivism rate. Multiple agencies provide services aimed at prevention of abuse, while police arrest threats escalate depending on the severity and frequency of the abuse. In nearby Poughkeepsie, the program's development has been stalled by objections from criminal defense lawyers.

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Experiences elsewhere seek to quell abuse, providing lessons for Malheur County

Pat Caldwell

March 03, 2021 |

Malheur Enterprise |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Duluth, Minnesota

The Duluth Model is one of multiple successful responses to domestic violence that focus on prevention through counseling and education, rather than relying only on punishment after a crime has been committed. The often-copied Duluth approach uses an intense, multi-agency response that includes putting men who abuse their partners through a lengthy treatment program. That program leads men to examine their lives and attitudes toward women, and has been credited with keeping 70% of its graduates out of trouble.

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Here's What Happens When Social Workers, Not Police, Respond To Mental Health Crises

Christina Jedra

March 01, 2021 |

Honolulu Civil Beat |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Eugene, Oregon

Honolulu could benefit from adopting the approach to mental-health crisis calls to 911 that Eugene, Oregon, uses. But it would need to make big changes first in its critical infrastructure. Eugene's CAHOOTS program sends counselors and medics on 17% of the calls coming to its city's 911 center, saving millions on police, ambulances, and emergency room visits. Non-police responders de-escalate potential conflicts and get people the help they need without arrest or violence. Honolulu is primed to examine this approach, as many cities have done, but it's not a simple matter to start it.

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This Alabama school's mental health program is a model for the state

Trisha Powell Crain

February 28, 2021 |

AL.com (Alabama Media Group) |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Florence, Alabama

School counselors in Alabama's schools are providing students with mental health care resources. Florence City Schools partnered with local organizations to provide therapists on-site, as well as social workers. "Currently, 97 of Alabama’s 138 school districts and all five public charter schools have applied for and received $40,000 each to go toward paying the salary of a master’s-level mental health professional to coordinate the district’s mental health efforts for students."

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Cops and Hippies

David Byrne

February 26, 2021 |

Reasons to be Cheerful |

Text |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, Eugene, Oregon

The CAHOOTS program, which sends medics and counselors on certain 911 calls instead of the police, has become a national model in the wake of 2020's criminal-justice protests. But its roots reach back half a century, when a free medical clinic serving the hippie counterculture emerged as a public-health response to drug, mental health, and other non-violent emergencies. CAHOOTS has grown into a 24/7 service that saves Eugene millions in policing and medical spending, and saves many on the streets from unnecessarily punitive interactions with the police.

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An AI is training counselors to deal with teens in crisis

Karen Hao Abby Ohlheiser

February 26, 2021 |

MIT Technology Review |

Text |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States

Crisis hotlines and chat services are turning to technologies such as AI tools to help assist an oft-overburdened system. At The Trevor Project, AI is used as both a risk assessment tool and as a role-play simulator to train volunteer counselors to correspond with callers. Users of these tools stress that they are not a replacement for counselors, but rather a tool to help the humans in these roles.

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Removing Obstacles to Mental Health Care — Over the Phone

Prudence Phiri

February 25, 2021 |

Global Press Journal |

Text |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: Zambia

StrongMinds Zambia began offering teletherapy, in part due to COVID-19 related restrictions, but also to address the many new stressors that came with the pandemic. Counselors hold group calls with five people twice a week for five weeks. Clients are not charged for treatment or the calling costs. Some of the 1,500 women and about 100 men treated via teletherapy express the benefit of anonymity that speaking over the phone brings in a therapy setting. Without fear of being identified, clients feel more comfortable talking freely, especially given existing stigmas surrounding mental health issues.

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