mental health
GOP’s desired work requirements for federal aid would kick roughly 21M from anti-poverty programs
Congressional Republicans’ efforts to slash federal spending by tying work requirements to Medicaid and SNAP would have far-reaching consequences for people with mental health issues, chronic health problems, and some people with disabilities if enacted, policy experts on anti-poverty programs say. They say the work requirements as laid out by House Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s “Limit, […]
House Republicans pass children gender-affirming surgery ban over Democrats’ objections
Members of the House passed a bill Wednesday evening that would prohibit gender-affirming surgery for minors in North Carolina. On a fast track to passage, House Bill 808 cleared the House Committee on Health on Tuesday. On Wednesday afternoon legislators in the House Rules Committee advanced the bill to the House, where it passed by […]
NC fast tracks legislation to ban gender-affirming surgery for minors
Without questions or debate, members of the House Committee on Health advanced legislation Tuesday that would block gender-affirming surgical care for minors in North Carolina. “If you are under the age of 18 in North Carolina, you cannot get a tattoo at all, even with your parents consent. You can’t get a body piercing other […]
Monday numbers: the continuing student suicide crisis at NC State
Last week, students at North Carolina State University concluding their first week of finals learned of terrible news: two apparent student suicides. “This is heartbreaking,” Chancellor Randy Woodson wrote in a community message Thursday. “And I know there’s little I can say to console the deep hurt or heal the immense grief felt by the […]
Gun deaths drive historic spike in U.S. child mortality rates
This story was first published by Stateline, an initiative of The Pew Charitable Trusts. After decades of steady improvement, the death rate of America’s children and teens shot up between 2019 and 2021 — and COVID-19 wasn’t the reason. Gun-related deaths represented the largest share of the increase — by far. According to an analysis of the […]
Legislation seeks to find out many people in NC are involuntarily committed for mental health treatment
A bill filed this week would require the state to track and report how many people are forced into psychiatric treatment. Involuntary commitments are increasing in the state, but it’s difficult to find out how many many times judges decide people are dangerous to themselves or others and force them into treatment. Rep. John Autry, […]
NC Child Health Policy Director Kaylan Szafranski discusses the 2023 Children’s Health Report Card
Read this year’s report card. One of the most important and worrisome impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and its aftermath has been the hugely negative impact on the mental health of our nation’s youth. Recently, the children’s advocacy group NC Child partnered with the North Carolina Institute of Medicine to prepare and release a 2023 […]
New NC Child health report card focuses on mental health concerns
This year’s NC Child Health Report Card includes a special focus on mental health and adds another document highlighting increased youth suicide rates. NC Child and the NC Institute of Medicine publish the report card every two years. With the percentage of children with health insurance inching up slightly to 94.5% since the last report, […]
Monday numbers: The youth mental health crisis
Last week, the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services held its eighth in a series of state-wide town halls on mental health. Held in Winston-Salem, the discussion focused on the crisis in youth mental health apparent in North Carolina and across the nation.
“Behavioral health is essential to health,” DHHS Secretary Kody Kinsley told the standing-room-only crowd in the Forsyth County Board Commissioners chamber Thursday. “For far too long we have divided up physical and behavioral health. And for far too long we just didn’t fund and support behavioral health in a way that made it foundational. And we’re changing that - one conversation at a time, one strategy at a time.”
Town Hall on Youth Mental Health to be held in Winston-Salem Thursday
The North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services will hold a town hall Thursday evening on the mental health crisis among children and teens. The discussion will bring together NCDHHS officials and state lawmakers to get input from the public and talk about possible solutions. The most recent data from the federal Centers for […]
North Carolina Child Fatality Task Force executive director Kella Hatcher
North Carolina Child Fatality Task Force executive director Kella Hatcher tells us about her group’s latest report and the big challenges our state faces in improving the health and well-being of our children. Read the 2023 report here.