Shortage of mental health care providers hits home locally

April 28, 2023
Matt Benoit

“Not a pretty picture”: Whatcom, Skagit and San Juan counties — like elsewhere across the country — are seeing a shortage of mental health care providers, and not enough are in the training queue.

 

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Modern conservation corps meshes care for land, health for youths

April 13, 2023
Gretchen K. Wing

Youth Conservation Corps in the Salish Sea region offer a prescription for youths’ mental, cultural and spiritual health — and a means to care for the land.

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Jail needs to change, community agrees; but how?

January 3, 2023
Riley Weeks

An advisory committee for the Justice Project aims to ensure that voters’ priorities are considered in the next Whatcom County Jail ballot measure.

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A most interesting job

November 22, 2022
John Dunne

Commentary: Meet Sandy Hart, who may have one of the most interesting jobs in Bellingham.

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Some progress but gaps remain in mental health care for Whatcom adolescents

August 24, 2022
Matt Benoit

Summer services in the Bellingham and Nooksack Valley school districts aimed to fill gaps with a new option this year: mental health therapy.

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Schools assess safety protocols after shootings, threats

June 17, 2022
Kenneth Duncan

Recent school shootings and threats have renewed concern over safety — and impact on students’ mental health.

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Who are the homeless?

May 11, 2022
John Dunne

Our concept of the “deserving poor” needs to expand past attitudes mirroring 17th and 18th century mores that drive today’s ambivalent response to homelessness.

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Leaning into ‘treatment over punishment’: jail diversion programs show potential

April 8, 2022
Matt Benoit

Amid calls to reform policing and criminal justice — and an aging, crowded jail — Whatcom officials, residents and law officers are looking to diversion programs for detainees with serious mental health or substance abuse issues.

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Skagit sheriff-social-worker partnership is a game-changer in mental health calls

February 4, 2022
Lauren Gallup

A different approach to how first responders in Skagit County address mental health crises is changing the outcome of behavioral health emergencies and helping people stay out of the hospital or jail.

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For the people: what local legislators plan for the 2022 session

January 7, 2022
40th and 42nd District Legislators

Dealing with climate change, providing economic relief post-COVID-19 and ensuring sustainability for the Washington State Ferries system made the priority lists of elected officials returning to take care of the people’s business when the 2022 session opens Jan. 10.

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Businesses open but not ‘as usual’ as pandemic continues to affect restaurant staff, management

December 9, 2021
Mallory Biggar

Restaurants are open for business but definitely not back to normal, as management and staff work their way through post-pandemic-shutdown changing realities. While federal support dollars helped many owners to carry on and stay in business, the industry is seeing a trend toward workers leaving, prompted by concerns for their physical and mental health as well as newly difficult social interactions in an already stressful work environment.

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In country, town and city, treatment for drug addiction is urgently needed

November 18, 2021
Heather Spaulding

Harm reduction programs and collaborations among police, health professionals and society at large pave the pathways to treatment needed by those addicted to drugs, agreed an expert panel at the recent Ralph Munro seminar. Along with looking at why people turn to drugs and how to get them the help they need to overcome addiction, the panel offered ideas as to what’s needed in the way of policy.

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The Gardenview Village tiny homes open avenues of hope for those experiencing homelessness

November 5, 2021
Lauren Gallup

Gardenview Village, a new community of tiny homes located off Lakeway Drive in Bellingham, will include 35 houses to serve unhoused members of the community when complete. The site already is providing homes to some residents since opening in mid-October.

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Election 2021: City, county candidates vary on police reform needs, approaches

October 7, 2021
Stella Harvey

Urgency around police reform and public safety has not brought people to the streets this year, but voters in Bellingham and Whatcom County have the opportunity to weigh in on what approach their local officials should take when it comes to local policing and public safety.

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Police, mental health workers face challenge, confusion with new use-of-force law

August 20, 2021
Matt Benoit

House Bill 1310 established new rules about use of force by police when it took effect in Washington last month, and law enforcement and social service agencies continue to grapple with confusion related to challenges to the new law.

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As gun death rates rise in Whatcom, Skagit and San Juan counties, state refocuses to public health approach

June 11, 2021
Kenneth Duncan

With the number of gun deaths in Whatcom, Skagit and San Juan counties on the rise and outpacing statewide trends, policy and law makers are stressing public health-focused solutions that could be more effective in prevention than legal tactics.

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