Hannah Furfaro

Hannah Furfaro was a 2022-2023 Center for Health Journalism Data Fellow and a mental health reporter at The Seattle Times. She spent the first half of her career covering education; for the past several years, she has covered science and health. She was a 2022-23 Carter Center for Mental Health Journalism fellow. Her stories have appeared in The Atlantic, Science, Scientific American, and The Wall Street Journal, among other publications. Furfaro’s work has been recognized as a finalist and winner of several national and regional awards. In 2021, her investigation of a common antipsychotic called Abilify was a finalist for the National Institute of Health Care Management award. In 2019, her piece about a cluster of people with a rare genetic condition in Colombia was recognized as a finalist for a Deadline Club award and was included in The Best American Science and Nature Writing. She has a master’s degree in science and health journalism from Columbia University and an undergraduate degree from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She is a committee member of the Association of Health Care Journalists and a member of the Northwest Science Writers Association.

Articles

Mental Health & Trauma

Lawmakers pass bill to change how WA cares for youth stuck in hospitals

Washington lawmakers have passed legislation holding the governor’s office accountable for a growing crisis of children warehoused in hospitals awaiting psychiatric care.

Mental Health

Community & Public Health

State takes over closed Burien facility, plans to serve kids in crisis

The Lake Burien campus will reopen as a 24-hour care facility for youths with neurodevelopmental conditions, focusing on voluntary, specialized care to bridge gaps in Washington’s support system.

Disability and Accessibility

Greta Johnson with her son Jack Hays, at Mary Bridge Children’s Hospital, where he has spent more than a year. Jack’s story was central to reporter Hannah Furfaro’s Seattle Times series on the youth psychiatric boarding crisis.

Reporting Strategies

What I learned while reporting about youth in psychiatric crisis

I’ve spent my career writing about youth. But Jack and his family graciously let me into their lives in a way that few have before.

Mental Health

Healthcare Systems & Policy

WA Gov. Inslee, lawmakers push budget hikes, policy changes to curb youth psychiatric boarding

Top government officials are pitching budget increases and a series of potentially transformative policy proposals to curb long psychiatric-related hospitalizations.

Health Insurance and Costs

Jack Hays, seen in his bed at Mary Bridge Children’s Hospital in Tacoma in May.

Healthcare Systems & Policy

Caught in WA's youth mental health 'disaster,' a teen with nowhere to go

Jack Hays has stayed in the hospital for more than a year – including more than 250 days in a windowless room in the emergency department – as he waits for long-term care.

Healthcare Regulation and Reform

(Photo by Patrick T. Fallon/AFP via Getty Images)

Washington youth facing mental health crises are stuck living in hospitals, waiting for care

The state is facing a hospital boarding crisis, compounded by vast mental health care deserts.

Reporting Topics

Reporting Topics

Reporting Topics

Reporting Topics

Reporting Topics

Hannah Furfaro

Articles

Lawmakers pass bill to change how WA cares for youth stuck in hospitals

State takes over closed Burien facility, plans to serve kids in crisis

What I learned while reporting about youth in psychiatric crisis

WA Gov. Inslee, lawmakers push budget hikes, policy changes to curb youth psychiatric boarding

Caught in WA's youth mental health 'disaster,' a teen with nowhere to go

Washington youth facing mental health crises are stuck living in hospitals, waiting for care