Jocelyn Wiener

Health and mental health reporter

Jocelyn Wiener writes about health and mental health for CalMatters, exploring the intersection between government policies and people’s lives. She has worked as a reporter in her native California for close to two decades. Her work has appeared in The Atlantic, The Washington Post, the Christian Science Monitor, Kaiser Health News, the San Francisco Chronicle and many other state and national publications. After graduating from Stanford University, she received a Fulbright Scholarship to spend a year and a half working with young people living on the streets of El Salvador. She earned a master’s degree at Columbia University’s School of Journalism, and reported on poverty and homelessness for The Sacramento Bee. She has been both a Center for Health Journalism California and Data Fellow.

I am a freelance reporter with a focus on health and mental health care and other social issues. I regularly report for the CHCF Center for Health Reporting, a non-profit journalism organization based in Los Angeles that puts together in-depth stories on health care issues in California. These projects run in newspapers and on radio stations around the state.

Articles

California's mental health crisis

<p>Seven years after voters passed Proposition 63 -- the landmark legislation that was supposed to radically improve mental health care in the state -- California is facing a deepening statewide mental health crisis. As the state struggles under the weight of a lingering recession and an enormous deficit, county mental health programs are often failing to provide care for even the sickest patients. In many cases, the minimal safety net that used to exist is disintegrating.</p>