While rolling vineyards, and fine wines and dining come to mind when most of the world thinks of the Napa Valley, the financial burden Agustina Palafox faces because of housing costs is not unusual here.
Mental Health
Standing in the Fountaingrove neighborhood, you can see the scar of the Tubbs fire stretch across the hillside. Two years later, the trees are still charred and the sounds of reconstruction are constant.
This story was produced as part of a larger project led by Nuala Sawyer, a participant in the 2019 California Fellowship.
Other stories in this series include:
Lost, Stolen, Sold: S.F. Violates Homeless Property Policy
S.F. Sees New Success in Treating Homeless People with Hep C
Keeping the Homeless
A reporter shares a handful of investigative reporting techniques that proved essential in overcoming blind spots among local health experts who were largely unaware of opioids' toll in their communities.
Even when the facts are presented and real people share their stories, some readers don’t believe it.
A Cotati woman describes a fragmented system of mental health care that at times treated her with dignity while at others like a criminal or animal. A Santa Rosa mother decries a system of services that abandons all but the wealthy and very poor.
Incarcerating parents can have a major mental health impact on the children left behind and lead to risky behaviors, even as those kids become adults.
Kemberly Mahiri shows me one of the hundreds of thank you cards she and other counselors for Sonoma County's Teen Parent Program have received. “It just chokes me up every single time,” Mahiri tells me.
For nearly a year, the former competitors have gathered daily to share information on patients and staffing.
When stories make bold claims about life expectancies chopped by decades or rates of chronic diseases skyrocketing for those with higher scores, they can create heightened anxiety without a real solution.