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.
Mental Health & Trauma
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.
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.
Nearly 10,000 people in San Francisco are homeless, with a nightly shelter bed waitlist that hasn’t dropped below 1,000 in more than a year.
Last November, I sought to get at the financial impact of more ER visits. Data showed an 18% jump in ER visits in San Diego from 2012 to 2017, reflecting a statewide trend.