Mental Health & Trauma

The 12-square-mile Hoopa Reservation in Northern California has been grappling with drug abuse for decades. A new reporting project aims to find out how Hoopa youth are navigating the realities of addiction.

At Los Angeles Unified's 15 wellness centers and through in-class screenings, the district is stepping efforts to help students cope with extremely high levels of trauma and toxic stress.

“We started looking at the data and found the most vulnerable people in the county, and we put this team together to go find and work with them,” said Anna Roth, director of Contra Costa Health Services.

At LAC+USC Medical Center, primary care doctors now routinely ask patients about things such as food, housing and mental health, with teams of providers ready to connect them to services.

Stories of undiagnosed PTSD among Hmong and Vietnamese American refugees are common in some California communities. What can their experiences tell us about future health impacts facing incoming Syrian refugees?

Dealing with students’ childhood trauma may improve classroom behavior and attendance rates — at least that’s the idea at the Los Angeles Unified School District’s wellness centers.

This reporting is supported by the University of Southern California Center for Health Journalism National Fellowship.

In rural Northern California counties, people tend to live miles from help. They may be too sick or poor to drive. If despair takes over and there’s a gun in the home, the thought of suicide can quickly become reality.

Mendocino County has some of the highest rates of suicide and drug-related deaths in the state of California. Will a recently approved tax to fund mental health care in the county effectively address the problem?

In Tulare County, RV-like mobile units are trying to fill the need among Hispanic farm laborers for mental health care. But so far, the need far outstrips the supply of care.