News

There’s a house on Lincoln Avenue in Napa that’s much more than a home. It’s become a true community center and the rallying point for services that support and nurture youths who may have had little support growing up. With the sweat equity of those youths and the contributions of money, materials, expertise and time of hundreds of community volunteers, that house, already in use, has been renovated and will be ready in just a few weeks for a grand celebration. It is the Napa headquarters of VOICES — Voice Our Independent Choices for Emancipation Support.

FRESNO -- Teenage prescription drug abuse is on the rise in California, so much so that a California Department of Education survey assessing student well-being included questions about it for the first time in its last statewide report.

Newswise — The articles below will be published online Jan. 19, 2011, at 4 p.m. (ET) by theAmerican Journal of Public Health® under “First Look” athttp://www.ajph.org/first_look.shmtl, and they are currently scheduled to appear in the March 2012 print issue of the Journal. “First Look” articles have undergone peer review, copyediting and approval by authors but have not yet been printed to paper or posted online by issue. TheAmerican Journal of Public Healthis published by the American Public Health Association,www.apha.org, and is available atwww.ajph.org

Opinion: Proposition 63 has cut homelessness, arrests, psychiatric hospitalizations

ByDr. Larry Poaster | 01/12/12 12:00 AM PST

Much has been written about the Mental Health Services Act (Proposition 63), with some even claiming that it doesn’t help individuals with serious mental illness. These critics use single anecdotes out of context and ignore overwhelming facts. The facts are Prop. 63 services are reducing homelessness, acute psychiatric hospitalizations, arrests and incarcerations, according to a 2011 UCLA report. Even in these difficult budget times, with such great need for services, Prop. 63 is delivering.   

AVON, Conn., Oct 26, 2011 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- Each year, nearly three million American adolescents age 12 to 17 receive behavioral health treatment or counseling in a specialty mental health setting. Signs of depression, problems at home, and suicidal thoughts or attempts are some of the most common reasons for treatment. Left untreated, these youth are more likely to engage in substance abuse, become victims of bullying, drop out of school, be arrested or become homeless.