Latest California Healthline Stories
Cops on Ketamine? Largely Unregulated Mental Health Treatment Faces Hurdles
Ketamine, long used as an anesthetic or illegal party drug, is being combined with psychotherapy to treat severe depression and post-traumatic stress — a potential tool for those with high trauma rates, like firefighters and police officers. Yet the drug’s stigma and unregulated marketplace leave first responders in uncharted territory.
‘Demon Copperhead’ Author Lays Foundation for Women in Appalachia To Beat Addiction
Barbara Kingsolver won a Pulitzer Prize for her bestselling novel about Appalachia’s drug crisis. She invested some of the proceeds into a home for women trying to beat substance use disorders.
An HIV Outbreak in Maine Shows the Risk of Trump’s Crackdown on Homelessness and Drug Use
Public health experts and advocates say the outbreak has been fueled by a confluence of local factors, including the sweeping of a homeless encampment and shuttering of a sterile-syringe program. But those issues may not remain local for long. The Trump administration is leading efforts to promote similar tactics nationwide.
As California’s Behavioral Health Workforce Buckles, Help Is Years Away
California has put a greater focus on behavioral health workers, but a huge spike in demand, an aging workforce, and employee burnout continue to hamper mental health and substance use treatment. The state is tapping Medicaid funds to train, recruit, and retain workers, but it will be a long time before the impacts are evident.
Workplace Mental Health at Risk as Key Federal Agency Faces Cuts
Efforts to decrease alarmingly high rates of suicide among construction workers and prevent burnout in health care workers are in jeopardy after the firing of hundreds of employees at the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health.
In a Nation Growing Hostile Toward Drugs and Homelessness, Los Angeles Tries Leniency
A new care center for homeless people on Los Angeles’ infamous Skid Row embraces the principle of harm reduction, a more lenient approach to drug use and addiction. County officials say criminalization only worsens homelessness.
Peligran servicios de salud mental en lugares de trabajo por recortes federales
El lugar de trabajo es la nueva zona cero para abordar la salud mental. Esto significa que las empresas, tanto empleados como supervisores, deben hacer frente a crisis que van desde la adicción hasta el suicidio.
3 Things To Watch on Mental Health in Trump’s Early Budget Proposals
President Donald Trump’s budget office says he’ll continue to fund the new 988 suicide prevention hotline, but documents sent to Congress offer clues — amid some mixed messages — about the administration’s approach to two pressing public health issues: mental health and addiction.
Readers Scrutinize Federal Cuts and Medical Debt
KFF Health News gives readers a chance to comment on a recent batch of stories.
Trump Team Faces Key Legal Decision That Could Put Mental Health Parity in Peril
The administration is facing a May 12 deadline to declare if it will defend Biden-era regulations that aim to enforce laws requiring parity in insurance coverage of mental and physical health care.