In this year's Society for Neuroscience meeting, about 1,000 brain scientists packed the San Diego Convention Center for the symposium, called Psychedelics and Neural Plasticity. They heard about how drugs like MDMA and psilocybin can help rewire the brain, offering a new way to treat disorders from depression to chronic...
Solar Panels Will Help Valley School District Improve Mental Health
Reef-Sunset Unified School District in Avenal hopes to breathe new life into school activities by providing outdoor learning opportunities to students and staff through the installation of solar panels on outdoor dining structures. After two years of online learning, the district is eager to provide an avenue for outdoor...
Big Help on the Way for Valley Residents With Mental Health Challenges
Mental health issues remain a huge problem for the Central Valley with data as far back as 2013 showing that our region has some of the highest rates of mental illness in California. In addition, the Valley and the Inland Empire have the fewest mental health professionals per capita in...
Feds Fund Mental Health Crisis Teams to Stand in for Police
WASHINGTON — When police respond to a person gripped by a mental health or drug crisis, the encounter can have tragic results. Now a government insurance program will help communities set up an alternative: mobile teams with mental health practitioners trained in de-escalating such potentially volatile situations. The effort to...
Newsom Signs Law to Grow Mental Health Coverage
SACRAMENTO — Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a law on Friday that for the first time in California defines “medical necessity," a move aimed at requiring private health insurance plans to pay for more mental health and drug addiction treatments. State and federal laws already require health insurance companies to handle...
Federal Report Highlights Key Ways to Prevent School Attacks
NEW YORK — School officials nationwide should improve mental health resources, monitor student social media accounts and improve physical security measures, according to a Justice Department report on school safety released Tuesday. The report, compiled by the department's School Safety Working Group, examined what the panel believes are the 10...
I Faced a Challenge One of Every Three People in America Has: Depression and Anxiety
On Friday, April 10, at 5 p.m., Californians learned I had resigned as chief economic and business advisor to Gov. Gavin Newsom and chair of the California High-Speed Rail Authority. The press release stated I was leaving “to focus on family and personal business.” In corporate speak, this usually means...
How to Get Past the Coronavirus Crisis Without Losing Your Mental Health
The world as we knew it a few weeks ago — remember handshakes? — is now upside down. The coronavirus has sickened untold numbers of us, claimed thousands of lives, and shaken almost every corner of society. Fear of the virus leaves us hyper-aware of every sniffle and cough, of...
Fresno County Mandates Health Checks, Reports 4 New COVID-19 Cases
All employers must screen workers for fever or respiratory issues as part of a new order from the Fresno County Public Health Department announced Friday afternoon. Employees exhibiting symptoms will be sent home. The department also announced four new cases of COVID-19, bringing the county's total to 31. Of those...
Newsom Makes Homelessness the State's No. 1 Issue
California should lower the legal bar for providing forced treatment to the mentally ill and building more homeless shelters, Gov. Gavin Newsom said Wednesday in his second State of the State address. He took the unusual step of devoting most of the annual speech to just two related issues: affordable...