The IRE Resource Center is a major research library containing more than 23,250 investigative stories — both print and broadcast. These stories are searchable online or by contacting the Resource Center directly (573-882-3364 or rescntr@ire.org) where a researcher can help you pinpoint what you need. Browse or search the tipsheet section of our library below. Stories are not available for download but can be easily ordered by contacting the Resource Center:
Search results for "mental health" ...
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Hospital at Risk
My investigation of the Minnesota Security Hospital, a state-run facility that provides psychiatric treatment to nearly 400 adults deemed "mentally ill and dangerous," uncovered high rates of violence and injuries of employees and patients at the facility, a critical shortage of psychiatrists, and widespread confusion among employees about what to do when a patient becomes violent. I found that much of confusion was the result of the abrasive, threatening management style of head administrator David Proffitt, who was hired in 2011 to reform the facility. I began investigating Proffitt and found he was hired without a basic background check. I uncovered many troubling details from Proffitt's past, including domestic violence, a PhD from a now-defunct online degree mill, a forced resignation from his previous job as the administrator of a private psychiatric hospital in Maine, and other failings. The state ordered Proffitt to resign and the Minnesota legislative auditor began an audit of the department's hiring practices. The assistant commissioner of the Department of Human Services who led the hiring search also resigned. The governor proposed $40 million in renovations to address safety concerns. Regulators from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration visited the facility for the first time in 21 years. The facility also implemented new training for employees to reduce violence. My investigation of the facility continues.
Tags: Psychiatrists; domestic violence; injuries
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IJEC: Mental health on campus
After the mass shootings at Virginia Tech and Northern Illinois, legislatures and university officials nationwide said they were taking extra measures to upgrade mental health treatment for students and to improve security on campuses The Investigative Journalism Education Consortium – a group of faculty and students at Midwest universities - decided to examine what actually had been done. What they found is that the number of college students seeking mental health care from their universities is soaring as is the severity of the mental health problems students have when they arrive on campus. The consortium also found most campuses do not have the number of counselors and resources needed. In addition, we found some universities have moved slowly or not at all to improve security and to develop effective building evacuation plans.
Tags: Mental health; health care; counselors; Midwest universities
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Are EMS Companies Taking Medicare For A Ride?
The Houston Chronicle published stories detailing how Houston was the nation's private ambulance capital and how it was connected to questionable Medicare payments and unregulated for-profit mental health clinics.
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Struggling to Understand
The story takes an investigative look at the personal struggles of the recent suicide victims in a small seaside New Jersey town and examined how the school and community at large responded to what is for New Jersey an unprecedented public health crisis. While each case involved a unique set of circumstances, the reporters found that a history of mentalillness, alcohol and drug abuse -- and a community all to willing to turn a blind eye to teen substance abuse -- played a role in the majority of the deaths.
Tags: suicide; mental illness; drug abuse; youth suicide
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Failure to Aid
Over the last year, I spent a lot of time researching and reporting on stories pertaining to the mental health treatment of people in prison. More specifically, I have successfully fought to gain access to public records in order to tell the story of Tony Lester. Tony was a young man who had been diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia. He committed an assault and was sentenced to serve time at the Arizona State Prison in Tucson. Tragically, Tony committed suicide while in prison. Staff in the prison failed to render aid when they discovered him in his cell bleeding. My investigation not only revealed that he was improperly placed in with the general population against a judge's order and a court-ordered psychiatrist order...but he was also mistakenly given razors as part of a hygiene kit.
Tags: prison; paranoid schizophrenia; suicide; mental health
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Vitalistic Therapeutic Charter School
The story focused on an obscure 10-year-old charter school in Bethlehem, Pa that taught mostly poor, mentally disabled and minority students through curriculum laden with intensive mental health therapy.
Tags: Vitalistic Therapeautic Charter School; taxpayer; education funds; Bethlehem
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Rising Violence in California Psychiatric Hospitals
The series of reports verified the claims by staffers at California's psychiatric hospitals that violence had been increasing in recent years. The stories traced the possible reasons for the escalating violence and followed the development of this controversy over the course of the year.
Tags: hospitals; psychiatric; Department of Mental Health; mentally ill; radio
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Crazy Like Us
The book examines depression, post traumatic stress disorder and eating disorders in the U.S.
Tags: depression; mental health; mental illness; post traumatic stress disorder; eating disorders;
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Joint Investigationby Oklahoman and Tulsa World
Reports from the Oklahoma Health Department found more than 830 violations at the residential group homes for the mentally ill and elderly. The reports showed residents were found covered in feces, stolen from, or sleeping on dirty mattresses.
Tags: mentally ill; mentally disabled; oversight; elderly; group home
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Anatomy of an Epidemic: Magic Bullets, Psychiatric Drugs, and the Astonishing Rise of Mental Illness in America
This book documents how the per-capita disability rate due to mental illness has increased six-fold since 1955, when Thorazine was introduced into asylum medicine. The number of adults on government disability has tripled since 1987, the year Prozac was introduced. Finally, the number of children receiving disability due to a serious mental illness has risen 35-fold since 1987.
Tags: medicine; psychiatry; psychiatric medicine; Thorazine; Prozac; disability; mental illness; National Institute of Mental Health; World Health Organization; American Psychiatric Association;