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Tuesday, February 11, 2025

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A potent winter storm is thumping 1,500 miles of the US. Two more are right behind it; Amid scientists' warnings, Trump admin. sued over medical research cuts; Mississippi communities find local solutions to rural education challenges; CT groups rally against gas pipeline expansion.

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President Donald Trump approves 25% tariffs on steel and aluminum. Democrats who oppose dismantling the agency have been denied access to the Department of Education. And some places buck policy trends on sex education and immigration.

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Medical debt, which tops $90 billion has an outsized impact on rural communities, a new photography book shares the story of 5,000 schools built for Black students between 1912 and 1937, and anti-hunger advocates champion SNAP.

OR youth need more mental health support, new report has ideas

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Wednesday, January 15, 2025   

The Bipartisan Policy Center has released a new report on reforming the way youth mental health services are delivered, in Oregon and nationwide. Research from 2024 puts Oregon among the three states with the highest rates of mental illness in youth combined with the least access to care. Recommendations from the Youth Mental Health and Substance Abuse Task Force include the need to grow the behavioral health workforce nationally and make it easier for providers to join insurance networks.

Michele Gazda, associate director of the Bipartisan Policy Center said several factors shaped the recommendations.

"The things that work for adults getting into care may or not work the same for kids and their families. So, part of what the task force set out to do is make sure that the recommendations were very actionable, that they can be achieved," she explained.

The report recommends that Congress fund grants of up to $2 million over three years to create ten regional centers focused on building the behavioral health workforce.

Another recommendation is for government agencies to work together to gather better data on young people who are incarcerated - and find ways to reduce youth suicide, including in jails, prisons and after release. Gazda says during the pandemic and the years just before, deaths by overdose skyrocketed. However, she says the numbers have since come down - and she credits one important change.

"Fortunately during the pandemic, if there's one silver lining, it's that youth mental health has experienced a bit of a de-stigmatization, and folks are much more open and comfortable talking about it than they used to be. I think with youth substance use, that's not as much the case," she added.

The task force report also recommends doing more to focus on young people with the most serious mental health needs.


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