Mental health emergencies, the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline, mobile crisis teams, dual diagnosis, trauma and PTSD — care for the moments when waiting isn’t an option.
Reggie Halverson had been awake for nine days when his sister Janelle finally drove down from Minneapolis to his apartment in Madison, Wisconsin. He had quit his accounting job by email at 3 a.m. on day three, opened seven new credit cards by day five, bought a used motorcycle on day six despite never having … Read more
Marisol Tavares had been on Xanax for eleven years when her primary care doctor in Tucson retired in March. The new physician told her the prescription was “inappropriate long-term” and cut her dose in half on a Tuesday afternoon. By Friday, Marisol was in the emergency room at Banner University Medical Center with a tonic-clonic … Read more
When to call 911 vs 988 for a mental health crisis – what each number does, how to request a CIT-trained officer, mobile crisis dispatch, and family crisis planning.
Devon Rourke was sixteen the first time his mother Caitlin found the small, careful cuts on his upper thigh. They were in their kitchen in Worcester, Massachusetts, on a quiet Sunday evening, and she had only noticed because his pajama shorts rode up while he pulled a bowl from the dishwasher. Her instinct was to … Read more
Marcus, twenty-three, walked into a corner store in the Bronx on a humid July afternoon and bought a small foil packet labeled “AK-47 herbal incense.” Twenty minutes later, his cousin found him on the sidewalk outside, frozen in a half-crouch, eyes locked open, drool tracking down his chin. He could not answer his name. By … Read more
Jared Vasquez, twenty-eight, an Army veteran living in Colorado Springs, took a fall from a second-story balcony at a friend’s wedding in late September. He was knocked unconscious for maybe ninety seconds. The ER did a CT scan, told him it was a concussion, gave him a one-page printout about rest, and sent him home. … Read more
The Conversation That Saves Lives For most of the twentieth century, mainstream advice in mental health care cautioned against asking people directly about suicide. The unspoken theory was that direct questions would plant ideas, lead to action, or destabilise a fragile person. Decades of research have decisively reversed that view. Direct questions about suicide reduce risk rather … Read more
Trevor was 28, a software engineer in Austin, when his fiancee called his sister at 3 a.m. on a Tuesday. He had not slept since Saturday. He had drained 11,000 dollars from their joint account to invest in a cryptocurrency project he had only heard about that morning. He was talking faster than she could … Read more
Linda was 64, a retired schoolteacher in Sarasota, when her cardiologist scheduled her for a triple coronary bypass. The surgery went textbook. The recovery did not. Two weeks after discharge, Linda’s daughter Janelle noticed her mother had stopped reading, stopped calling friends, and was sleeping 14 hours a day. By week four, Linda was crying … Read more
The Body Keeps the Score Even When the Mind Forgets You were in a car accident three years ago. You walked away with only bruises. But ever since, you cannot drive on the highway without your heart racing and your palms sweating. You take back roads everywhere. You are always scanning for danger. Your family … Read more