San Diegans, like all Americans, are struggling with mental health. Here's how to help. [Opinion]
Chronic absenteeism is surging locally and nationwide as mounting mental health issues have left far too many kids falling behind and even out of school. Mounting mental health issues have also left far too many adults in need of limited behavioral health beds, or sleeping on increasingly crowded city streets, or behind bars, where problems in the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department’s jails can prove fatal.
One big problem is that so much more help is needed than is being provided. A range of people are doing righteous work individually and collectively, with new momentum building behind tools as varied as red flag laws, conservatorship and non-police 911 responses. Just last month, Gov. Gavin Newsom visited San Diego to propose a 2024 bond measure to raise billions of dollars to house and treat thousands of people with mental health issues.
• San Diego County’s Psychiatric Emergency Response Teams launched in 1996 to assist people having mental health breakdowns. Today, the county funds 72 of these clinicians, but they’re often not available when needed. Depending on the day, there may only be about a third of them working.
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