Category: Mental illness and substance abuse
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Virginia Community Schools Redefined – Hubs for Government and Not-for-Profit Services in Inner Cities – Part 1 – the Current Framework
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in Attendance, Charity, Philanthropy, Nonprofits, Children and Families, Civil Rights, Individual Liberties, Courts and law, Crime, Corrections, Law Enforcement, Culture wars, Discipline and Disorder, Education (K-12), Efficiency in Government, General Assembly, Health Care, Infrastructure, LGBQT, Mental illness and substance abuse, Political Influence, Poverty & income gap, Public safety & health, Social Services and Entitlements, Threat Assessmentby James C. Sherlock I believe a major approach to address both education and health care in Virginia’s inner cities is available if we will define it right and use it right. Community schools. One issue. Virginia’s official version of community schools, the Virginia Community School Framework, (the Framework) is fatally flawed. The approach successful elsewhere…
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Right Help, Right Now
by Dick Hall-Sizemore Probably the most important set of budget proposals made by Governor Youngkin for the upcoming General Assembly has been in the area of mental health. It has already been discussed generally on this blog. (See here and here.) It might be helpful to examine the details of the proposal. The Governor, and…
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The Shooting at Richneck Elementary – Part One
by James C. Sherlock There is trauma everywhere you look. A six-year-old boy shoots his teacher in school and we first consider the trauma. Then we look for ways to minimize its effects. And we simultaneously ask questions about the event itself. What happened and why? Unless we are personally involved, and even if we…
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Why Law Enforcement Supports Gov. Youngkin’s Behavioral Health Transformation
by James C. Sherlock Updated Jan 6 at 13:10. Virginia’s sheriffs and police chiefs are reasonably hardened by what they see every day. They have very difficult jobs to do and are unlikely, either individually or in groups, to support nonsense. Governor Glenn Youngkin has accepted the challenge of finally fixing Virginia’s behavioral health system.…
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Democrats Want to Raise Youngkin-Proposed Mental Health Budget Increase
by James C. Sherlock There is fundamental agreement in Richmond over mental health services. From the Richmond Times-Dispatch: Virginia’s forecasts of long-term budget surpluses mean this year’s General Assembly has a chance to catch up with years of under-funding Virginia schools and the state’s behavioral health system, General Assembly Democrats say. To govern is to…
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Preparing for the Costs to Government of Virginia’s Generation COVID
by James C. Sherlock To justify her insistence on keeping schools closed, Randi Weingarten, the president of the American Federation of Teachers, said in February of 2021, “kids are resilient and kids will recover.” She brought that same message to Virginia. In one of the strangest choices in Virginia political history, Terry McAuliffe brought Weingarten…
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Public Education and the Management of Change
by James C. Sherlock Peter Drucker’s famous five questions should always be asked by and of government. What is the mission? Who is the customer? What does the customer consider valuable? What are the results sought and how are they to be measured? What is the plan, to include both abandonment and innovation? So, in…
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How UVa Addresses Student Loneliness, Depression
by James A. Bacon A new preoccupation of college administrators across the United States is how to give students a sense of “belonging.” The concern is understandable. There is increasing awareness that America is experiencing a “loneliness” epidemic, as reflected by a 40% rate nationally of anxiety, depression and other diagnosed mental illnesses among college…
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Student Mental Health Crisis Explained – By The Washington Post
by James C. Sherlock The Washington Post, in a lengthy article, “The crisis of student mental health is much vaster than we realize,” wrote about the mental health crisis facing our school children, especially adolescents. Nationally, adolescent depression and anxiety — already at crisis levels before the pandemic — have surged amid the isolation, disruption…
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Virginia Mental Health Services in Deep Trouble – A Survey
by James C. Sherlock Nov. 29 updates in blue. Supply cannot begin to keep up with demand. In this case, the consequences involve personal welfare and public safety. And they can be terrible in both cases. Governor Youngkin will propose to the 2023 General Assembly additional funding and policy prescriptions for the state’s mental health…
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Homelessness in Petersburg – Part 2
by James C. Sherlock I wrote yesterday about the excellent investigative reporting by the Progress-Index about the knock-on effects of the renewal of fire and building code enforcement in Petersburg. My position is that Petersburg must enforce its codes for public safety and the livability of the city. But I also recognize the need to provide…
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Virginia Should Enforce Threat Assessment Laws. Noting Lack of Compliance Not Enough.
by James C. Sherlock I have written about the Threat Assessment Teams (TAT’s) of two state universities, the University of Virginia and Virginia Tech. I assessed Tech to be compliant with state law. I reported that UVa is not. That of course raises the issue of the rest of Virginia’s colleges and universities. The Virginia…
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Petersburg Resumes Important Actions Against City Code Violators — Homeless Needs Increase
by James C. Sherlock Sometimes absolutely necessary actions have more than one outcome. Such is the case in Petersburg. Joyce Chu of Petersburg’s indispensable Progress- Index last evening initiated a multi-part series on the impacts of the city’s closure due to safety violations of two motels used by otherwise homeless people. Her first article makes…
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Things Fall Apart: Virginia Homelessness Up 7%
by James A. Bacon An estimated 5,335 people lived in homeless shelters in Virginia in 2021, a 7% increase from the previous year, according to an article in Stacker, a national nonprofit news source. The Old Dominion ranked 10th nationally in the size of its percentage increase since 2020. Nationally, the number of people living…