mental health

According to the Pew Research Center, hundreds of thousands of Americans could live to see 100 by the year 2050. Women in France, Japan and the United States have already lived past the age of 114. With the now realistic possibility that individuals may live into the triple digits, planning ahead for retirement becomes both more important, and more challenging.

Living Longer

Missouri Senator Roy Blunt continued his tour of mental health facilities in the state on Thursday with a stop at the Harry S. Truman Memorial Veterans Hospital in Columbia. 

Blunt spoke with Veterans Affairs administrators about how to better assist veterans experiencing a mental health crisis who need treatment immediately. Blunt says he is encouraged by the efforts the hospital has made to shorten waitlist times but says there are also many ways it can still improve.

U.S. Sen. Roy Blunt plans to emphasize mental health issues while traveling across Missouri next week.

Blunt plans to visit nine hospitals and behavioral health centers, including the Veterans Affairs medical center in St. Louis.

Since 2005, Mary Kelley’s 16 year-old-son has been hospitalized psychiatrically 36 times, lived in 7 different residential facilities, and been part of two therapeutic treatment systems.

He has oppositional defiant disorder, ADHD, anxiety, bipolar disorder and borderline personality disorder.

Back when it all started, Kelley had no idea what to do, where to turn or why it was happening.

The University of Missouri has announced it's hiring the National Center for Higher Education Risk Management to provide a third-party assessment of sexual assault and mental health resources on all four campuses. 

Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon is criticizing House budget writers for not going along with his plan for constructing a new mental health facility at Fulton State Hospital.

The governor wants to issue $198 million in bonds for the facility. He asked lawmakers for $14 million in the current state budget for initial bond payments, but the House Budget Committee did not include those funds in its proposal.

On Sunday, MU football player Michael Sam publicly came out as gay in interviews with several media outlets. There has of course been a lot of reaction to the news, with many praising the defensive lineman’s decision and others questioning whether it’ll affect his prospects of being drafted into the NFL. Sam would be the first openly gay player in the NFL if he is drafted. Before his announcement, he was projected to be taken in the third or fourth round.

New filings in a class action lawsuit challenging Missouri's treatment of convicted sex offenders seek the release of more than 200 men in the program.

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports that the legal challenge to the Missouri Department of Mental Health claims its Sex Offender Rehabilitation and Treatment Services program is mismanaged, overcrowded and essentially a prison disguised as a mental hospital.

Gov. Jay Nixon has developed a proposal to help more Missourians pursue careers in mental health care.

The Missouri Psychiatric Center is the only inpatient psychiatric facility for youth within ninety miles of Columbia. The center just renovated their space to include more amenities for youth. The new space is brighter with natural light, new visitation and therapy rooms and three additional beds. The older site was darker and less accommodating for patients.  Director of the center, Laine Young-Walker said the beds were badly needed.

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The Harry S. Truman Memorial Veterans Hospital in Columbia is adding seven new positions in its mental health care programs for veterans.

A report released by the Missouri Department of Mental Health shows teens in Callaway County report higher alcohol and drug use than teens anywhere else in Missouri.

One in five Americans has some sort of disability according to a study done in 2008 by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. This could include disabilities having to do with hearing, sight, mobility, learning, development or mental health. But not all disabilities are perceived the same way. Drew Graham has a unique perspective on this. He has both a physical and mental disability and has determined over the years that the stigma associated with mental disability carries more weight.

The Health Psychology Department in the Missouri School of Health Professions has released a study saying stress contributes to cognitive decline in women with breast cancer. 

A group that oversees mental-health services in Boone County is considering merging into another city or county institution.  The Boone County Mental Health Board has suffered from sporadic meeting attendance and failed attempts to create a community mental-health fund.

As enrollment rates increase at universities across the country, counselors say they face more difficulties handling student mental health concerns.  And as KBIA’s Scott Kanowsky reports, the University of Missouri system is feeling the strain as well.                                     

Dr. David Wallace is standing in front of a class of college students, a PowerPoint projection lit behind him.  It is Suicide Prevention Week at MU, so Wallace is giving tips on coping with severe mental health problems.

A report from the National Alliance on Mental Illness, or NAMI, said Missouri will see a slight increase in next year’s funding for mental health treatment and services. Despite this, the report said the state is still in the midst of a mental health crisis.

There are 1.6 million people living in rural Missouri, and many have a hard time accessing health care. In the 2011 Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s healthy county rankings, Hickory County in West Central Missouri is rated one of the worst in the state in terms of mental health. It’s so bad, residents say they experience just over a week’s worth of poor mental health days each month. They are also unhealthier and experience more poverty than the national average.