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19 Volunteers Sharing an iPhone Are Trying to Support Incarcerated People Through COVID-19

Celeste Hamilton Dennis

August 13, 2020 |

TalkPoverty.org |

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800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, Portland, Oregon

Beyond These Walls launched a crisis phone line to provide emotional support for LGBTQ+ people who are incarcerated and to hold prisons and jails accountable for their virus-containment practices. Trained volunteers have fielded 369 calls so far, more than a quarter of which concern fears that reporting virus symptoms could land people in solitary confinement. Beyond These Walls and its coalition partners can provide safety by letting jailers know their practices are being monitored.

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Mental health training for cops is working in Tucson. Can we bring it to Philly?

Jessica Blatt Press

August 10, 2020 |

The Philadelphia Citizen |

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1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Tucson, Arizona

Tuscon police use a combination of training and expanded resources to resolve mental health crises by putting people in the hands of mental health professionals, an approach that in 2019 diverted nearly 4,400 cases away from arrests and jail. All police officers take a required 12-hour mental health first aid class, and most go through another 40-hour crisis intervention training. A specialized team gets more extensive training to handle court-ordered interventions, emphasizing patience and humane treatment. A 24/7 Crisis Response Center serves as an intake desk to decide what help people in crisis need.

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A COVID ‘silver lining': You can start drug treatment over the phone — and more people are starting to

Scott Greenstone

August 10, 2020 |

The Seattle Times |

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800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, Seattle, Washington

Although COVID-19 has taken a toll on the healthcare industry, some providers and clinics have figured out a way to eliminate barriers during this time for those seeking treatment. According to the director of the Behavioral Health Institute at Harborview Medical Center in Washington, the healthcare industry has seen "at least five years worth of progress happen in four months" due to the implementation of telemedicine. While this isn't a longterm replacement for in-person visits, many doctors are reporting a rise in patient appointments via this system.

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Scotland's 'Navigators' Transform Lives in the Emergency Room

Alasdair Lane

August 07, 2020 |

Reasons to be Cheerful |

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800-1500 Words

Response Location: Scotland, Glasgow

In Scotland, the Navigators program performs violence interruption work in seven hospitals, at the bedside of victims of violence, with counseling and connections to social services to nudge people into safer lifestyles. Because Navigators act independently of the police and other authority figures, and because their service follows clients into the community, they are able to win the cooperation of 65-90% of those they approach. A survey of 100 clients showed 23% fewer emergency room visits in the year after cooperating with the program. Navigators started after violence in Scotland raged in 2005.

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Bad Death Notifications are Affecting Families; Can They be Fixed?

Jazzlyn Johnson

August 07, 2020 |

The Community Voice |

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800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, Kansas City, Missouri

The nationwide non-profit Trauma Intervention Programs Inc. uses volunteers trained in "compassionate notifications" – informing families of loved ones' deaths, a task that often is bungled by untrained, rushed first responders and hospital workers. In more than 250 communities, TIP volunteers can be dispatched simultaneously with fire and police teams. They provide counseling and assist families long after first responders have left. Advocates say their role can mend police-community relations in places like Kansas City, which lacks a formal protocol and resources for handling notifications.

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Program offers alternative for youth who commit misdemeanors

Anthony Wallace

August 05, 2020 |

Cronkite News - Arizona PBS |

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800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, Seattle, Washington

Choose 180 channels Seattle-area young people into an alternative to court and jail when they commit relatively minor offenses. This "offramp" from the traditional justice system, serving a disproportionately Black and brown clientele, helped 400 clients in 2019, 87% of whom did not commit new offenses. Research shows such diversion programs have a better track record for preventing future crimes. A Choose 180 "sentence" comes in the form of a workshop introducing young people to mentors and giving them a chance at the stability and frame of mind they need to seek more lasting change in their lives.

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Using Telemedicine to Treat Opioid Addiction

Tina Rosenberg

August 04, 2020 |

The New York Times |

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800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, Pennsylvania

The coronavirus pandemic has largely led to the expansion and adoption of telemedicine, which has helped those seeking treatment for addictions more easily access care. Although advocates of medication-assisted treatment have been working to eliminate barriers to virtual care for years, the pandemic has accelerated these efforts and the outcome has been successful. According to the associate executive director of Prevention Point Philadelphia, “It’s a reduction of the hassle, wait times, anxiety and fear of withdrawal in a waiting room."

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How the Queensbridge Cure Violence Team Is Changing Community Norms

Clodagh McGowan

August 03, 2020 |

Spectrum News 1 New York |

Broadcast TV News |

Under 3 Minutes

Response Location: United States, New York, New York

In the nation's largest public housing development, 696 Build Queensbridge uses the Cure Violence approach to mediating disputes before they turn violent. In 2017, its first year, there were no shootings in the development where the group does its violence interruption work. In the first 7 months of 2020, there were six shootings, up 2 from the same period in 2019 but far better than the rise in violence seen citywide. "Credible messengers" gain the trust of the community to prevent violence and counsel people to use "tools to communicate with other than violence," and without police involvement.

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Alleviating anxiety via internet

Johnathan Hettinger

August 03, 2020 |

Montana Free Press |

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800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, Sweet Grass County, Montana

A partnership between Montana State University and Seattle-based Waypoint Health Innovations is helping bring virtual mental health services to rural communities in Montana. Although the program has only been in research stages thus far, the positive effects already documented has led the program to be ushered into "widespread implementation" amid the coronavirus pandemic.

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The Coronavirus Is Blowing Up Our Best Response to the Opioid Crisis

Zachary Siegel

July 29, 2020 |

The New Republic |

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1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Midland, Michigan

The coronavirus pandemic has correlated with an increase in overdose deaths in the United States, likely due to people going against one of the "central tenets of safety when using drugs: Never use alone" as well as governments' longstanding stigma against allowing supervised consumption sites. To overcome this, a harm reduction service in Midland, Michigan is connecting volunteer operators with "people who have no choice but to use alone" via telephone as a means to offer help if something goes wrong.

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