mental health

A recently-published paper from Tulane University’s School of Social Work finds what we already knew to be true — isolation is bad for mental health. The school has developed a website to help. New Orleans Public Radio talked with one of the authors about how to stay sane during a global pandemic.

For months prior to the city government’s announcement that it no longer intended to move forward with Phase III of the New Orleans jail — a proposed 89-bed facility that was intended to provide a space for people in custody with acute mental health needs, currently being held at a state prison — a group of advocates, health experts, and criminal justice actors was already meeting to discuss alternatives options.

Life has changed dramatically in Louisiana over the past week as officials ask the public to limit contact with others and socially distance or isolate. Thousands are jobless or considering shutting down businesses, many of us are working from home (along with kids and spouses), anyone with flu symptoms is facing two weeks of isolating quarantine, and many others are worried about hospitalized family members in isolation.

The Orleans Parish School Board (OPSB) is giving $1.3 million to the Center For Resilience, a New Orleans non-profit that works with students with serious mental health challenges. New Orleans’ youth have rates of trauma and depression much higher than the national average.