Oklahoma Watch (https://oklahomawatch.org/category/publichealth/mental-health/)
Thousands of Oklahomans suffer from depression, sometimes to a debilitating degree. The problem is especially common and invisible among aging residents. Victor Guillermo, of Oklahoma City, an Air Force veteran, has struggled daily with depression since his wife died.
A record number of Oklahomans died from drug overdoses in 2016, and for the first time in years, methamphetamine was the single biggest killer, preliminary data shows.
Oklahoma Watch will host a public forum on Monday, April 3, in Tulsa on what can be done to address the continuing epidemic of fatal drug overdoses involving not only prescription painkillers, but now also black-market methamphetamine and heroin.
Dr. Nicole Washington, the main psychiatrist at Family and Children’s Services in Tulsa, discusses the types of low-income clients she sees, the persistent problem of stigma, and why mental illness in poor neighborhoods should matter to all Oklahomans.
David Hammock was one of nine men who took their own lives in the Oklahoma State Penitentiary between 2012 and 2015. Convicted of arson at age 18 for burning down the old Sallisaw High School, he failed at chances to gain early release, and then, in the end, lost hope.
Law enforcement agencies are bearing much of the brunt of dealing with mentally ill people in crisis. But a unique new program is trying to take some of that burden away from police and prevent the mentally ill from unnecessarily ending up in jail.
When encountering the mentally ill, police officers and others can take various actions even if the person doesn’t consent.
When the mentally ill are in crisis, the first and only responders are usually police officers. That can heighten the risk of a violent confrontation, which is what occurred in the case of Eric Tompkins of Ardmore last year. Some communities are trying a different approach to allow mental-health experts to intercede, in collaboration with police.
Many jailers in Oklahoma have little training in how to deal effectively with the mentally ill. That can lead to bad decisions that endanger lives, mental-health and law-enforcement experts say.
Flanked by jailers, 40-year-old Corey Carter was led into the McCurtain County Jail’s shower room on Feb. 12 last year to change from his street clothes into a jail uniform.
Watch the McCurtain County Jail video in which Corey Carter is booked into the jail, refuses to don jail clothes and is eventually led into a room where a struggle leads to his death.
