Category: Mental Health
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Mental health services for Miami-Dade seniors in jeopardy after Florida healthcare agency changes billing practices
By Francisco Alvarado
FloridaBulldog.org
Miami-Dade senior citizens with mental health illnesses who rely on Medicaid and Medicare to cover their therapy sessions and medications are on the brink of losing their treatment thanks to the Florida Agency for Health Care Administration. -
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Fearing liability, Broward changes course on helping homeless in mental health court
By Noreen Marcus
FloridaBulldog.org
Brandishing research into federal law won Broward County Judge Ginger Lerner-Wren what she wants: a unified approach to sheltering homeless people who appear in her mental health court. -
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Broward County shelter yanks welcome mat for mental health court referrals
By Noreen Marcus
FloridaBulldog.org
When homeless people turn up in Broward County’s mental health court, Judge Ginger Lerner-Wren does everything she can to keep them out of jail. One of the court’s few options was sending them to a Broward Outreach Center homeless shelter. But earlier this month, days after BOC told the judge it would no longer accept her referrals, she had visions of rootless, disturbed people being forced to grapple alone with a tough, lottery-like system to apply for a bed. -
The tragic story of Josh Stein: A sick tortoise, an urge to help and a fatal trip through Broward’s Felony Mental Health Court
By Broward Public Defenders
FloridaBulldog.org
Josh Stein, a mentally troubled man of 38, died of an apparent accidental drug overdose the day after Christmas. Broward’s elected public defender, Howard Finkelstein, says Stein’s death can be traced to anxiety and stress caused by “cattle car justice” meted out in Broward’s Felony Mental Health Court. -
Broward’s criminal justice system failing mentally ill, too costly
By Howard Finkelstein
Special to BrowardBulldog.org
Editor’s note: Broward’s public defender writes to the chief judge to say the county’s mental health is backwards, cruel and unnecessarily costly and urges Broward to follow Miami-Dade’s lead. -
Broward continues to fail its mentally ill; The sad case of Broward’s ‘Forgotten Soldier’
By Owen Mcnamee and Douglas Brawley
Special to BrowardBulldog.org
Twenty years ago eighteen members of a Broward Grand Jury issued a scathing report that concluded the Broward County mental health system was underfinanced, fragmented and leaderless. They found the system was failing thousands of mentally ill and disabled persons and causing hundreds to wind up in jail or endure forced hospitalizations without needed treatment. Twenty years later, we are still failing this vulnerable population.
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