Texas officials look to Arizona cities when creating crisis mental health centers.
Stephen Simpson
Stephen Simpson is the mental health reporter, based in Austin, where he covers behavioral health in schools, treatment in the judicial system, substance abuse and the state mental health system, among other topics. He previously worked in his home state of Arkansas as a politics reporter, where he covered the state's Supreme Court, House of Representatives and correctional system for the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. Stephen's earliest career experiences include reporting and copy editing at The Jonesboro Sun and The Pine Bluff Commercial. He earned a degree in online and print journalism with a minor in filmmaking from the University of Central Arkansas.
Posted in
Health care
How a lack of supervisors keeps new mental health workers from entering the field
Future Texas therapists must complete internships to start their careers, but there’s not enough providers to mentor all of the students.
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Health care
San Antonio church leaders train to serve as mental health counselors
Under a Harvard Medical School pilot program, church members and leaders will work as interns before counseling on their own, referring more serious cases to medical providers.
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Graphics and data reporting
A look at the Texas mental health workforce shortage
A guide to some of the professions that make up the mental health workforce.
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Hurricane Beryl
Beryl power outage updates: More than 98,000 Texas electricity customers remain without power a week after Beryl
Tens of thousands of households and businesses aren’t expected to have electricity for most of this week.
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Health care
No backup required: Texas senior care depends on luck and wits to cope with heat after power outages
There’s no Texas requirement that nursing homes and assisted living facilities keep generators on hand to power air conditioning after storms.
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Hurricane Beryl
Beryl power outages crowd hospitals, delay new admissions
In Houston, discharged patients remain in an arena to avoid powerless homes. Some 70 miles north, Livingston’s hospital is one of 17 in the state relying on a generator because of Hurricane Beryl power outages.
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Hurricane Beryl
Tropical Storm Beryl is on a path to hit the Texas coast as a hurricane Monday
At least two counties, Nueces and Refugio, have issued mandatory evacuation orders.
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Health care
Cook Children’s sues Texas over potential Medicaid contract loss
For years, Cook’s Children, two other children’s hospitals have administered Medicaid health coverage plans. Canceling their contracts would put jobs and coverage at risk, they say.
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Health care
Texas to begin construction this year on seven new psychiatric hospital projects
The construction begins after lawmakers have allocated $2.5 billion to modernize and increase access to inpatient psychiatric care in Texas.