In 2024, Kaiser announced it was rolling out Abridge, an AI-powered clinical documentation system the health system described as “ambient listening technology.” The tool is intended to help doctors and other clinicians, including mental health providers, generate clinical notes during appointments.

But some Kaiser therapists and social workers say the public description does not fully convey what happens during visits: The tool records entire appointments, including mental health sessions where patients may discuss trauma, family conflict, substance use, medical diagnoses or other deeply personal matters.

Clinicians are required to obtain patient consent before using Abridge, according to Kaiser. However, multiple providers say the consent process does not clearly explain how the recordings are stored, how long they are kept, who can access them or how the data may be used. Some say they have asked Kaiser leadership for those details and have not received adequate answers.

Ilana Marcucci-Morris, a licensed clinical social worker in Kaiser’s psychiatry department in Oakland, said she has chosen not to use Abridge with her patients. Marcucci-Morris also serves on a bargaining committee and said she has repeatedly raised questions with Kaiser representatives about privacy protections, HIPAA compliance and safeguards for AI tools.

She said the responses have amounted to assurances that the system is compliant and has been reviewed by technology experts, without providing the documentation clinicians have requested.

“They won’t show us,” Marcucci-Morris said in an interview with American Community Media. “If you have nothing to hide and you’re doing it ethically, then you would show us, prove it.”

Similar concerns have surfaced in Southern California. Ligia Pacheco, a psychiatric social worker who provides remote therapy services for Kaiser patients in the region, said she also sought more information about Abridge and did not receive the explanations she believes providers need to properly inform patients.

Pacheco said a colleague who raised concerns to a supervisor was told that expressing personal views about AI in the workplace was unprofessional. She said that kind of response makes providers feel they have little room to advocate for patients.

“We’re supposed to be the voice of patients who are coming in their most vulnerable state,” Pacheco said. “And we can’t even be that voice for them, so we feel discouraged.”

The dispute comes as many mental health professionals say they are facing rising workloads and heavy documentation demands. Marcucci-Morris said clinicians may see patient after patient with little time between appointments, making it difficult to keep up with notes and other administrative tasks.

She said providers who fall behind can face workplace investigations or discipline, and that management often recommends Abridge as a way to reduce delays in documentation. In her view, that creates pressure on clinicians to use the technology even if they have unanswered concerns.

“I consider that to be coercive,” she said, “because you’re putting someone in a position to either lose their job or use the software.”

Kaiser has promoted the tool as a way to reduce administrative burdens and improve the patient experience. In a Kaiser news release, Brian Hoberman, chief information officer for The Permanente Medical Group, said Abridge helps support physician well-being by easing documentation demands. He said the technology was implemented after careful review and testing and had been well received by patients and doctors.

A Kaiser Permanente spokesperson said in an emailed statement to American Community Media that clinicians must obtain consent before using Abridge and that “no one is recorded without their knowledge and consent.” The statement said recordings are stored for no more than 14 days and that processing of the data meets HIPAA requirements as well as Kaiser’s privacy and security standards.

The spokesperson also said Abridge allows clinicians to spend more time focused on patients and less time on administrative work. Kaiser says data collected through the tool is not used to train AI models.

Still, some patients and providers remain uneasy, especially when the appointment involves mental health care. One Kaiser patient, who asked not to be named because of privacy concerns, said they feared intimate conversations with doctors or therapists could somehow be exposed.

“I may not want my employers, I may not want my family members, I might not want people to know some of these very intimate conversations and deep conversations I have with my doctors [and] with my mental health provider,” the patient said.

Adriana Webb, a social worker at Kaiser Panorama City in Los Angeles, said the concern is especially serious for patients with highly sensitive medical conditions.

“I work with patients who have sensitive medical diagnoses, like HIV and AIDS,” Webb said, adding that some patients do not even want those diagnoses documented in their charts.

Privacy experts say mental health information carries a particular risk because of the stigma and consequences patients may face if details are disclosed or misused. Nicole Alvarez, senior analyst for technology policy at the Center for American Progress, said records of a person’s most vulnerable moments can be used against them in ways that routine medical information, such as a blood pressure reading, generally cannot.

Alvarez said mental health records may affect employment, child custody disputes, immigration proceedings, security clearances and personal relationships. She said health systems should be clear with patients about how their information is stored, shared and used.

Agreements between health care providers and AI vendors can differ significantly, Alvarez said. Key questions include whether recordings or transcripts can be used to train AI models, whether data is de-identified, how long it is retained, whether it can be shared with other entities and what happens when a vendor contract ends.

Patients often have little visibility into those arrangements, she said. While most patients have the right to refuse recordings, Alvarez said the option to decline is not always presented clearly. In some cases, consent may be requested directly; in others, information may be included in intake paperwork that patients may not closely read.

Meaningful consent, she said, requires more than simply informing patients that a recording will occur. Patients should understand that they can say no and should be told what will happen to their information afterward.

Pacheco said she encountered the issue during her own appointment at Kaiser. She said her doctor did not ask whether Abridge could be used but instead told her it would be used. After a pause, she declined. The doctor stopped the recording, she said, but she felt a noticeable change in the doctor’s demeanor afterward. Pacheco later changed doctors.

Marcucci-Morris said she worries that patients may feel pressured to agree when the tool is framed as something that helps doctors avoid burnout, complete paperwork and spend more time with their families. Patients who care about their clinicians, she said, may feel guilty refusing.

Kaiser has said Abridge is available in 40 hospitals and more than 600 medical offices in eight states and the District of Columbia. The tool operates in more than 14 languages and is part of a broader push by the health care industry to adopt AI systems for clinical support and documentation.

American Community Media said it contacted Abridge AI Inc. multiple times for comment but received no response. On its website, Abridge describes itself as a “Business Associate” to health care providers and directs patients to consult their providers’ privacy policies for information on how their data is protected.

For Marcucci-Morris, the central concern is the relationship between patient and therapist. She said privacy and trust are essential to effective care and that recording a session can alter the dynamic.

“Therapy is most effective in privacy and when trust is achieved through two human beings,” she said. “I believe recording a therapy session changes human behavior. It changes the patient’s demeanor.”

Original source: CalMatters

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For Elias Avalos, the pressure became especially heavy during his junior year of high school. Now 17 and a senior, he remembers feeling exhausted and stuck while trying to manage four Advanced Placement classes and the expectations he felt as the son of Salvadoran immigrants.

“I’ve been dealing with feelings of burnout and unbelonging for a while,” Avalos said. When those feelings build, he turns to skateboarding. The hobby, he said, helps him separate from schoolwork and clear his mind.

His experience reflects a broader concern across California. In the 2026 Children Now report card, 94% of Californians ages 14 to 25 reported having mental health concerns in an average month. Stress and anxiety were the most common issues cited.

California Health and Human Services lists crisis hotlines, wellness tools and youth mental health resources on its website. But families and advocates say help remains difficult to obtain. They point to insurance denials, the complexity of navigating mental health systems and the cost of care as barriers that too often keep young people from treatment.

Avalos interns at the RYSE Youth Center in Richmond, where he is part of a youth research team studying what affects teen mental health. He said young people in his community are dealing with neglect, limited coping tools and too few places designed with youth in mind.

“What I learned is that here in Richmond, we don’t have access to a lot of support systems, which leads youth to go down different paths,” he said. Avalos said he knows people who have experienced homelessness, sold drugs to help their families or lost their lives. “It’s a harsh reality that youth in Richmond really do face.”

Kelly Hardy, one of the lead authors of the Children Now report, said the findings show that young people’s mental health needs urgent attention. Services, she said, must be available in places where youth already spend time, including schools and community spaces.

Children Now, an Oakland-based nonprofit, supported a law that took effect in 2024 allowing minors 12 and older to consent to their own mental health treatment or counseling. This year, the organization is backing Senate Bill 363, which would require health insurers to report how often they deny or modify treatment requests. Supporters say the measure is intended to make therapy, counseling and other behavioral health services easier for young people to access.

Hardy said untreated mental health struggles can affect physical health and increase the risk that youth turn to substance use to manage symptoms. The response, she said, should be care and treatment rather than punishment.

Avalos said he never learned how to talk through difficult emotions at home. In some spaces, he did not feel safe opening up, so he learned to keep problems to himself. That is one reason, he said, he has never gone to therapy. Like many Latino youth, he worried that what he told a therapist might be shared with his parents.

“I didn’t want to be a burden to my family and friends with my problems because I didn’t want to add something extra,” he said. “Everyone is going through something. It’s just something I got to get out of myself.”

When relatives ask about his internship, Avalos said he keeps his answers general, focusing on the values he has gained rather than the painful realities he is researching. He said he was raised to observe more than to speak.

Dr. David C. Turner III, an assistant professor of Black life and racial justice at UCLA’s Luskin School of Public Affairs and a senior adviser at the Alliance for Boys and Men of Color, said the mental health struggles of Black and Latino boys cannot be separated from larger systems. He cited structural racism, the overcriminalization of Black children and long-standing problems in education as factors that contribute to poor outcomes.

Turner said harsh discipline and criminalization in schools can push young people away from education and leave them feeling devalued.

“It demonstrates to these young men that they don’t matter, their opinions don’t matter, how they learn doesn’t matter,” he said, adding that school can become a place where young people feel their spirit has been broken.

Turner said children of color are often expected to carry heavy burdens with few support systems. His work includes advocating for legislation that would expand mental health services in schools and efforts to dismantle the school-to-prison pipeline, which disproportionately affects Black and Latino students.

In Los Angeles, 16-year-old Bryce Collins is trying to change conditions for students in the Los Angeles Unified School District. Collins, a high school junior, has worked since October with Students Deserve, an organization focused on ending the school-to-prison pipeline. He is also calling for more school-based spaces that support students’ mental health.

Collins said too many Black youth are dealing with racism, stress and anxiety on their own.

“Being a young Black male lets me know how I have to approach some of these areas,” he said. “I can’t do what everybody else do. I don’t got the privilege. I have to hold myself to a higher standard because that’s not how society views us typically.”

The youngest of seven siblings, Collins said his older brothers helped prepare him for the possibility of racial profiling. Around age 12, he began noticing people who were not Black watching him closely when he entered certain spaces. He believed it was because of his race.

More recently, Collins said, the pressures of being a young Black man, thinking about college and dealing with family responsibilities have added to his stress. Sometimes, he said, the weight of it causes him to shut down.

“My goal is to find better ways to manage my mental health besides going unresponsive to people,” Collins said. “I feel like I should come up with better ways instead of not talking or not letting people know what’s going on in my life.”

Original source: CalMatters

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“Directing Change gives young people the opportunity to speak openly, support one another and help shape school communities where every student feels valued, understood and encouraged to reach out for help,” Riverside County Superintendent of Schools Edwin Gomez said. “Recognizing our students for expanding mental health awareness is a meaningful opportunity to show how much we value their powerful insights and inspiring creativity.”

Selected entries from the 2026 contest will be shown after a Red Carpet arrival, beginning shortly before 5 p.m. Wednesday at the Fox Performing Arts Center in downtown Riverside.

The competition is held annually as part of the “Youth Creating Change” program. Students are invited to produce vignettes, comparable to public service announcements, that are 30 to 60 seconds long.

A total 213 entries from two dozen schools and nonprofit organizations countywide were submitted this year, according to the Riverside University Health System, which sponsors the contests.

“Supporting the well-being of Riverside County’s young people is one of the most meaningful investments we can make in our future,” Board of Supervisors Chair Karen Spiegel said. “Directing Change gives students a powerful platform to share their voices, uplift one another and inspire change through creativity and compassion. These films reflect the insight, courage and heart of our youth, reminding us that honest conversations build stronger schools, healthier communities and a hopeful future.”

Along with the regular categories focused on suicide prevention and mental health awareness, this year’s event established two additional categories — substance abuse and Boys & Young Men Media Challenge — according to RUHS.

“By encouraging honest storytelling and peer connection, the program helps foster empathy, awareness and a culture of care among youth,” the agency stated.

The event is slated to conclude about 8 p.m. Wednesday.

More information is available at hopeandjustice.art/riversidecounty.

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Both bills reopen the debate among families and advocates over when it’s appropriate to put someone into mental health treatment without their consent.

One bill would create a pathway for the most severely incapacitated people to go directly from Newsom’s voluntary mental health court into involuntary treatment in a hospital. The other would make it easier for EMTs and other first responders to refer people to mental health court. Both bills recently passed through the Senate Judiciary Committee, despite concerns from disability rights advocates that they would force more people into unwanted treatment.

“While early implementation shows promise,” Sen. Catherine Blakespear, a Democrat from Encinitas, said during a recent committee hearing, “barriers in the current petition process are preventing the program from reaching many of the individuals it was designed to serve.”

CARE Court launched in 2023 as a major piece of Newsom’s strategy to get people in the grip of psychosis off the streets. It allows family members of people with untreated schizophrenia and other psychotic disorders to refer them into the court-based program, where they can work with a judge, a public defender and a case worker on a plan for medication, therapy, housing, and whatever other help they may need.

But a CalMatters investigation found the program is falling short of expectations. As of January, California courts had received 3,817 petitions on behalf of prospective CARE Court participants and approved just 893 treatment agreements. At its outset, the Newsom administration estimated between 7,000 and 12,000 Californians would qualify for the program. 

Some families who attempted to use CARE Court to help their severely ill loved ones told CalMatters they were disappointed by the results. They thought a judge could order their family members into treatment. But that turned out not to be the case. If someone is too sick to realize they need treatment, CARE Court can’t help, which means that their case can be dismissed while the person continues to languish on the street.

That’s the problem Blakespear is attempting to tackle with Senate Bill 1016. It would allow anyone filing a CARE Court petition to request that a judge order a mental health assessment to determine if the subject of the petition is “gravely disabled” or a danger to themselves or others – if the subject can’t comply with voluntary treatment.  

Depending on the results of the assessment, a judge could order that person into a conservatorship, which would likely mean a stay in a locked psychiatric facility and mandatory medication. 

The idea is to create a formal bridge between voluntary treatment under CARE Court and involuntary treatment through a  conservatorship. 

Adding the specter of forced care will make people with mental illness less likely to accept help from CARE Court, Samuel Jain of Disability Rights California said during the committee hearing.

“SB 1016 adds an expensive, coercive and convoluted layer to CARE Court that will drive up costs and further erode the rights and trust of the Californians that our system is supposed to help,” he said. 

Family ‘frustrated’ by CARE Court

Jennifer Farrell, who filed a CARE Court petition in late 2024 for her brother in Alameda County, sees it differently. Farrell’s 59-year-old brother, who struggles with schizophrenia and meth use, had been homeless off and on since 2017. He was able to stay housed via CARE Court for a few months, but then he left his placement in September and disappeared into the streets.

It was clear he needed more help than CARE Court could provide, but the program had no way to elevate him to a higher level of care, Farrell said. 

“I was really frustrated at that point,” she told CalMatters.

Farrell’s brother spent three months deteriorating on the street before a case worker found him in December. He was hospitalized on a temporary psychiatric hold and eventually placed on a conservatorship. He’s still in a locked facility, where he’s medicated and seems to be doing much better, Farrell said. 

To Farrell, it’s “absurd” that there isn’t already a direct link between CARE Court and a conservatorship — a connection that she thinks could have saved her family some grief.

At CARE Court’s inception, Newsom said people who didn’t follow their CARE plans could be moved into a conservatorship. But Farrell and other families CalMatters spoke with said if their loved one couldn’t consent to treatment, there was no clear path forward.

Technically, CARE Court judges can order participants to follow mandatory “CARE plans” — something that happened just 32 times between late 2023 and January — but judges can’t force participants to comply.

Easier CARE Court petitions

Blakespear’s other bill, SB 989, addresses another CARE Court challenge: the low number of people participating. 

Filing a CARE Court petition is a complicated, time-consuming process. Whoever is filing the request needs the person’s medical records. Then, they need to appear at the first court hearing — something overworked first responders don’t always have time to do.

That’s a key reason that people who work in public safety, such as firefighters and EMTs, say they don’t file CARE Court petitions, said Meagan Subers of California Professional Firefighters, who spoke in support of the bill at the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing. 

SB 989 would create a framework for first responders to refer clients directly to their county behavioral health department, which could then file a CARE Court petition on their behalf. The county would have 30 days to decide whether to file.

Some counties already make an effort to train and support their first responders in filing CARE Court petitions. Stanislaus County allows first responders to refer CARE Court clients directly to the county.

But that collaboration isn’t happening in a systematic way across the state, Subers said. This bill could help fix a broken system where first responders are constantly cycling people with severe mental illnesses in and out of emergency rooms, she said.

“When our members have to run these calls repeatedly on individuals and take them to the hospital, knowing that they’re going to have to respond to that person again, my members tell me that they feel helpless,” she said. “We see this pathway as another option for them.”

Blakespear’s bills follow a similar effort last year by Sen. Tom Umberg of Santa Ana to make CARE Court more effective. His new law, which went into effect in January, expanded CARE Court to include people who experience psychosis as a result of bipolar disorder. The program initially was exclusively for people diagnosed with schizophrenia and other limited psychotic disorders.

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In February, Assemblymember James Ramos, D-San Bernardino, introduced Assembly Bill 440, which would require the state to identify the state-controlled bridges and roadways with the most suicides and the most attempted suicides and report back to the Legislature on potential strategies to reduce deaths by the end of 2027.

“We need to be proactive to ensure we provide at-risk individuals with the help they need,” Ramos is quoted as saying in a news release issued by his office. “Creating strategies that build in time to reconsider fatal choices can save lives and prevent long lasting traumatic pain in families and communities.”

The bill passed the Assembly on a 79-0 vote June 2 and moved on to the state Senate.

On Thursday, June 26, the bill advanced out of the Senate’s Committee on Health by an 11-0 vote.

AB 440 is headed next to the state Senate’s Appropriations Committee.

Ramos’ bill comes after a fall in which two Rancho Cucamonga teenagers killed themselves on the 210 Freeway at the Haven Avenue overpass, in mid- and late September.

According to Jennifer Camacho-Curtis, spokesperson for the city of Rancho Cucamonga, it had been at least a decade since the last suicides at the spot. Since then, the city has met with Caltrans officials several times to push for stronger suicide deterrents at the Haven Avenue overpass, Camacho-Curtis wrote in an email on Friday, June 27.

“While we’ve faced challenges  and have been met with resistance in securing Caltrans’ approval for substantial improvements such as overhanging fencing, we are continuing those discussions with urgency and focus,” she wrote.

In late fall 2024, Camacho-Curtis said, the city worked with San Bernardino County to install two suicide prevention signs at the Haven Avenue overpass. More recently, the city has been working to secure permits for the installation of overpass wing fencing at Haven Avenue.

“The city is funding this improvement directly,” Camacho-Curtis said, “as a demonstration of our commitment to proactive, local action.”

Suicide is a not a new subject for Ramos to tackle. He helped create the state’s Office of Suicide Prevention in 2020 and has continued to advocate for suicide prevention, especially in the Native American community, since then.

Ramos is not the only local legislator responding to the Rancho Cucamonga teens’ deaths.

Earlier in June, San Bernardino County Sheriff Shannon Dicus advocated support for Senate Bill 800. The bill, introduced by state Sen. Eloise Gómez Reyes, D-Colton, and sponsored by the city of Rancho Cucamonga, would install physical barriers and signage to discourage suicide at 10 Freeway overpasses in San Bernardino County, prioritizing those with the highest rate of documented suicides over the past 20 years. SB 800 was approved by the state Senate on June 4 by a vote of 39-0 and is now working its way through the Assembly.

“In the past eight months, deputies have responded to 24 calls for service at seven different freeway overpasses throughout the city of Rancho Cucamonga. During that time, there have been at least ten separate incidents involving individuals either falling or attempting to fall from freeway overpasses in Rancho Cucamonga,” Dicus wrote in an op-ed. “Tragically, four lives were lost including one in the past week involving a 14-year-old who recently graduated the 8th grade. In six other cases, deputies intervened just in time – preventing additional loss of life.”

His department has also answered similar calls in Apple Valley, Colton, Ontario and Redlands, he wrote.

“Our job as law enforcement is to respond – but also to prevent where we can,” Dicus’ op-ed concludes. “SB 800 represents a chance to do both.”

According to the Assembly Committee on Health’s analysis of AB 440, suicide is the No. 1 cause of violent death and self-harm is the third leading cause of injury-related visits to emergency rooms.

How to get help

If you or someone you know is considering suicide or self-harm, mental health resources are available, including free and low-cost services. They include:

• The 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline: Call or text 988, or visit SuicidePreventionLifeline.org
• Crisis Text Line: CrisisTextLine.org
• Know the Signs: SuicideIsPreventable.org
• The Suicide Prevention Resource Center’s Resources and Programs page: SPRC.org/resources-programs
• The Veterans Crisis Line: Call 988 and press 1, or visit VeteransCrisisLine.net
• The National Council for Behavioral Health’s Find a Behavioral Health Provider page: TheNationalCouncil.org/providers/?region=CA
• Born This Way Foundation’s Get Help Now page: BornThisWay.foundation/get-help-now
• Hayden’s Corner: HaydensCorner.org

The post Inland Empire lawmakers’ bills to stop suicide at bridges advancing in Legislature appeared first on The Hemet & San Jacinto Chronicle.

The jail system has reported its highest number of detainee deaths in decades, including several suicides, the New York Times reported. Deaths were reported as homicide, overdose, natural causes and suicide.

Alicia Upton, who died of suicide in 2022, was one of 19 people who died in custody that year. It was the system’s most lethal year in more than three decades. Upton was one of at least four suicides, the newspaper reported.

Neglect by jail employees, access to drugs and cell assignments put detainees at increased risk throughout 2022, the New York Times reported.

The Riverside County Sheriff’s Department has reportedly assumed no responsibility for the deaths. County sheriff Chad Bianco did not respond to interview requests with the New York Times.

Meanwhile, California Attorney General Rob Bonta launched a civil rights investigation into the sheriff’s office last year, citing concerns over its jail facilities.

“Whether you have a loved one in jail or are worried about crime in your neighborhood, we all benefit when there is action to ensure the integrity of policing in our state,” Bonta wrote.

The newspaper reported five key takeaways about the jail system:

1. The Riverside County Sheriff’s Department failed to adequately monitor detainees and intervene when they attempted suicide

2. Mentally ill detainees were able to block cell cameras and cell door windows even though the rules forbade it.

3. Deputies did not relocate detainees who expressed suicidal thoughts to cells where they could be monitored at all times.

4. The sheriff’s department left out important information about the deaths to the public and to the detainee’s families.

5. Riverside County paid out millions of dollars in settlements related to detainee deaths.

Read more from the New York Times: Inside a Deadly Southern California Jail System: 5 Takeaways

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These are words of a young girl who lost her friend to suicide that Rebecca Antillon says she will never forget.

About 15 years ago, Riverside County started seeing an uptick in suicide rates, so Antillon, a program director for the county’s Injury Prevention Services, sat down to watch a mother who lost her daughter to suicide speak about her experience.

“It really impacted me, of course, like I think it would anyone just hearing her share her story of missing those warning signs; of not knowing how to talk to her daughter about suicide and all the things she was going to miss,” Antillon told Patch.

Then the girl’s friends spoke. Their words impacted Antillon the most.

“They were visibly upset,” she said. “They had noticed changes in their friends and they didn’t understand.”

Tracking Suicide In Riverside County

Today, Antillon is the co-lead of the county’s Suicide Prevention Coalition, where she works to educate Riverside County residents about available resources and particularly about the warning signs of loved ones who may be struggling with suicide ideation.

The coalition also tracks and publishes local data.

While suicide is one of the top 5 leading causes of death in Riverside County in residents under 40, Antillon says suicide rates have actually decreased by 16%, according to data recorded between 2018 and 2022.

But suicide rates still disproportionately affect certain populations like white men and veterans.

• Suicide deaths were higher among men while suicide attempts were higher among females.
• Adults aged 25 to 64 made up a larger percentage of suicide deaths but adults 65 and older had the highest rate of suicide deaths in 2022.
• Suicide by firearm was the most common method for men, while poison was the most common means among women.
• Veteran suicides accounted for 16% of all suicide deaths.
• Suicide ideation was higher among female youth and nearly half of LGBTQ youth had considered suicide in the last year.

Raising Awareness About Suicide

The coalition also organizes events centering on education and awareness. The next one will mark the last weekend of Suicide Prevention Awareness month. Riverside residents can participate in the Out of Darkness Walk on at 9 a.m. Saturday in Fairmount Park, which is located at 2601 Fairmount Blvd. The walk will offer opportunities for residents to connect, share stories and honor those lost to suicide.

And annually for the past three years, the coalition has hosted a Suicide Prevention Coalition Conference, where law enforcement, educators, healthcare workers, first responders and those working at youth-serving agencies can listen to keynote speakers, panel discussions, trainings and more. The event is also open to the public.

Antillon said that this year’s conference is already at capacity, but those interested can still livestream the event at 9 a.m. on Thursday; just visit this link.

Resources In Riverside County

To keep suicide rates on their downward trend countywide, Antillon encourages residents to educate themselves on local resources.

“Many who are experiencing thoughts of suicide may feel scared or ashamed to tell someone,” she said. “The best thing we can do is educate our selves and really encourage everyone to learn to recognize the signs of suicide. Then, more importantly, how to ask direct questions and connect the person to the additional resources and support that can help them further.”

That’s why the county is offering free suicide prevention training to anyone who is interested. Find more information about that here.

Riverside County also has a local helpline for anyone in crisis or those struggling with suicide ideation. The number is 951-686-HELP (4357).

Antillon says the local helpline has trained workers can help deescalate a crisis. What’s more, they have access to 211, a resource and referral line, allowing crisis workers to look through a database to offer additional resources on that call. If the person is actively contemplating suicide and immediate support is needed, workers can connect them to a mobile crisis team that can go talk to them in person.

The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is also available at 800-273-8255 or 988.

Across Riverside County, there are also three mental health urgent care centers that are available 24/7.

“They will see people regaurdless of their insurance,” she said.

Two of the centers also offer support to those 13 and older. Find locations here.

At the end of the day Antillon emphasized that lowering suicide rates really comes down to strengthening support systems and finding community.

During the month of September, Antillon says the county has supported the state’s awareness campaign “Love Over Loneliness.”

“We know that one of the best protective factors that we can put in place is a strong support system and that’s a support system that can offer us comfort, security and even connection,” she said. “And that doesn’t have to be just what we consider traditional family. It’s friends, peers…your support system can also include your faith-based community. It can also include activities that offer you a sense of belonging and connection.”

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Officers threatened to kill the dog of Thomas Perez Jr as they pressured him to falsely confess to killing his father, who was alive

A California city has agreed to pay $900,000 to a man who was subjected to a 17-hour police interrogation in which officers pressured him to falsely confess to murdering his father, who was alive.

During the 2018 interrogation of Thomas Perez Jr by police in Fontana, a city east of Los Angeles, officers suggested they would have Perez’s dog euthanized as a result of his actions, according to a complaint and footage of the encounter. A judge said the questioning appeared to be “unconstitutional psychological torture”, and the city agreed to settle Perez’s lawsuit for $898,000, his lawyer announced this week.

The extraordinary case of a coerced false confession has sparked widespread outrage, with footage showing Perez in extreme emotional and physical distress, including as officers brought his dog in and said the animal would need to be put down due to “depression” from witnessing a murder that had not actually occurred.

The incident began on the evening of 7 August 2018 when Perez Jr’s father, Thomas Perez Sr, whom he lived with, left the house with their dog to get the mail, according to a summary of the case written by Dolly Gee, a federal judge. The dog returned a few minutes later, but Perez Sr did not; the next day, his son called the police and reported him missing.

Officer Joanna Piña, who took the call, reported Perez Jr’s demeanor as “suspicious”, claiming he seemed “distracted and unconcerned with his father’s disappearance”. She and her supervisor, Cpl Sheila Foley, went to Perez’s house, and then brought him back to the police station for questioning. Police then searched his house, where they claimed they found “visible bloodstains” and that a police dog smelled the presence of a corpse. Jerry Steering, Perez Jr’s lawyer, said there had been no blood in the home, and police appeared to have been claiming miscellaneous stains were blood.

Perez Jr sat for hours of initial questioning while officers obtained additional search warrants allowing them to access devices they had seized. At one point, two officers took Perez out of the station and drove him around to different locations “purportedly to investigate his father’s disappearance”, the judge wrote. The officers berated him, insisting he killed his father and did not remember it, and telling him he did not need his medication as Perez begged for medical attention.

“Where can you take us to show where Daddy is?” one said.

“We’re not going to go to the hospital, because that’s not going to help you,” another added.

The officers eventually returned to the station, where Perez Jr faced further questioning, the judge said.

Video of the interrogation revealed hours of two officers accusing him of murder while Perez was distraught and crying, said the judge, who noted Perez was “sleep deprived, mentally ill, and, significantly, undergoing symptoms of withdrawal from his psychiatric medications”. The officers at one point brought in his dog, with one of them saying: “It did happen … you killed [your father], and he’s dead … You know you killed him … You’re not being honest with yourself … How can you sit there and say you don’t know what happened, and your dog is sitting there looking at you, knowing that you killed your dad? Look at your dog. She knows, because she was walking through all the blood.”

During the interrogation, Perez Jr started pulling out his hair, hitting himself and tearing off his shirt, nearly falling to the floor, at which point the officers laughed at him and told him he was stressing his dog, the judge summarized. The footage showed him at one point lying on the floor holding on to his dog. Officers also said he would be “charged” $1m in restitution if he did not lead them to his father’s body.

Eventually, detectives falsely told Perez his father’s body had been located, that he was in the morgue with stab marks, Perez’s complaint says. Perez then falsely confessed and was left alone in the room, where video captured him trying to hang himself.

“[Perez] was berated, worn down, and pressured into a false confession after 17 hours of questioning. [The officers] did this with full awareness of his compromised mental and physical state and need for his medications,” the judge wrote. “[The officers’] conduct impacted Perez so greatly that he falsely confessed to murdering his father and attempted to commit suicide in the station.”

Perez was then transported to a hospital on an involuntary psychiatric hold and, for the first time, read his Miranda rights indicating he had a right to remain silent, the judge said. That night, one of the detectives received a call from Perez Sr’s daughter, who confirmed that her father had been located and was alive.

Steering, Perez Jr’s lawyer, said Perez Sr had left their home to visit a friend, which is why he had not returned, and that his daughter informed the police that he was at the airport on his way to visit her in northern California. Steering said police did not, however, inform Perez Jr that his father was alive and instead kept him isolated in a psychiatric hold for three days while he believed both his dog and father had been killed.

Steering said detectives took the dog to a pound, but that Perez Jr was eventually able to track him down due to the dog’s chip and rescue him.

Fontana police spokespersons and lawyers for the city did not respond to inquiries on Friday and have not said whether any officers faced disciplinary action. Lawyers for officers David Janusz and Jeremey Hale, who conducted parts of the the interrogation, did not respond to inquiries. A third officer involved in the interrogation, Kyle Guthrie, who was not a named as a defendant, could not be reached.

“Between mentally torturing a false confession out of Tom Perez, concealing from him that his father was alive and well, and confining him in the psych ward because they made him suicidal, in my 40 years of suing the police I have never seen that level of deliberate cruelty by the police,” Steering said in a statement.

In an interview, the lawyer said watching the footage laid bare how officers can force people to make false confessions: “This case shows that if the police are skilled enough, and they grill you hard enough, they can get anybody to confess to anything.”

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WASHINGTON — The Department of Veterans Affairs issued a request for applications (RFA) for proposals from its network of VA researchers (in collaboration with academic institutions) to study the use of certain psychedelic compounds in treating posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and depression.

Through this new research opportunity, VA intends to gather definitive scientific evidence on the potential efficacy and safety of psychedelic compounds such as Methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) and psilocybin when used in conjunction with psychotherapy to treat Veterans with PTSD and depression. This is the first time since the 1960s that VA is funding research on such compounds.

“Our nation’s Veterans deserve the very best care, and VA is constantly supporting innovations to deliver that,” said Secretary of Veterans Affairs Denis McDonough. “This is an important step to explore the efficacy of a potential new set of promising treatments that could improve the health and quality of life for Veterans.”

“Veterans and VA researchers have told us about the potential promise of psychedelics to treat mental health conditions for some time,” said VA’s Under Secretary for Health Dr. Shereef Elnahal. “Now is our chance to study this potential method of treating Veterans with PTSD and major depression across the country.”

VA and the Biden-Harris Administration are committed to exploring all avenues that promote the health of our nation’s Veterans. As with all other VA studies, research conducted on psychedelic compounds will be completed under stringent safety protocols. While these compounds are controlled substances, tightly restricted under federal law, research on these compounds may be conducted with appropriate regulatory approvals, including those from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). The FDA granted breakthrough therapy status for MDMA for treating PTSD and psilocybin for treating depression in (2018 and 2019, respectively) based on promising preliminary research evidence.

In September, more than 75 VA and other federal clinicians, scientists and policy makers gathered in Denver to assess the state of existing scientific evidence regarding psychedelic-assisted therapies. This meeting’s working groups provided advice to VA leadership, including the recommendation for VA to begin funding its own studies into these compounds. This guidance was based on previously published studies that have found promising results but included few or no Veterans. For example, researchers at Johns Hopkins have shown that psilocybin therapy, given with supportive therapy, can ease symptoms of depression for up to 12 months. Additionally, 86% of participants in a recent peer-reviewed study achieved a “clinically meaningful benefit” from using MDMA to treat PTSD.

VA researchers have already conducted a limited number of small studies on psychedelics in VA facilities using non-VA funding. This new RFA will permit the important next step of directly assessing effectiveness and safety of using MDMA and psilocybin-augmented psychotherapy in Veterans.

Expanding research on psychedelics to address Veteran mental health is also in line with calls from Veterans Service Organizations such as the American Legion and Disabled American Veterans, as well as mental health provider groups. The National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal year 2024 also authorized the study of psychedelics within military populations by the Department of Defense. With this new announcement, VA will join the National Institutes of Health in supporting research that will yield insights for treating PTSD and depression.

Psychedelic drugs are a class of substances that alter consciousness or awareness and may be organically or synthetically produced. VA does not recommend psychedelics for use as part of a self-treatment program.

If you’re a Veteran struggling with a mental health or substance-use disorder, the VA can help. Find out about available resources here.

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Thank you, Shannon, for that kind introduction. Good morning, everyone. Thanks to all of our faith-based and community partners for being here today for this important event. Most importantly, thank you for your partnership and leadership in helping prevent Veteran suicide. Because there is nothing more important than saving Veterans’ lives, together.

I’ll start with a story. For 30 years, a Veteran—I’ll call him Steve—struggled with complications stemming from PTSD related to his military service. Thirty years. He tried VA years ago, but he didn’t have a positive experience. So Steve tried a number of different providers over the years, different medications, and different extended hospital stays. But one fateful day, in a moment of crisis, Steve’s minister encouraged him to give VA another chance. And what happened next changed everything. His VA doctor listened. The doctor began to build a bond of trust. And Steve opened up. He accepted help. For the next six months, Steve worked through an innovative care program. He received evidence-based suicide prevention therapy—therapy tailored to his personal needs—all via telehealth and in the comfort of his own home.

A few weeks ago, Steve sent a note to his local VA leadership. Here’s some of what Steve wrote.

“For the first time in over 30 years, my suicidal thoughts have totally decreased. After wishing to be dead for so long, I never thought my life could be lived without those thoughts. It’s been two months now, and I can’t believe how free I feel.

I use the skills I learned every day. And it feels good. No … it feels awesome.”

Now, let me stop there for a second. Veterans were trained to put a mission or others before themselves. That can sometimes make it harder for them to accept or ask for help. We need to reach Vets like Steve and bring them into our care, because Vets in VA care do better. And that’s where you can really make a difference. It’s one thing for a Veteran to hear about VA services from us. It’s an entirely different thing for them to hear about VA services from you. Because you are the people in Veterans’ lives and communities every day. You pray with them, break bread with them, work with them, and spend time with them. You are the people they know and love. You are the people they trust. So, a recommendation from you can go a long way toward convincing a skeptical Veteran to give VA a try. And doing that, well, it can change their life. I’ll come back to this later. But please, check in with the Veterans in your life who may be going through a rough time. Visit VA.gov/REACH for resources, today. Everyone can be part of the solution and help save Veterans’ lives. Every interaction a Vet has with clergy, friends, family, strangers, or loved ones has the potential to save a life.

Let me continue. Steve closed his letter by saying,

“I’m sending this letter because I need [you] to know that [you’re] making a difference. Keep up the phenomenal job. Thank you for your dedication to Veterans. And for saving my life.”

Now, there’s so much to take away from that. What strikes me most is that Steve is trusting VA again and getting the care he earned, all because he connected with a faith leader he trusted.

And his story shows the impact VA providers and our partners—folks like all of you—are having in communities and neighborhoods around the country. Serving Veterans. Saving lives. It is a testament—pun intended—to the amazing colleagues and partners I am blessed to work with at VA. I have the privilege of seeing your inspiring work every single day.

I especially appreciate any opportunity I get to work with and hear from VA’s incredible chaplains. Spiritual care offers concrete health benefits—research shows that VA patients who have chaplains or faith leaders involved in their health care leave the hospital sooner and better manage their pain and stress. So VA chaplains are key members of our interdisciplinary care teams—on-call around-the-clock, 365 days a year. They participate in medical rounds and patient care conferences. They provide meaningful spiritual care interventions. They offer interdisciplinary education for other providers. They are often the first person a Vet is comfortable talking to about mental health challenges or concerns. And they build trust, and offer the light of hope, to Vets in their darkest moments. Chaplains and faith leaders are invaluable to everything we do here at VA, offering wisdom and spiritual support to providers, Veterans, and their families.

Now, not too long ago, Veterans like Steve might not have felt so comfortable talking to VA because of stigma, discomfort, and fear. And at VA, we haven’t always gotten it right for Veterans of color, LGBTQ+ Veterans, and other underserved populations who may have tried VA in the past but didn’t feel welcomed, didn’t feel heard, didn’t feel seen. And maybe the same is true for Veterans who felt they couldn’t or shouldn’t talk about their faith at VA, either. Well, they can. And they should. And because we haven’t gotten it right, too many of our Veterans don’t come to VA for the care, benefits, and services they’ve earned, and so richly deserve.

But what VA is doing differently—what we didn’t do well for so long—is pairing Veteran-centric care with new innovations in suicide prevention. Listening to the Veterans we serve. Building trust. It’s so simple, yet so powerful. And that right there—trust—that’s exactly what our partnership is all about. You’ve earned the trust of Vets in the community. And that kind of trust can make all the difference in the world. With your help, we’re fighting to remove the stigma of mental health, the stigma of talking about suicide, and the stigma that keeps Veterans from reaching out for help. We’re fighting to counter the narrative that a Veteran who needs help is a victim or is broken. Too often, that narrative threatens to degrade our Veterans, perhaps make them feel like their value and human dignity is diminished because of these challenges. But let me be clear: it’s the narrative, not the Veteran, that’s broken.

So we’re working together alongside faith and community leaders to fix that broken narrative. In partnership with the Ad Council, we launched a national campaign called “Don’t Wait. Reach Out.” This campaign encourages Veterans to seek help for their life challenges before they reach a crisis point. Research shows that the time between suicidal ideation—thinking about taking one’s life—and the action is remarkably short. 24% take their lives within 5 minutes, 48% take their lives within 20 minutes,  and 71% take their lives within 60 minutes. Think about that. The thought, plan, and attempt of suicide can occur in 60 minutes or less nearly 75% of the time. Now, if the attempt is paired with a highly lethal means such as a firearm, it results in death 90% of the time. Here’s my point: every minute—every second—matters for a Veteran in crisis.

“Don’t Wait, Reach Out” normalizes the act of reaching out before the thought, before the boiling point, before the crisis. Every time a Vet goes to the “Don’t Wait, Reach Out” website, they can access scientifically proven, clinically validated information that can help them prepare and plan for times of crisis. As they click on the various links, Veterans can see all of the different challenges they may be facing that are related to suicide. Perhaps it’s legal problems or incarceration, a new cancer diagnosis or the death of a child, the pandemic, a strained relationship, chronic pain, substance abuse, homelessness, financial problems, job transitions, and so much more. What “Don’t Wait, Reach Out” shows is that there is no single path to suicide. And it’s not always one thing, one problem, or one challenge in life.

When people come to a boiling point, they may not have a diagnosis for PTSD or substance use disorder. In fact, over 40% of Veterans who were enrolled in VHA for health care—and died by suicide—had no mental health diagnosis. And in a recent analysis of 365 research studies over 50 years, mental health indicators were only weakly correlated with suicide or suicide attempts. So that means that any of those interconnected, unpredictable, and complicated factors I highlighted can create intense moments of crisis that can lead to utter despair, hopelessness, and suicide. There is enormous power in reaching out. There is enormous power in bringing the Veterans we serve into contact with a real person. There is enormous power in linking them up with someone who is ready and willing to help them contend with any crisis. So I’ll say it again.

Please, check in with the Veterans in your life who may be going through a rough time, and encourage them to reach out if they need help. Visit VA.gov/REACH for resources, today.

I know you’ll discuss this work in more detail throughout the course of the day, but let me quickly tell you about six of VA’s Veteran-centric, innovative solutions; inspiring work designed to save lives and get Veterans the world-class care they need, wherever and whenever they need it.

First, we are now working with more than 1,000 local community coalitions engaged in ending Veteran suicide. These coalitions—faith-based and community groups, health technology companies, universities, Veteran Service Organizations, and others—now reach more than 7.5 million Veterans. These trusted partners, like so many of you in this room, work with Veterans in their neighborhoods, in their communities, around the country. Because Veterans need and deserve suicide prevention solutions that meet them where they are, rather than expecting them to come to us.

Second, we rolled out 988 Press 1, the brand-new national suicide prevention lifeline that connects Veterans quickly and directly to the Veterans Crisis Line. Since that launch, the hotline has fielded over one million calls, texts, and messages—with an average time to answer of just under 10 seconds. And every second counts in a time of crisis, so Veterans are getting the help they need when they need it most.

Third, we’re significantly expanding VA coverage through the COMPACT Act—opening doors of emergency care for Veterans in crisis, access to any health care facility—VA or not—for free emergency mental health care for any Veteran, whether or not they are enrolled in VA care.

Fourth, we announced a final round of prizes through our Mission Daybreak challenge totaling nearly $20 million across 40 teams to build-out proven new innovative solutions in suicide prevention developed by Americans in communities across the country.

Fifth, Staff Sergeant Parker Gordon Fox Suicide Prevention Grants—an innovation advanced by several members of Congress, including your very own Senator John Boozman—are getting resources to local suicide prevention services where Veterans are, funding local innovations among people who know their Veterans best. Here in Arkansas we recently provided one of these grants to a non-profit group called Reboot Recovery. They provide faith-based outreach, education, and support for suicide prevention across the state, uniquely designed and tailored for Veterans and their families.

Sixth, and finally, we’ve brought on over 1,300 peer specialists. These peer specialists are all Veterans, trained to use their personal experiences with their own recovery to help struggling fellow-Veterans reconnect, find a sense of belonging, and access resources at VA and in their communities. Veterans helping Veterans, long after they take off the uniform. There’s nothing better than that.

Suicide is preventable. But it takes all of us, all of our collective heart and will, alongside the very best evidence-based solutions to save Veterans’ lives. And with all this work, and more, saving lives is exactly what we’re going to do, together.

In closing, I want to reflect on something President Biden often says about serving Veterans. He says: “It’s our country’s most sacred obligation is to prepare and equip the troops we send into harm’s way, and to care for them and their families when they return home.” The second part of that sacred obligation is ours to fulfill at VA. And it comes back to the promise our country makes whenever someone signs up to serve in the military. It’s a promise that’s as simple as it is fundamental. If you serve us, we’ll serve you when you come home. If you take care of us, we’ll take care of you. If you fight for us, we’ll fight for you. And in times like these—keeping that promise to Veterans has never been more important.

This is our promise, not just in September during Suicide Prevention Month. It’s our promise every single day. Like Steve wrote, thank you for your dedication to Veterans. The Veterans you help are blessed to have you. Very blessed. I look forward to continuing this important work, together. God bless you all. And God bless our Veterans, their families, caregivers, and survivors. Now let’s get to the panel discussion and your questions.

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