{"id":244575,"date":"2025-10-28T00:57:36","date_gmt":"2025-10-28T00:57:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/244575\/"},"modified":"2025-10-28T00:57:36","modified_gmt":"2025-10-28T00:57:36","slug":"watch-how-pas-mental-health-system-failed-those-who-needed-it-most","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/244575\/","title":{"rendered":"WATCH: How PA’s Mental Health System Failed Those Who Needed It Most"},"content":{"rendered":"

Spotlight PA<\/a>\u00a0is an independent, nonpartisan, and nonprofit newsroom producing investigative and public-service journalism that holds power to account and drives positive change in Pennsylvania.\u00a0Sign up for our free newsletters<\/a>. <\/p>\n

By Danielle Ohl |\u00a0Spotlight PA<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Credit: Nate Smallwood\/Spotlight PA<\/p>\n

An ongoing two-year Spotlight PA investigation challenges some of the most common misconceptions about mental health treatment in Pennsylvania \u2014 most significantly that when people can\u2019t or don\u2019t get help, it\u2019s their fault.<\/p>\n

The investigation\u2019s findings show that despite Pennsylvania\u2019s public promises, the state has failed to build a viable community mental health system to help those with the most severe needs.<\/p>\n

Because of that failure, many Pennsylvanians were driven into homelessness, unemployment, or incarceration.<\/p>\n

This resulted from 30 years of choices by seven governors, hundreds of legislators, and countless local officials that continually pledged to provide better care, failed to do so, and knew what would happen if they didn\u2019t.<\/p>\n

As part of its examination, the newsroom dug through thousands of pages of documents from 140 public records requests, pored over state and local spending data, and conducted interviews with dozens of current and former government officials, advocates, and people navigating the mental health system.<\/p>\n

Partnering with the Lehigh Valley Justice Institute, Spotlight PA commissioned a first-of-its-kind analysis of mental health spending and services in all 67 counties that traces cuts down to the dollar and shows how many fewer people are served today than just a few years ago.<\/p>\n

To spread the reach of this work, Spotlight PA produced video segments of the investigation. The segments were created by Mitch Blacher, a veteran broadcast journalist, as part of a first-of-its-kind partnership with a group of Nexstar television stations.<\/p>\n

Mental Health Cuts in PA & How We Got Here<\/p>\n

What Happened After PA Closed Its State Hospitals?<\/p>\n

How PA\u2019s Mental Health Promises Unraveled<\/p>\n

PA\u2019s Mental Health Crisis: A Family\u2019s Devastating Story<\/p>\n

BEFORE YOU GO\u2026\u00a0If you learned something from this article, pay it forward and contribute to Spotlight PA at\u00a0spotlightpa.org\/donate<\/a>. Spotlight PA is funded by\u00a0foundations and readers like you<\/a>\u00a0who are committed to accountability journalism that gets results.<\/p>\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n

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