{"id":376128,"date":"2026-04-12T16:26:14","date_gmt":"2026-04-12T16:26:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/376128\/"},"modified":"2026-04-12T16:26:14","modified_gmt":"2026-04-12T16:26:14","slug":"legislators-behavioral-health-professionals-discuss-westmoreland-county-mental-health-goals-challenges","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/376128\/","title":{"rendered":"Legislators, behavioral health professionals discuss Westmoreland County mental health goals, challenges"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Legislators and behavioral health professionals will discuss the mental health challenges and priorities among Westmoreland County residents Friday.<\/p>\n<p>The fourth annual mental health legislative breakfast, held at the Westmoreland Intermediate Unit, is a partnership between Westmoreland County Commissioner Doug Chew, Mental Health America of Southwestern Pennsylvania and Adelphoi.<\/p>\n<p>This year\u2019s breakfast will focus on the county\u2019s behavioral health priorities; crisis response systems and funding; and workforce challenges and service delivery capacity.<\/p>\n<p>Chew said it is important to involve legislators and mental health professionals in the discussion.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat alignment is critical as we work to expand access, strengthen our workforce and ensure that services meet the growing need in our communities,\u201d he said in a statement.<\/p>\n<p>Laurie Barnett-Levine, CEO of Mental Health America of Southwestern Pennsylvania, cited advocacy and collaboration as keys to addressing the area\u2019s mental health challenges and goals.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe continue to see unprecedented demand for mental health services, alongside ongoing workforce and funding challenges,\u201d she said in a statement. \u201cEvents like this legislative breakfast ensure that leaders at every level understand both the urgency of the need and the opportunities to improve outcomes for our communities.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Legislators and behavioral health professionals will discuss the mental health challenges and priorities among Westmoreland County residents Friday.&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":376129,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[134,554,555,111,139,69],"class_list":{"0":"post-376128","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mental-health","8":"tag-health","9":"tag-mental-health","10":"tag-mentalhealth","11":"tag-new-zealand","12":"tag-newzealand","13":"tag-nz"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/376128","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=376128"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/376128\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/376129"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=376128"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=376128"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=376128"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}