MONTPELIER – A bill described as intending to protect Vermonters at risk of suicide by boosting safety through restrictions on gun owners and purchasers passed the legislature this spring. It became law without the governor’s signature. Rep. Alyssa Black introduced...
MONTPELIER – The Vermont Department of Mental Health’s new budget includes funds for a “Peer Supports Credentialing Program.” DMH requested an allocation of $187,500 from the state’s general fund to cover half of the projected cost of its startup and its first year of...
MONTPELIER – Starting in July, police cruisers throughout Vermont will have to carry “soft restraints” for transporting individuals after responding to a mental health crisis. These devices, with fabric resembling that of a seat belt, will offer an alternative to...
WATERBURY – The Vermont Department of Mental Health expects to launch a unified statewide mobile crisis response service this year. It follows a 13-month pilot program in Rutland which had to limit operations due to challenges recruiting workforce. DMH selected...
An increased regulatory focus on removing psychiatric inpatients’ opportunities for self-harm has led Vermont’s hospitals to make major changes to improve safety. But according to psychiatric survivors, some of these changes have yielded unintended consequences in how...
RUTLAND – Vermont Psychiatric Survivors board members offered a tribute to longtime staff advocate Amy Wales at the opening of the organizations Annual Meeting this past fall. Wales was a peer support worker at Second Spring, an intensive recovery residence, for 10...
