County jail is the last place someone experiencing a mental health crisis should end up. Emergency rooms are better, but still not ideal as people experiencing mental health crises are often relegated to windowless rooms with limited treatment options and minimal exercise for days, and sometimes even weeks. Both systems can be dehumanizing and traumatic at a time when people in crisis are the most vulnerable. All too often, there is a revolving door between the ER, jail and the streets.
[For more of this story, written by Sharon Meieran and Michael Reese, go to http://www.oregonlive.com/opin...tally_ill_escap.html]
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