‘I know their pain’

BILOXI, Miss. -- On his desk were a couple of file folders, a notepad filled with letters, symbols and numbers, and a computer he had built using spare parts.

mental healthKatherine MitchellOctober 10, 2019mississippi News, mental health, Mississippi's mental health, excoriation disorder, America's Mental Health 2018, mississippi's health care maze, suicide

$In Mississippi’s fractured mental health system, it’s the haves vs. the have-nots$

In Mississippi’s fractured mental health system, it’s the haves vs. the have-nots

Mississippi’s poorly constructed mental health system gives mental health providers insufficient funds to provide court-ordered, community-based services, and a poorly conceived Medicaid system cuts into their revenue stream, said Richard Duggin, chief executive officer of Region 7 Community Counseling Services center in West Point.

mental healthKatherine MitchellOctober 10, 2019mississippi News, mental health, Mississippi's mental health, excoriation disorder, America's Mental Health 2018, mississippi's health care maze, mental health regions

I was going to kill myself. I just needed to figure out where.

BRANDON, Miss. -- I drove around Brandon for three hours with my husband’s .38 pistol beside me and my clothes packed.

mental healthKatherine MitchellOctober 10, 2019mississippi News, mental health, Mississippi's mental health, excoriation disorder, America's Mental Health 2018, mississippi's health care maze, suicide

She wanted to die. She needed to go a hospital. ‘We can’t afford it,’ her husband said

BRANDON, Miss. -- At school one day when Susan Wright’s son was young, he drew a picture of her with circles covering her arms.

mental healthKatherine MitchellOctober 3, 2019mississippi News, mental health, Mississippi's mental health, excoriation disorder, America's Mental Health 2018, mississippi's health care maze