A jury convicted Richard Fourtin of sexual assault against a physically helpless person for allegedly having sexual contact with a woman who had cerebral palsy and mental retardation and couldn’t walk or talk. But the Connecticut Supreme Court ruled last fall that the conviction was invalid because the woman wasn’t completely unable to express unwillingness: […]

On Jan. 1, the federal government will begin funding a massive expansion of health insurance coverage. At the same time, if Gov. Dannel P. Malloy gets his way, Connecticut will scale back what it pays for poor people to receive health-care coverage and mental-health and hospital services. The state administration says this won’t leave anyone […]

More than most people, Sara Myers has a sense of how she might die. She has ALS, a disease that takes away the ability to move until, eventually, the diaphragm stops working. “You basically are smothered to death,” she said. Myers wants an alternative. She’s not ready to take her life, but she wants it […]

Legislators considering changes to mental health policies have gotten an earful from parents who’ve learned the hard way how challenging the mental health system is. They’ve heard about lengthy wait times to see child psychiatrists because the state doesn’t have enough, how insurance doesn’t always cover the services a child needs, or won’t cover them […]

Middletown — Mary Botti gave her class a scenario: Someone in front of you is stressed, maybe having a panic attack for the first time. What do you say? The students — adults from a variety of backgrounds — consulted a handout with sample responses. Several hours into their two-day training, the class had little […]

The bipartisan panel examining mental health issues agreed Tuesday to four recommendations that could become part of legislation intended to respond to the mass shooting at Newtown’s Sandy Hook Elementary School. Legislative leaders are crafting a bill to address mental health, gun violence and school security. It’s expected to be taken up in the coming […]

Years of therapy convinced Paul Acker that he was broken, and his life seemed to bear it out. He couldn’t hold a job for more than a few months before his major depression and paranoia would take over, causing him to lose the job, his friends and wherever he was living. Suicide attempts landed him […]

The federal government has rejected the state’s controversial request to tighten Medicaid eligibility, a change that had been expected to leave more than 13,000 poor adults without health care coverage. “The [proposal] would eliminate coverage for as many as 13,381 very low-income individuals for an approximate one year period, which is not consistent with the […]

A bipartisan legislative panel crafting policy changes in response to the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School is expected to recommend that case management be available to people with serious mental illness and that educators receive “mental health first aid” training to recognize signs of problems. The committee will also recommend creating a task force […]

New Britain — Timothy Sacerdote’s morning medication run was nearly done, without a hitch so far. He’d visited four clients, opened the combination locks on the boxes of medication in their homes and handed them pills while chatting about how they were doing, whether they’d be coming to group, and, in the case of one […]

West Hartford — Nancy remembers the party at her friends’ house, a gathering of a couple of dozen parents. They knew each other because they had children with mental health problems, but that night, they were there to enjoy themselves. Then a cellphone rang. “The entire room of 25 people went silent, like that,” Nancy […]

Gov. Dannel P. Malloy’s budget proposal would eliminate Medicaid coverage for thousands of poor parents, reduce a tax credit for low-income workers, eliminate the state-run Charter Oak Health Plan and slash payments to hospitals. It would also take advantage of federal funds to increase Medicaid enrollment and raise rates paid to primary care providers who […]

Winners Housing: The budget would fund 100 new units of supportive housing in 2015, provide money for “rapid re-housing” to help homeless families move into permanent, stable housing and add capital funds for affordable housing. There’s also a new department of housing to coordinate it all. Insurance companies: If Malloy’s proposal to end Medicaid coverage […]