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Monica Brady-Myerov

Reporter
WBUR-FM
Boston, Mass.

Topic: Exploring the relationship between medication and mental illnesses, including issues about insurance coverage limitations, commercial advertising for medications, and the use of medications with children

Published Work:

There are 35,000 National Guard troops currently serving in Iraq, a quarter of the U.S. military. When husbands and wives are deployed overseas, the families left behind to cope with their absence differently. Monica Brady-Myerov of member station WBUR in Boston introduces us to one National Guard family and how they're managing.

Mental Health at College
Harvard University is hard. It's supposed to be. But for some students, it's too hard. Away from home for the first time, they face the same challenges as other college students but have the added pressure of attending the nation's most prestigious, high-profile and high-pressure university. Expectations are sky-high, and the workload is tremendous. With the demands of term papers, exams and social stresses some Harvard students, on average one a year, succumbing to the pressure by committing suicide.

Surgeon General Aims to Lower Suicides
United States Surgeon General David Satcher has made suicide prevention his signature issue. And his mission is being taken up in Boston today at a Suicide Prevention Conference. It's part of an effort to craft a nationally recognized suicide prevention strategy. Suicide is the eighth leading cause of death in the United States. We talk with WBUR reporter Monica Brady at the Suicide Prevention Conference in downtown Boston.

Child Mental Health Part I (link no longer available)
Many of these children don't receive the care they need because the programs intended for them are overburdened. There are long waiting lists for beds at residential homes and some kids remain in hospitals because psychiatric facilities are full. In the first of a two-part series on the problems with children's mental health services, WBUR's Monica Brady visits a residential treatment home for children, which is struggling to keep up with demand.

Child Mental Health Part II (link no longer available)
That stress is compounded when the family can't find a psychiatric bed for a child who is severely ill. In part two of our series on children and the mental health care system in Massachusetts, WBUR's Monica Brady introduces us to a family with a mentally ill son that's faced problems getting care for him.

Mental Health Care System (link no longer available)
Social workers like those at Family Service of Greater Boston help families and individuals grapple with problems like abuse, neglect, and addiction. WBUR's Monica Brady reports on what's being called a "mental health care crisis" in Massachusetts.

Boston's Cardinal Bernard Law is in Rome this evening. A church spokesperson refuses to say why Law has traveled to the Vatican, but he abruptly left Boston in the midst of dramatic new disclosures about priest sexual abuse. As Monica Brady-Myerov reports from member station WBUR, more Boston Catholics say Cardinal Law should resign.

Children in the Margins: Preschool for All, Part I (link no longer available)
Part one of a four-part series entitled Children in the Margins, "Preschool for All" examines the debate over state-funded preschool.

Children in the Margins: Childhood Obesity, Part II (link no longer available)
Part two of a four-part series entitled Children in the Margins, "Childhood Obesity" looks at the high obesity rates among children in the United States and how to fight this increasing problem.

Children in the Margins: Rural Health, Part III (link no longer available)
Part three of a four-part series entitled Children in the Margins, "Rural Health" focuses on school-based health centers in rural Massachusetts and how they play an important role in providing children with health care.

Children in the Margins: Welfare and Families, Part IV (link no longer available)
Part four of a four-part series entitled Children in the Margins, "Welfare and Families" looks at Massachusetts welfare reform and how young people are faring under the changes.

The Northeast is experiencing another arctic cold snap. Some flights have been canceled, and ferries linking New Jersey and New York City are iced in. Some schools are closed and pipes are bursting. The governor of Maine has declared a civil emergency.

Cities Try New Approach to Solving Homelessness
In the fight to eradicate homelessness, several American cities are using a concept called Housing First. The idea is to get people into permanent housing before dealing with other problems, such as substance abuse and mental illness.

Families Angle to Keep Mass. Home for Disabled
Family members and guardians of adults with developmental disabilities at Fernald Developmental Center insist that the patients are happiest where they are, and lobbying to keep it open. The state started to close them in 2003 but was blocked by a federal lawsuit.

Massachusetts has more children's mental health providers than most other states, routinely screens children for mental health issues, and has Rosie D., the 2006 lawsuit that mandates adequate mental health services for kids on public health insurance. But several challenges remain.