The change was gradual. At first, Riana Alexander was always tired. Then she began missing classes. She had been an honors student at her Arizona high school, just outside Phoenix. But last winter, after the isolation of remote learning, then the overload of a full-on return to school, her grades were slipping. She wasn’t eating a lot. She avoided friends.

Her worried mother searched for mental health treatment. Finally, in the spring, a three-day-a-week intensive program for depression helped the teenager steady herself and “want to get better,” Alexander said. Then, as she was finding her way, a girl at her school took her own life. Then a teen elsewhere in the district did the same. Then another.

Almost a year has passed since Harlene Blair of McHenry last saw her 21-year-old son Eli Marrero, alive. Now she wonders if she’ll ever find out why he died in law enforcement custody.

Blair told MCIR she was told her son was found hanging from a light fixture in his solitary confinement cell in the Stone County Correctional Facility on Jan. 29, 2022 — five months before his 22nd birthday.

Blair said her son’s case hasn’t gotten the attention it deserves from the investigators or the media. “I’m kind of afraid the police will mess with me if my name is printed, but I don’t care. I’ve called everybody from the TV stations and the newspapers all the way to the governor,” Blair said. “I’ve called fifty law firms — all of them said they’d have a conflict of interest since they have to work with police.”

State Sen. Susan Talamantes Eggman (D-Stockton), who was instrumental in passing Gov. Gavin Newsom’s signature mental health care legislation last year, has been appointed to lead the Senate’s influential health committee — a change that promises a more urgent focus on expanding mental health services and moving homeless people into housing and treatment.

Eggman, a licensed social worker, co-authored the novel law that allows families, clinicians, first responders and others to petition a judge to mandate government-funded treatment and services for people whose lives have been derailed by untreated psychotic disorders and substance use.

 One night in October 2021, Armando Navejas wandered away from his home in El Paso, Texas. The 70-year-old had Parkinson’s disease and dementia, and his family said he could barely speak. Scared for his safety, his wife Josephine called 911 for help tracking him down.

By 2 a.m., Navejas was back in front of his house, shirtless and ambling around.

According to video from a neighbor’s home security camera, an officer approached, shining a flashlight in Navejas’ face. Navejas appeared agitated, picking up a string of wooden blocks and walking toward the cop, who retreated behind a parked car.

Utah doesn’t have a plan for those with severe mental illness, and it is costing taxpayers.

As a prosecutor, I encountered a lot of defendants with debilitating mental illnesses.

Many were “frequent flyers,” continuously cycling through court for committing new offenses and not complying with probation.

This cycle comes at a price. Police, judges, public defenders, prosecutors, probation officers, jail stays, competency evaluations and restoration proceedings are not cheap.

Consider Alice (name changed for privacy). In a single year, Alice picked up seven separate criminal cases for theft and possessing drugs, paraphernalia and burglary tools.

Q. I have an older relative who recently has had an extreme change in behavior with no apparent cause. He has become withdrawn and paranoid, and not at all himself – but doesn’t seem to have obvious signs of dementia. Where do we go for help? How do I know if he needs to go to a neurologist, psychiatrist or what?

A. The simple, and not very helpful answer is, “it depends.”

Let’s start with four major factors on which the answer depends, in no particular order.

First, it depends on what is available near where you live.

Second, it depends on what your insurance will cover and which doctors and clinics are in your network.

Third, it depends on the specific symptoms and problems the individual is experiencing.

Fourth, it depends on whether the individual believes there is a problem and wants to do something about it.