Mental Health News

Lawmakers in Harrisburg passed nearly three dozen laws last week in a final burst of action as they held their last voting session of the year.

The 11-year-old Golden Retriever comforted Stephen Zamojski, whose Saint Bernard recently passed.

Two live reindeer visited residents at the Fellowship Community continuing care retirement community in Whitehall Township on Tuesday.

After 40 years with the Boys & Girls Club of Allentown, CEO Deb Fries-Jackson is retiring. The Allentown native and former school teacher was instrumental in the merger of the local Girls Club and Boys Club in 2002.

LehighValleyNews.com and PBS39 hosted a community conversation on interfaith relations amid the Israel-Hamas war. The program also contained advice on how to manage social media and speak to children about the unrest.

The Allentown School District held Unity Day events at its 15 elementary schools on Wednesday. The message at each focused on bullying prevention, as October is National Bullying Prevention Month.

The conflict in Israel has played out across social media. The graphic nature of the videos and stories can have an impact on your mental health, according to a Lehigh Valley therapist.

WLVR's Megan Frank talks with reporters Tom Shortell and Brittany Sweeney.

The Suicide Prevention Coalition of Lehigh County is starting its LOSS Team, which will serve as first responders to assist families caught in the immediate aftermath of a suicide.

DeSales University professor Elisabeth Felten is in her second year teaching non-traditional, special needs adults to give them a college experience.

Lehigh Valley siblings and filmmakers produced their second movie, this time at Moravian University and Liberty High School in Bethlehem. It is expected to be released next year in time for film festival season.

Juggling family, business and a new yoga career, Coopersburg's Roey Ebert gets creative with her usual grace

Haven House in Allentown is hosting The Art of Coping, an art exhibition showcasing the healing power of creativity. It features work from Lehigh Valley artists living with PTSD, depression, anxiety, and visual impairments.

Despite not being approved for human consumption, veterinary tranquilizers are infiltrating the illicit drug supply in Pennsylvania. Harm reduction specialists and health care professionals say these overdoses can't be approached solely with naloxone, the opioid overdose reversal drug.

Xylazine, an animal-grade tranquilizer that's not approved for human use, has taken Pennsylvania's illicit drug supply by storm. Known on the streets as "tranq," it accounted for almost 1 in 4 overdose deaths in Pennsylvania by 2023. Last year in Lehigh County, it was a contributing cause of death in 20 of the 112 deadly overdoses, or 17.9 percent of cases.

Known as "tranq" on the streets, an animal tranquilizer named xylazine infiltrated drug supplies throughout Pennsylvania since 2019. Its presence in the Lehigh Valley has grown, with deadly consequences.

The anti-violence program is funded through a $1.28 million grant from the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency. The program will continue next school year.

Krista Brown-Ly has served as the center's interim executive director after Ashley L. Coleman resigned last year.

Nestled between John Makuvek Field and Priscilla Payne Hurd Academic Complex, the Main Street North Campus’ 70,000-square-foot, four-floor centerpiece dedicated to student wellness is set to open in the fall.

With support from Unity Bank and organizers Greater Easton Development Partnership and the Easton Tea Dance, Easton will host its first-ever Pride celebration on June 1, 2025.

The hourlong program will be broadcast at 6 p.m. It takes a deeper look at the 2025 Pennsylvania Health Survey by the Muhlenberg College Institute of Public Opinion — and how Pennsylvanians view key public health issues, such as vaccinations.

The anonymous questionnaire focuses on opioids and illicit substances. Officials say it builds on the Allentown Health Bureau’s other work to address the ongoing opioid crisis.