@taylorknopf
Health care reporter covering mental health and substance use for North Carolina Health News. Mama to 2 little ones. Based in Raleigh. Reach me on Signal at username: TaylorKnopf.14 Read my work at: https://www.northcarolinahealthnews.org/author/tayknopf/
Have you heard of a peer cafe? Well, one just opened in downtown Raleigh.
A rare bit of good news in mental health: peer-run support programs are expanding across North Carolina, with new state and local backing.
www.northcarolinahealthnews.org/2026/01/08/n...
So the news outlet I write for gets an extra bonus match during our end of year fundraiser if we reach a certain number of 1st time donors.
Right now, we’re 3 people away from meeting that.
If you’ve never given to NC Health News, this is the time! And any amount counts — even $5!
The case raises questions about employee background checks, repeat safety violations and the state’s reliance on residential psychiatric treatment facilities for vulnerable children — particularly those in foster care.
A man convicted of armed bank robbery was hired to take care of teen girls with mental health issues.
New lawsuit alleges that he sexually abused a teen and was transferred to a different youth facility. www.northcarolinahealthnews.org/2025/12/18/l...
Come for the small town drama 👀
Stay to learn how NC’s opioid settlement dollars must be spent — and who’s making sure they’re spent right.
www.northcarolinahealthnews.org/2025/12/02/t...
The opioid settlement $ are flowing. Local leaders must decide how to best use them. NC gets $1.4B but it's doled out over 18 yrs. Some counties only get a couple million. So these are tough choices. I looked at group operating at the heart of the opioid crisis in Richmond Co that has been left out.
A for-profit psychiatric hospital in Raleigh is expanding its services to military members and partnering with local police after a yearslong record of state and federal sanctions. At the same time, its parent company reports record profits. Full story ➡️ buff.ly/FCyxV4H
Today we published part 2 of our investigative story on Holly Hill.
The for-profit psychiatric facility is expanding to serve more patients, including veterans, despite years of safety violations. www.northcarolinahealthnews.org/2025/08/21/d...
“Repeat noncompliance at this level of severity is troubling,” said a state health official who is exploring options for what to do about hospitals with repeat problems.
Even as health officials debate what to do next, Holly Hill is expanding. More on that — coming Thursday.
The hospital CEO says these are "sporadic incidents that required the creation of action plans to address deficiencies."
Despite these correction plans, regulators continued to find some of the same issues at Holly Hill — year after year.
State records detail years of serious shortcomings at Holly Hill including:
patient escapes
sexual and physical assault allegations
missing treatment plans
medication errors
contraband on patients
issues in medical charts
unsafe patient discharges
unsanitary living conditions
During a violent patient uprising, patients ripped down ceiling tiles, destroyed equipment & wielded syringes as weapons.
New report describes the chaos inside Holly Hill Hospital in Raleigh and why regulators once again sanctioned the psych facility. www.northcarolinahealthnews.org/2025/08/18/h...
These grants were created after the Uvalde school shooting where 19 children were killed had huge bipartisan support.
Trump admin says they’re not in the best interest of the government.
NEW REPORT: Disability Rights NC found that a legal tool used to hold psych patients against their will is frequently misused — violating patients’ rights & causing harm
It includes 30+ recommendations to fix NC’s broken involuntary commitment process www.northcarolinahealthnews.org/2025/05/27/s...
RFK Jr. ordered the NIH’s Integrated Research Facility in Frederick to stop all research on serious infectious diseases yesterday at 5:00 PM.
They study pathogens like Ebola there. You may be familiar with it from The Hot Zone.
www.wired.com/story/hhs-ni...
Read the two-part investigation and the story on the U.S. Senate committee's report on UHS.
Pt 1: www.northcarolinahealthnews.org/2024/05/06/f...
Pt. 2: www.northcarolinahealthnews.org/2024/05/07/f...
Senate report: www.northcarolinahealthnews.org/2024/06/27/u...
My investigation added to the larger narrative building around Brynn Marr's parent company, Universal Health Services, which has a reputation for prioritizing profits over patient care and has faced federal scrutiny & substantial fines. My reporting was also cited in a U.S. Senate committee report.
Through extensive interview with former Brynn Marr employees and patients, I was able to document a litany of concerns, including fights, sexual assaults, untrained staff, overmedication leading to emergency room visits, and widespread falsification of patient records and insurance manipulation.
Honored to be recognized alongside the NYT for this award. These stories are the product of years of digging into NC's involuntary commitment practices, which often land mental health patients in facilities like Brynn Marr Hospital, where many say they are harmed instead of helped.
The crisis services are free to all patients. So Medicaid is covering it as a benefit (but GOP-led Congress could cut Medicaid funds)
Then state dollars pay for those without insurance and those WITH private insurance. (now the state senate wants to claw back some crisis funds)
Let's talk about funding for these.
The state got the bulk of the money to establish the expanded crisis services through the Medicaid expansion sign-on bonus delivered by the Biden Administration.
Private insurers say they don't have to cover the crisis centers...
North Carolina has been opening mental health crisis centers and services around the state, diverting people who would have otherwise gone to the ER or jail. But will they be sustainable in the long-term? There are many unknowns right now.
www.northcarolinahealthnews.org/2025/04/21/a...
The NC senate's budget plan also cuts funds that state-run psychiatric hospitals use to hire contract workers to fill vacancies because they have such a difficult time recruiting full-time workers. This could impact the psychiatric hospitals' future abilities to take as many patients. #ncpol
North Carolina state senators propose cuts to mental health funds because they say communities are getting money from the national opioid settlements and don't need as much.
The settlement funds were never supposed to replace existing funding. #ncpol www.northcarolinahealthnews.org/2025/04/18/n...
free naloxone kiosks in Wilson County, North Carolina to prevent opioid overdoses www.northcarolinahealthnews.org/2025/04/14/w...
After last week’s HHS cuts, N.C. advocates for the aging, domestic violence victims, substance users & more are struggling w/ uncertainty over the slashing of staff, blockages to funding streams and the delivery of care to the state’s most vulnerable. www.northcarolinahealthnews.org/2025/04/09/r...
Are you a federal worker, contractor or recipient of federal funds in North Carolina who has been affected by recent cuts to the federal department of health and human services?
@nchealthnews.bsky.social wants to hear from you:
www.northcarolinahealthnews.org/2025/04/01/a...
inbox: BILL CASSIDY and BERNIE SANDERS are jointly asking RFK Jr to testify on today’s health department cuts
Heard from a source at SAMHSA that they’re dismantling the department and Reduction in Force notices went out today.
Source says no supervisors were notified and there’s extra security in the building. They say all leaders at Center for Mental Health are gone except one.
Hearing from all corners of HHS this morning about a total bloodletting — firings of scientists, analysts and many more as delayed RIFs take effect.
Many folks didn’t see early AM email and showed up, only to be turned away when badges didn’t work. Was sent this photo of long lines at one HHS site.
