Mississippi Today is pleased to announce that Allen Siegler has joined the newsroom as a mental health reporter.
Mississippi consistently ranks as one of the most underserved states in the nation when it comes to mental health resources, and access to those resources is a major issue. The state recently emerged from years of federal oversight aimed to ensure Mississippians had adequate access to community based services. Mississippi Today will use this beat to shed light on the current state of community based resources and other areas of mental health.
Mississippi is also set for a windfall of hundreds of millions of dollars in opioid settlement money, and Siegler will lead coverage examining how those monies are spent — both at the state and local levels.
“I’m thrilled to be a part of the Mississippi Today team and continue the great mental health reporting others here have produced,” said Siegler. “Through digging deep into the state’s biggest mental health problems and relying on the strengths of my coworkers, I hope to serve Mississippians as well as I can.”
Before joining Mississippi Today, Siegler reported on public health for the nonprofit newsrooms Mountain State Spotlight, an investigative outlet in West Virginia, and Healthbeat, a startup with bureaus in Atlanta and New York City. At those newsrooms, he covered health topics ranging from substance use disorder, health care systems, and dangerous workplaces.
Originally from San Diego, Allen studied applied epidemiology at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, graduating with a Master of Public Health degree in 2022.
“I am thrilled to welcome Allen to the newsroom and so excited to have a dedicated reporter covering mental health,” said Kate Royals, Mississippi Today’s Community Health Editor. “He is experienced in nonprofit newsrooms and is a fantastic journalist, as evidenced by his work at outlets in Atlanta and West Virginia. With the stigma around mental health and the lack of access to care in the state, we are overdue for good journalism that will shed light on the challenges — and the potential solutions — in this area of health care.”
