Melissa Ellin covers community mental health in Normal/Bloomington for WGLT, an NPR affiliate station at Illinois State University. Before this, she did general assignment reporting for Boston.com and statehouse reporting for MetroWest Daily News, while finishing her undergraduate journalism and English degrees at Boston University. She’s freelanced for The Maine Monitor, Brookline News, and The Boston Globe. She also has experience with local and national data-driven investigations, including a story for The Boston Globe that uncovered corruption in the Massachusetts Department of Correction’s prisoner grievance system. You can also read her byline in NBC Boston and the AP. She graduated in May 2023 with honors.
Beat: Mental health
McLean County, Illinois is positioning itself as a national leader in addressing the mental health crisis in America. An intergovernmental agreement created a Mental Health Action Plan funded by sales tax dollars. Program details and its impact are lacking in a crisis. This reporter comprehensively covers mental health to provide a deeper understanding of how the crisis is playing out, services available and how the plan is making a difference or where it is failing.