A grandmother’s killing: Covid’s mental health crisis hits one family

Pastor Brandan Thomas had just stepped away from the homeless shelter he runs when his buzzing phone signaled another mental health crisis.

That week in late August he had already sought help for one resident who suffered a psychotic break so severe she could not remember her name, and another who bit his own arm and then swallowed a bottle of pills.

Now texts were telling Thomas his most challenging client was out of control. He raced back to find David Austin Rowe pacing the shelter. The 18-year-old threatened to shoot one staffer, Thomas said, and to choke another. He rambled about blowing up the Winchester Rescue Mission.

The pandemic has sparked a second epidemic of despair and the mission is on the front lines. Death and isolation associated with the coronavirus created an uptick in people needing counseling, while degrading the ability of the mental health system to provide it.

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