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A Handshake that Inspired a Recovery: The History and Future of Mental Health News
Let me tell you a true story about a simple handshake that saved the life of a young man from New York suffering with mental illness. The year was 1987 and he was 38 years old. He had always been a happy and productive person throughout his entire life. He had earned a master’s degree and...
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Ascent into Love: Surviving Schizophrenia
Every person needs to be touched, supported and nurtured by the environment in which they live in order to grow. The earth’s immense force of gravity, whether physical or psychological, is too much for us to bear alone. Each of us takes a turn at holding each other’s weight, much like the spine...
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NYSPA Report: How Will New York State’s Transition to Medicaid Managed Care Impact Those with Serious Mental Illness?
Skepticism, not cynicism, will be in order during the coming year as New York State’s efforts to place all of its Medicaid enrollees, including those with serious and persistent mental illness, into Medicaid Managed Care Plans (MMCPs) is realized. Reaching this goal is an important part of the...
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Finding the Right Tools for the Job
As a provider of mental health services, offering a person-centered approach to recovery calls clinicians to not only be flexible, but also objective in order to systematically address the needs unique to each individual. Recovery is not always smooth and positive. When a consumer is marked as...
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Building a Wellness Culture for Staff to Promote a Recovery Culture for Consumers
The Mental Health Center of Denver has worked for many years to create a Recovery Culture which supports the people we serve to live a full life in spite of a mental illness. (Seven Key Strategies that Work Together to Create Recovery Based Transformation, Community Mental Health Journal, Volume...
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Practice Principles for Group Work with Children and Adolescents in the Aftermath of Disasters and Other Traumatic Events
Following are four interrelated and overlapping practice for group work with young people impacted by disasters and other traumatic events; to help them to build coping skills and overcome isolation. These principles can be (should be) incorporated into any evidence-based practice that utilizes...
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Integrative Treatment for Co-Occurring Disorders in Service Members, Veterans, and Military Families in a Civilian Inpatient Setting
Since September 11th, 2001, over two million United States service members have been deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan. Multiple factors related to the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan and the Global War on Terror (e.g., multiple deployments, length of deployments, intensity and nature of combat...
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FAST-PS: A New Initiative for Developing Novel Treatments for Psychosis and Other Mental Disorders
The National Institute of Mental Health will fund research at Columbia University Department of Psychiatry and New York State Psychiatric Institute (NYSPI) to speed the development of effective psychotropic agents and improve treatment for those suffering from mental illnesses There is a serious...
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Healing PTSD Through Relationship and Touch
When six-year-old Mandi* came to us, she had suffered significant trauma in her early years from a drug-addicted mother, a father in prison, and several disrupted foster placements. She reacted to any limit setting with uncontrollable tantrums, terrorizing and discouraging her latest well-meaning...
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Addressing Gun Violence to Combat PTSD in Children
Children exposed to violence, especially gun violence, are at great risk of developing symptoms associated with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). In fact, nearly 100% of children who have witnessed the violent death of someone they know, especially a family member, develop these debilitating...
