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Connection as Treatment: The Healing Power of the Community Center
Humans are social beings by nature. While our level of socialization differs from person to person, the great majority of people have emotional and psychological needs that are best met by interpersonal engagement. In a healthcare system defined and often enhanced by outcome measures,...
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Navigating the Road to Recovery: An Art and a Science
Defining recovery is all-encompassing. It may be recovery from mental illness, substance use, trauma, losses and, as we’ve recently learned, from the effects of a pandemic. Most often it is thought about as a journey toward regaining something that was lost or returning to a former state. In...
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Recovery and Inclusion: A Viewpoint in Retrospect
Currently we are faced with a delicate dance, between saving lives and promoting and perpetuating a zombie underclass. Tens of thousands are dying from drug overdose each year. Those who are living in addiction inflict on the society, higher healthcare costs, crime rates and human services costs....
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NY State Governor Hochul Appoints Debbie Pantin, MHNE Chair, and Anne Constantino to NYS Opioid Settlement Board
On March 19th, 2022, New York State Governor Kathy Hochul, after signing legislation expanding the Opioid Settlement Board from 19 members to 21 members, announced her two appointments to the Board. "As we make our comeback from the COVID-19 pandemic, we must commit to also mitigating the impact...
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Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra Kicks Off National Tour to Strengthen Mental Health
Following President Joe Biden's State of the Union Address on Tuesday, February 2, 2022, Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Xavier Becerra kicked off the National Tour to Strengthen Mental Health in an effort to hear directly from Americans across the country about the behavioral health...
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Limits of Self-Management in Mental Health
Self-management teaches consumers of mental health treatment and people struggling with a mental health condition to eliminate all obstacles in your chosen path to recovery. The success of a person making true lasting gains in their recovery hinges on your capacity to identify immediate and...
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Evolution and Innovation in Care
As a newly licensed master social worker, I began my career in a health center of a major New York City hospital system in 2007. Addiction and substance use, mental health, and comprehensive medical care were all provided within the center. Joining The Guidance Center of Westchester (TGCW) 12 years...
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Early Childhood Mental Health Clinic: Unmasking Social-Emotional Needs in Young Children
Think about this: a child who turned 5 years old in March 2022 will have spent 60% of their young life in the age of COVID. Most, if not all, of the child's active memories will be a time when traveling outside the home means wearing a mask. They were told that masks keep them safe; masks protect...
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The Triumph of “Recovery”
By the early 1970s, just a few years after aggressive deinstitutionalization began, it became clear that merely keeping people with serious and persistent mental illness out of the hospital and in the community was not enough. It was not even enough to make sure that they got good psychiatric...
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The Integration of Treatment and Recovery: Special Considerations for Working with Children
Historically, the term “recovery” was commonly associated with substance use/addiction services and was popularized in the United States through Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) (Witkiewitz, K., et al., 2020). Beginning in 1939, AA published materials highlighting recovery as a personal journey toward...
