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Author Archive

What Do Age and Disability Mean in Our Culture

People with disabilities come in all ages, and almost all of us encounter some change in physical or mental capacity as we grow old. Yet, we act as though old people never become disabled and disabled people never grow old. Academics and policymakers approach disability and aging as separate...

A Comprehensive Look at What’s Needed to Age in Place with Dignity

Former First Lady, Rosalynn Carter stated, “There are only four kinds of people in the world: those who have been caregivers, those who are currently caregivers, those who will be caregivers, and those who will need caregivers.” Caregiving for the elderly is a growing phenomenon in the...

A Geriatric Substance Abuse Recovery Program

Substance abuse among the geriatric population is often overlooked or ignored, despite the finding that almost a fifth of older adults misuse drugs and/or alcohol (Center for Substance Abuse Treatment, 2012), and evidence showing the detrimental impact of substance abuse on elders’ quality of...

Changes in Our Children’s System of Care

In this important children’s issue of Behavioral Health News, we wish to address “Caregiver’s Challenges: Working with Families in Distress.” JCCA is a not-for-profit child welfare agency with a nearly 200-year history of providing comprehensive care to more than a million abused,...

Collaborating to Improve Children’s Health Care: The Time is Now

In 2015, New York State’s Medicaid Redesign Team (MRT) issued a “Roadmap for Medicaid Payment Reform” that laid out a path for dramatic and innovative change in the way the state financed and administered healthcare. Initially, MRT took on a volume-based approach to health care through the...

Community Capacity: Can We Deliver Better Treatment for Children and Families?

On October 15, 2011, the Behavioral Health Subcommittee of Governor Andrew M. Cuomo’s Medicaid Redesign Team (MRT) gave its final report. For the adult behavioral health system, the report recommended an unprecedented investment into the housing needs of individuals with mental health and...

Consumer Perspectives: Advocates, Supporters, Parents

Services for the UnderServed partnered with the National Alliance on Mental Illness – New York City (NAMI-NYC) for this special edition of this column. This article is part of a quarterly series giving voice to the perspectives of individuals with lived experiences as they share their opinions on...

Essentials for Working with Teenagers in Groups

As we transition into a changing system of care, it is essential that we do not lose sight of fundamental practice skills such as tuning-in, engaging and contracting with teens and their families. Nowhere is this more critical than working with teens in groups. Group work cannot simply be a...

Funding for NYS Opioid Epidemic

Governor Andrew M. Cuomo announced more than $9 million in federal funding has been secured to expand opioid addiction treatment services across the state. This funding includes $5.7 million to expand access to medication assisted treatment, $2.1 million to develop new recovery centers in areas of...

Identifying and Managing Anxiety and Worry In Children and Adolescents

Many children and adolescents struggle with anxiety and worry. According to the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), based upon the National Comorbidity Survey-Adolescent Supplement, 31.9% of adolescents aged 13-18 were identified as having an anxiety disorder with 8.3% of those individuals...