Institute for Community Living (ICL)
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Author Archive

10 Percent of US Adults Have Drug Use Disorder at Some Point

A survey of American adults revealed that drug use disorder is common, co-occurs with a range of mental health disorders and often goes untreated. The study, funded by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA), part of the National Institutes of Health, found that about 4...

Workplace Wellness: Taking Care of Our Most Precious Resource – Our Employees

The majority of workplace wellness programs are focused on enhancing physical wellness, such as stress management, promoting weight, and smoking cessation. While physical wellness continues to be a hot topic, there are other important issues in the workplace that are less often part of the...

Wellness in the Workplace

A recent survey found that global wellness is an estimated $574 billion industry. Each of us continues to make our own “get healthy” resolutions – whether to exercise more, lose weight, eat healthier, stop smoking, etc. The belief that healthy employees produce more and have a positive...

Introducing Collaborative Care in the Workplace

Depression in the workplace affects 10 million people each year (Value Options, How Depression Affects the Workplace) with 6-8% of the population having a major depressive episode each year (Kessler RC et al., The Prevalence and Correlates of Workplace Depression in the National Comorbidity Survey...

New, Work-focused Approach Helps Employees with Depression Do Better at Work and Feel Better, Too

When employees injure their spine, they often receive physical therapy for this common condition. They learn how to strengthen weak muscles, lift properly and sit ergonomically. Essentially, they are taught proven strategies to get them back on their feet and back on the job. But it’s been a...

Merger Fears

A young man came to marriage counseling and reported that he had two panic attacks in his life. One occurred years ago, and the other happened on his way to our session. He knew he needed to more effectively merge with his wife, but he did not know how that was possible; and moreover, he feared...

Psychological Flexibility in the Workplace: A Value-Driven Journey

The modern-day workplace is filled with discomfort and stress. This may take the form of fatigue, frustration, avoidance, and irritability, and arises when there are conflicts among our responsibilities in helping others (i.e., co-workers, family, and friends), completing our own obligations and...

The NYSPA Report: Conversion Therapy

Primum non nocere, “first do no harm,” is a maxim well known to physicians and might be one that should be taken to heart by state decision makers. It is with this dictum in mind that NYSPA urges the NYS Senate to finally pass during its 2016 session the bill defining the practice of “Sexual...

Workplace Success for Individuals with Autism and Sensory Issues: The Critical Role of Wellness and Strategies for Success

What factors are most important to an individual’s success in the workplace? If this question was posed to a group of people, one might expect a range of answers including experience, education, work ethic, people skills, and the ability to problem solve. However, in working with young adults...

Tips for a Successful Employee Wellness Program

At Springbrook, over 1,200 employees work hard each day to deliver compassionate care and support to people of all ages with developmental disabilities from across the state of New York. Our work is centered on maintaining the healthiest, safest, most inclusive environments for the people we...