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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...
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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...
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Meeting the Needs of Youth in Transition: Recommendations for Systems Reform
Adolescence is commonly defined as a period of transition between childhood and adulthood with distinct physical and psychological challenges that must be successfully navigated en route to maturity. One of these challenges is so deeply embedded in this period of development that it found its way...
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System Change and Service Providers: Opportunities and Challenges in Addressing Unmet Needs
In 2011, a priority of New York’s Governor Andrew M. Cuomo was Medicaid redesign, with the substantive presence of behavioral health services in both the Medicaid Redesign Team (MRT) and the subsequent Delivery System Reform Incentive Program (DSRIP). The focus was to reduce inpatient...
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The Children’s Psychiatric Symptom Rating Scale (CPSRS)
The Children’s Psychiatric Symptom Rating Scale (CPSRS) is a tool designed to help investigators capture the judgments of clinicians and use them to improve the quality of patient care. For years Four Winds has used rating scales to capture therapists’ judgments regarding the nature and...
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The NYSPA Report: Spotlight on OnTrackNY – New York’s First-Episode Psychosis Early Intervention Program
OnTrackNY is a coordinated specialty care program for adolescents and young adults who have started experiencing psychotic symptoms. Started in 2013, the program is a joint collaboration of the New York State Office of Mental Health (OMH), the New York State Psychiatric Institute (NYSPI), the...
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To Improve Adolescent Mental Health, We May Need to Address Adverse World Events
It appears that the prevalence of mental disorders among adolescents has been increasing. The National Survey of Drug Use and Health (NSDUH) shows an increase in major depressive episodes.1 A study about children and adolescence who are eligible for SSI by virtue of mental disabilities found an...
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Transformations at MHA Westchester: Children’s Services
In a recent edition of Behavioral Health News, The Mental Health Association of Westchester wrote of sweeping transformations in process throughout our agency, with a specific focus on services for adults. In this edition, we describe the transformations occurring throughout our services for...
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Building Workforce Capacity to Support the Mental Health Needs of Young Children and Their Families
New York City is supporting its youngest children’s early development and their families through an innovative training partnership and network, funded by the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DOHMH) as part of ThriveNYC. The Early Childhood Mental Health Network, which...
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The Step-Up Intervention Program: A Positive Youth Development Approach to Support Youth Experiencing Housing Instability and Homelessness
Housing instability and homelessness can be defined by frequent moves, couch-surfing, eviction, living in severely overcrowded housing, and living in housing that is not stable (Cutts, Meyers, Black, Casey, Chilton, Cook, & Rose-Jacobs, 2011). Housing instability and homelessness create...
