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Improving the American Mental Health System: The Importance of the Workplace
Bill lived in an almost constant sense of dread. At work he was distracted by his worries about his children, who were having problems in school and about his deteriorating relationship with his wife. He worried about having enough money to pay the bills. At night he lay awake ruminating about...
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Making Primary Health Issues a Part of Your Wellness Program
When we were children, annual trips to the doctor were made by our parents or guardians, but as we grow into adult life, making routine appointments may fall to the wayside. Instead of scheduling visits just for wellness maintenance, we may only get around to going when we have the flu or want a...
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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...
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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...
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A Bridge to Employment for Veterans
While SUS was recruiting for the pilot ‘Tug and Barge’ program run through SUNY Maritime College, John Lang was referred for screening as a candidate. Mr. Lang, a former Army Avionic Mechanic honorably discharged after 6 years of service, had fallen on difficult times which forced him to...
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Identifying Gaps in Employment and Vocational Supports
We must frame our services around the individual, not the individual framing themselves around a program. Perhaps that’s easier said than done. I offer the following insights into this topic and hope to stimulate your thoughts and perspective and perhaps provide a foundation for understanding on...
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Seven Tips for Teaching More Effective Job Skills
After fifteen years of modestly fulfilling our mission of teaching Computer Job Skills and securing employment for over three-thousand persons diagnosed with mental and physical disabilities, I regret how little we knew. We had the passion and heart for the work, but we lacked the expertise to be...
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Supportive Housing and Job Development Anchors Individual, Family, and Community Health
Access to safe, affordable housing and stable living-wage employment are fundamental to long-term health, wellness, and recovery for individuals, families and communities. New York State efforts, such as the highly successful New York/New York III program, have been a cutting-edge example to the...
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The Keys to My Recovery: Stable Supportive Housing and Meaningful Employment
Depression is something I’ve not only experienced but witnessed all my life. It runs in my family. There’s a lot of abuse in my history, and, looking back, I can see clearly how and why I gravitated towards substance abuse, as an attempt to self-medicate. For as long as I can recall, I have...
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A Rainbow of Opportunities
Employment is an integral part of confidence building, hope, self-esteem, and an essential portion of the recovery from mental illness. In 1991, the Residential Services department of Saint Joseph’s Medical Center decided to pursue the development of a business which would provide vocational...
