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The Road to Independence: Addressing the Needs of Adolescents and Young Adults with a Serious Mental Illness
Diagnosed with schizo-affective disorder, Tom has spent most of his teen years in and out of psychiatric hospitals. He was living with his mother, who was unable to provide the support and guidance he needed, and at age 17 was about to age out of the children’s mental health system. Yet he did...
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The Role of the Home Care Mental Health Nurse in Identifying, Accessing, and Treating Children and Adolescents Requiring Mental Health Services
As Assistant Secretary for Health and Surgeon General of the US, Dr. David Satcher (2001) stated, “The burden of suffering experienced by children with mental health needs and their families has created a health crisis in this country…children are suffering needlessly because their emotional,...
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Through a Glass Darkly: Poverty and Mental Health in The Bronx
Each day I take a journey to the northern tip of our city, to the Northeast Bronx, where I am the director of an outpatient mental health clinic. I am a visitor from another country, Manhattan, and I inhabit this world and see it through the eyes of a white, middle-class outsider. As the 5 train...
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A Clinic’s Initial Experiences Conducting Multiple Family Groups
Jose is an 11-year-old boy who has, for years, been threatening his family to run away and never return when he is upset with them. His family has tried to cope with these behaviors the best they could, but things reached the point that they felt they needed further assistance. His grandmother made...
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Considering Culture in Child and Adolescent Care
Once upon a time our society began teaching children the story of Christopher Columbus, which inhibited children from developing critical multicultural thinking and reinforced racist ideology. A big and powerful “white” country is invading the country of poor Indians of color. You know the rest...
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Creating a Team of Professionals to Manage the Patient with an Eating Disorder
Earlier this Spring an 18-year-old graduating senior came to my office for a checkup and told me about the stomach pains she was experiencing. She had already seen a gastroenterologist who had instructed her to eat more fiber and check back in six weeks. Upon further questioning, it became clear...
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Engagement in the School Based Clinic Setting: Challenges and Opportunities
The early phase of mental health treatment called “engagement” marks the beginning of an emerging collaboration among provider, child and family. During engagement, clients develop important senses about their providers: Do I like this person? Can they help me? Does it seem like they care about...
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Kids Do Get Better: Values Driven Inpatient Care
In New York State, and across the country, the story of how mental health care began begins with inpatient care provided in large institutions located in a bucolic rural environment. This “humane treatment,” in its day, was considered a progressive avant-garde form of care. For decades this...
