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Mental Health and Families: Working Together to Strengthen and Support Loved Ones
Having a family member diagnosed with a mental illness can cause great stress and a deep sense of isolation. Mental health challenges are difficult to open up about because of the fear of judgment, believing that no one will understand. Relationships with family and friends can be difficult to...
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The Lens of Loss: Perspectives of Family Members Following Suicide Loss
When we think about the suicide of a loved one, we think of profound loss, of grief, of finding a way to endure amid unyielding pain. But we gain something in the aftermath, one nearly as burdensome. It is a new perspective: Loss becomes a lens through which life is lived. And it can be difficult...
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From Blame to Burden and Beyond: Changing Perspectives on the Family and Behavioral Health
Over the past 40 years or so, there has been a dramatic shift in the views about the dynamics of families with mentally ill family members, a shift from blaming them to sympathizing with them for the burden they have to bear. 50 years ago, when I was learning to be a clinician, I was taught...
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Centering the Family: What It Means to Implement Family-Focused Practice (FFP) in Adult Mental Health Care
Providers have an important role and responsibility to engage families when patients have a psychiatric hospitalization. HIPAA is often used to deny patients' families access to critical information. By educating and engaging families along the way, we can significantly reduce patient readmission...
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Families and Suicide: How to Engage Your Child in Conversation
As parents, we must balance our feelings of anxiety and uncertainty, on top of our own emotions with those of our children. There are many aspects to the relationship between suicide and families, especially having conversations to find out if children are thinking about suicide. Many parents are...
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Supporting Families in the Recovery Process
At the New York State Office of Mental Health, our Office of Advocacy and Peer Support Services (OAPSS) – formerly the Office of Consumer Affairs –supports families to play a vital role in the recovery and resilience process. The office is staffed by individuals with expertise gained through...
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The Behavioral Healthcare System’s Response to Families: A Legacy of Unfulfilled Promises
Family members of those with serious behavioral health conditions often encounter innumerable obstacles in the pursuit of effective treatment and other essential services for their loved ones. Navigating a byzantine network of resources, many of which entail restrictive eligibility criteria and...
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You Don’t Have to Do this Alone: 988 Lifeline Offers Support for Loved Ones Concerned About Suicide
At a recent fund-raising event I attended for St. Vincent’s, CNN correspondent Randi Kaye was honored for her efforts to promote suicide prevention. In her acceptance remarks, she spoke about her family’s shock, disbelief and unanswered questions when her father died by suicide. She...
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A Family’s Recovery Journey, An Interview with Jorge R. Petit, MD
Services for the UnderServed (S:US) is a nonprofit organization that plays a critical role in the health and wellbeing of more than 37,000 of New York City’s most vulnerable individuals and families each year, helping them overcome complex and challenging life circumstances. At S:US, we...
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The Behavioral Health Workforce Crisis and its Impact on Families
The behavioral health field has been enduring a workforce shortage for some time. In 2021 alone, direct support organizations saw a turnover rate of 43%. On top of that, research has shown an increase in the demand for behavioral and mental health services since the beginning of the COVID-19...
