Archive for the ‘Health and Wellness’ Category

Simple Self-Care Methods to Reduce Anxiety, Stress, and Depression

Anxiety is generally characterized as feelings of tension, worried thoughts, increased blood pressure, sweating, trembling, dizziness, and a rapid heartbeat. Anxiety disorders include recurring intrusive thoughts and fears about unspecified threats. While some degree of anxiety is common, it’s...

Consumer Perspectives: Food Security is a Social Justice Issue

This article is part of a quarterly series giving voice to the perspectives of individuals with lived experiences as they share their opinions on a particular topic. The authors are served by Services for the UnderServed (S:US), a New York City-based nonprofit that is committed to giving every New...

Office of Mental Health Receives Grant to Expand Access to Fresh Healthy Produce to People with Mental Illness

The NYS Office of Mental Health (OMH) has received a $200,000 award to help people with mental illness gain access to healthy, fresh produce. The grant, from the NYS Health Foundation, will be used to expand the FreshConnect Checks Program and bring mobile farmers’ markets to congregate housing...

As Students Grapple with Leave of Absence Challenges, Manuals Aim to Offer a Better Way Forward

David Mink finished the spring semester of his freshman year at Macalester College in Minnesota with a 0.0 GPA, amid a process in which he would take a semester of classes, withdraw, and try again. “I just kept banging my head into the wall and felt like nothing was working,” Mink says....

The Loneliness Epidemic and its Consequences

Former Surgeon General Dr. Vivek H. Murthy described loneliness as an epidemic long before the Coronavirus emerged and disrupted relationships in ways we might never have imagined (McGregor, 2017). Despite extraordinary advances in telecommunications technologies that have enabled us to connect in...

Wraparound and Wellness: A Catalyst for Recovery

Grappling with the ever-growing population of youth experiencing opioid abuse in New Jersey necessitates bold action. Is getting back to the basics of wellness and community connectedness too basic for this complex dilemma? Wellness and community connectedness are essential components for a...

Excellence in Wellness: Whole Self Care Program at S:US

The notion of Integrated Health in behavioral health care is rooted in the need to improve the health outcomes in the lives of people in recovery from mental and/or substance use disorders. Preventative measures are critical to addressing the rates of chronic illness and premature death experienced...

Put Mental Health into “Healthy Aging”

In June 2019 the NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DOHMH) issued a report on the health of older adults5. That’s good news since it reflects serious recognition of the aging of the population of New York City and of the need for the field of public health to pay greater attention to...

Investing in the Integrated Care Workforce

It is no longer a new idea that the mind and body are intrinsically connected; Socrates via Plato, described this around 360 B.C. Yet, we still separate and silo these aspects of care; treating behavioral health needs like schizophrenia in mental health clinics and physical issues like diabetes in...

Self-Care is Essential to Well-being at Work

By now, “self-care” and “workplace wellness” aren’t novel concepts. It would be difficult not to find myriad references to both in the popular and professional press. Many organizations, including in the private sector, healthcare and government have embraced employee wellness programs,...