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The Structure of a Revolution in Obesity Treatment
Although Katherine used to enjoy hiking and skiing, if given a choice between elevators or stairs she now selects elevators. Katherine is 81 pounds overweight, has prescriptions for gastro-esophageal reflux and high blood pressure, and has avoided her primary care physician for 2 years. Katherine...
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Finding the Right Tools for the Job
As a provider of mental health services, offering a person-centered approach to recovery calls clinicians to not only be flexible, but also objective in order to systematically address the needs unique to each individual. Recovery is not always smooth and positive. When a consumer is marked as...
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Peer Counseling Effectiveness in Acute Care at Kings County Hospital
Peer counseling is not new to Kings County Hospital Center (KCHC). In fact, it began more than ten years ago when a former patient—a tireless advocate and pioneer of the consumer mental health recovery movement—was hired as a part-time intern to work on inpatient services. In 2004, through a...
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Parachute NYC: A New Approach for Individuals Experiencing Psychiatric Crises
Think back to the last time you had a really bad day. One that even now you shudder to recall—a day characterized, perhaps, by heartache, or disappointment, or loss. Or even physical pain. A day you were glad to get to the end of, which left a mark on you somehow, and which you hope never to...
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Will We Need a Separate Mental Health System in the Future?
“If the new federal law equalizing coverage for mental conditions with that for medical-surgical care works as hoped, there may no longer he a need for a public system to handle mental health in the long run,” says Michael Hogan, New York State’s mental health commissioner. This was the...
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The Family Clinical Nurse Specialist: Promoting Health in People with Mental Health Conditions
What is a Family Clinical Nurse Specialist (FCNS)? An FCNS is an advanced practice registered nurse, who has earned a master’s or doctorate degree. FCNSs are clinical experts in a specialized area of nursing practice. The FCNS has a unique role to integrate care across the continuum of three...
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Meeting the Medical Needs of People with Serious Mental Illness: Will New Initiatives Work?
On average, people with serious mental illness die at a much younger age than people without serious mental illness. Estimates range from about 10 to 25 years younger. They are also much more likely to have serious physical disorders including obesity, high blood pressure, diabetes, heart disease,...
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Developmental Disabilities Nurses: Consultants in Mental Health Settings
There has been recent discussion about health reform and its potential impact in the community setting. With the implementation of a new or changed concept there comes a period of transition. Discussions that include exchanges of ideas to ease the transitional process may become very relevant if...
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Medicating Mindfully: How Your Doctor Thinks
It’s been said that prescribing medication for our patients is as much art as science. Certainly, the science of psychopharmacology has exploded over the past three decades. Our understanding of how and where medications work has become identifiable and precise. Effects and side effects have been...
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The NYSPA Report – DSM-5: The Future Face of Psychiatry
Most people who walk into a psychiatrist’s office have never heard of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM), and yet it is one of the most important and widely used texts in all of medicine. According to the National Institute of Mental Health, more than 50 million...
