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New York City Should Become the Site of a National Museum of Mental Health
New York City prides itself on being a center of cultural institutions, boasting proudly on its tourism website that “there's an institution for every interest in the City.” The city is the site of roughly 170 museums! Yet, inexplicably, there is currently no museum focused on improving public...
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Strengthening New York’s I/DD System Through Collaboration, Innovation, and Alignment
At a moment when New York's intellectual and developmental disabilities (I/DD) system faces significant challenges, one network chose not to wait for change but to lead it. On March 31, 2026, the New York Integrated Network (NYIN) convened its 13 provider agencies, advocacy partners, and...
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Building the Missing Middle: How Advocacy Helped Create a New Behavioral Health Intervention for New Yorkers With Serious Mental Illness
For decades, our behavioral health systems have faced the growing challenge of meeting the needs of people with serious mental illness (SMI). In New York, where the Institute for Community Living (ICL) operates, and most places in the country, demand for services far exceeds supply. Furthermore,...
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Medication-Assisted Treatment on the Ground: How Federal Policy Shifts Are Reshaping Outreach in Brooklyn
Opioid use remains a significant public health threat in the United States, with nearly 80,000 opioid‑involved overdoses reported in 2023—accounting for 76% of all overdoses that year (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2025). As Substance Use Disorder (SUD) continues to affect more...
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Advocacy’s Strange Bedfellows: How New York’s Landmark Behavioral Health Budget Came to Be
Governor Hochul's Executive Budget for Fiscal Year 2023-2024 (FY 2024) included unprecedented investments in behavioral healthcare and related services for the most vulnerable residents of New York. This emerged in response to widespread homelessness, rapidly rising rates of suicide, and epidemics...
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How New CMS Remote Therapeutic Monitoring Policy Is Expanding Access and What It Means for Your Practice
Therapy clients don't live their lives in sessions; they live them in the hours and days in between. The most beneficial work can happen during this in-between time: responding to triggers, practicing coping skills, completing valuable homework and exercises. But it is also when clients are most...
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Future-Proofing Behavioral Health: Why New York Providers Need Partners Who Can Pivot
New York's behavioral health system moves quickly, and providers feel that pace every day as programs, requirements, and expectations continue to shift. Even when policy changes are designed to improve care or expand access, the process of adjusting to them can place real pressure on program...
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How Policy and Advocacy Shape Behavioral Health Care Systems in New York State
Over the last several years, New York Governor Kathy Hochul has invested over $2 billion in strengthening all aspects of the state's mental health system. Transforming one of the largest public mental health systems in the country requires strategic vision. This process has been informed by...
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My Autistic Brother Nearly Died Waiting. Now They Want to Cut What Saved Him.
He stood over me and his companion Steve on the steps leading into the Senate building and prayed, "God, give me the words today." It was March 24, 2026, and my 30-year-old autistic brother Stephen was invited to Capitol Hill to meet with Congressional staffers and share his experience living with...
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The Bar for Behavioral Health Care Just Got Higher: The Workforce to Meet It Is Shrinking
On April 6, 2026, New Jersey adopted NJAC 10:36, new integrated behavioral health program service standards that replaced three separate regulatory frameworks with a single unified standard. Every ambulatory licensed behavioral health program in the state must now coordinate physical and behavioral...
