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How to Approach Treating Older Adults with Complex Mental and Physical Care Needs
Roughly 14% of adults over age 60 (WHO, 2023) live with a mental health condition. As the geriatric population continues to grow (Urban Institute, n.d.), so do its rates of mental distress, depression, and drug deaths (Wilson, 2024). The behavioral health industry must prepare for treating more...
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Innovative Delivery of Therapy for Older Adults with Depression
There are many changes that take place as we age, but many people assume that depression is a normal part of aging. Instead, depression is best thought of as a response to losses and changes associated with aging, and most importantly – it is treatable! In our work with community-dwelling older...
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Working Works: Considerations and Resources for Navigating Employment in the Recovery Journey
Behavioral health best practice incorporates a whole-health perspective that emphasizes wellness, is person-centered, and focuses on the whole person and their strengths, not their illness (Swarbrick, 2006). Occupational wellness, that “personal satisfaction and enrichment derived from one’s...
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Safe, Stable Housing and Employment Are Key Social Determinants of Health, and Critical for Recovery!
Safe and stable housing, together with appropriate employment, are important determinants of mental and physical health. For people who are living with mental illness, housing and employment can play a critical role in their journeys towards recovery. Governor Hochul has long recognized the...
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Expanding Permanent Supportive Housing is Essential to Robust Social Safety Net
The current housing climate leaves millions of Americans at risk of housing instability or homelessness – and it is those who are living with mental and physical health challenges that are the most vulnerable. As communities battle the ever-escalating “cost-of-living” and a rising economic...
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The Impact of Housing on Mental Health Issues and Substance Misuse
In Maslow’s hierarchy, physiological needs – food, water, shelter – are the base upon which all other human activity rests. As a population, particularly in more privileged areas, we tend to take these needs for granted: a house or apartment, food and clean water, and clothing are readily...
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The Integrated Role of Housing and Employment in Recovery
When you think of recovery, you often think of what we would consider our social determinants of health: financial stability, housing and surrounding environment, health care access, education, and social connections. When a person is doing well in all these domains, they generally thrive and...
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Finding the Perfect Fit with Peer Support: Navigating Employment with Mental Illness
Searching for the right job, or even any job, can be stressful for weeks, months, or even years. The challenges may not even stop after obtaining gainful employment. They can bleed into maintaining that job, which then shields us from engaging in the stressful job search process. These challenges...
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Consumer Perspectives: The Synergy of Housing and Employment Services in Mental Healthcare
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...
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Assisting Individuals with Employment at WJCS Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinics
Westchester Jewish Community Services (WJCS) operates four Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinics (CCBHC), with funding provided by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) in Westchester County, NY. When individuals first enter our clinic, they are greeted by a...