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From the Publisher – Some Essentials on Surviving a Mental Illness During and Following Hospitalization
I am very pleased that we are addressing the topic Providing Essential Care and Services Following Psychiatric Hospitalization in this issue of Mental Health News. I want to thank the many people and organizations who helped make this issue possible. According to the National Alliance on Mental...
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It Takes A Village
My philosophy as a clinical social worker has always been that families with children suffering from mental health problems need the appropriate skills, tools, and services to effectively help their child. These families often encounter deficit-based delivery systems and somehow get stuck. I never...
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Mental Illness Presents Challenges to Individuals, Families and Communities
Mental illness presents great challenges for individuals, families and communities. From stress disorders and depression among an over-stressed military, to incidents of school violence, to the $193 billion in wages lost annually in the United States because of mental illness, mental health issues...
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Providing Essential Care & Services Following Psychiatric Hospitalization
In this article we will address the discharge planning process. Affecting a proper discharge plan is an important continuation of the care rendered during the inpatient psychiatric hospitalization. This observation is especially true as the length of inpatient stays has become briefer. What an...
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Recovery Can Begin on The Inpatient Psychiatric Hospital Unit
Post discharge services start the day a person is admitted to an inpatient unit. Usually, when people stay for a few days in the hospital, staff focuses mainly on medication issues. Many studies of people suffering from severe mental illnesses show an association between non-adherence to medication...
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Telephonic Follow Up to a Psychiatric Emergency Room Visit: A Call Center Service Model
A 2008 report by the National Association of State Mental Health Program Directors argues that “…lapses in continuity of care, especially after discharge from emergency department and inpatient psychiatry units, contribute to significant suicide-related morbidity and mortality”. The report...
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VNSW Mental Health Home Care Program: Transitioning Back Home Following Hospitalization
It is becoming increasingly understood and appreciated just how much healing and comfort extend beyond physical well-being. There is a decided mental well-being component as well, recognized by Visiting Nurse Services in Westchester (VNSW), the White Plains-based home health care agency that...
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Where Do We Go from Here? Follow-Up Care from Psychiatric Hospitalization
Psychiatric hospitalization is a disruptive event for any individual, especially for a child and family. However, brief the hospital stay – and stays are very brief these days – the person, the child, and the family has to cope with medications, restoring relationships, making an awkward and...
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After the Hospital the Real Treatment Begins
It is often in the period following an inpatient psychiatric hospitalization that the “real treatment” begins. After stabilizing the most severe symptoms that compromise a patient’s functioning, the patient and his or her therapist must then collaborate on the next steps that will help to...
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Assisted Outpatient Treatment: A Helping Hand in the Community
Living with a loved one afflicted with a mental illness who does not comply with his or her treatment plan can have a tremendous negative impact on the family as well as the individual. Assisted Outpatient Treatment, or “Kendra’s Law,” is a valuable tool for families and others who seek to...
