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Second Chances
This is my story about my struggles with bi-polar disorder, substance abuse, and second chances. My journey began approximately 2 years ago. Between my undiagnosed mental illness and substance abuse, I was on a road of self-destruction. I was not capable of living a normal life. I couldn’t get...
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The Recovery Movement in New York State
What an exciting time to work in behavioral health! Practitioners are in a new frontier of best practices based upon significant research that provides a growing understanding about brain disease and appropriate interventions in behavioral health and recovery. The growing strength and influence of...
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Services for the UnderServed Addresses Mental Illness Among Young Adults Under New Citywide Initiative
Many youth are hit suddenly with mental illness during their teens and early adulthood. For some, it may be as many as seven years between their “first break” and the first time they formally receive treatment. This results in many of them lagging behind their peers as they transition to...
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Embracing Agency-Wide Change: Delivering Person-Centered Services at MHA Westchester
Since its organization shortly after World War II, the Mental Health Association of Westchester County (MHA) has provided services to meet the changing needs of our county. MHA quickly became known as the agency which provided services to those most in need, in an atmosphere of respect and focus on...
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It’s on My Plate
One morning in May of 2009 I woke up in the inpatient psychiatric ward of a regional medical center in western New Jersey. I had admitted myself through the ER the night before - after a suicide attempt. I would be diagnosed with major depression, general anxiety disorder, and substance abuse...
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Recovery 101: For Those Who Thought They Couldn’t Recover
Advocate for the mental health recovery movement Pat Deegan wrote, “The professionals called it apathy and lack of motivation. They blamed it on our illness. But they don’t understand that giving up is a highly motivated and goal-directed behavior. For us, giving up was a way of surviving....
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Recovering the Person in Treatment
Person-centered recovery could well be reframed as recovering the person; for isn’t that what treatment is ultimately about? At Wellspring, a multi-service mental health agency in Bethlehem, Connecticut, we base our relational approach to treatment and education on a multi-dimensional concept of...
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Recovery from Mental Illness: Consumer Readiness as a Driving Force
In this account, I’m sharing our experience at The Bridge, the New York City non-profit mental health rehabilitation agency, to illustrate the key role that consumers play in moving service providers to a recovery/rehabilitation orientation. The Bridge was created in 1954 by a group of...
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SAMHSA’s Working Definition of Recovery
For over 20 years, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) has fostered recovery and social inclusion for Americans with mental and/or substance use disorders. Over the years, it has become increasingly apparent that a practical, comprehensive working definition of...
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The Evolution of Recovery-Oriented Services in NYC and at MHA-NYC
New York City has a long and proud history of providing a wide range of recovery-oriented programs for individuals with serious and persistent mental illness. Following in the activist path of Clifford Beers who started the modern mental health movement in 1909, six former psychiatric patients and...
