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Building a Responsive, Accountable, Recovery-Focused System of Care
I wish to briefly describe what is on the horizon for the Adult Mental Health system in our state. The New York State public mental health system is among the most well-funded in the country, yet outcomes are of concern. In the middle are people who struggle with mental illness and want to lead...
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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...
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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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...
