InvisALERT Solutions – ObservSMART

Archive for the ‘Spring 2022 Issue’ Category

NY State Governor Hochul Appoints Debbie Pantin, MHNE Chair, and Anne Constantino to NYS Opioid Settlement Board

On March 19th, 2022, New York State Governor Kathy Hochul, after signing legislation expanding the Opioid Settlement Board from 19 members to 21 members, announced her two appointments to the Board. "As we make our comeback from the COVID-19 pandemic, we must commit to also mitigating the impact...

Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra Kicks Off National Tour to Strengthen Mental Health

Following President Joe Biden's State of the Union Address on Tuesday, February 2, 2022, Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Xavier Becerra kicked off the National Tour to Strengthen Mental Health in an effort to hear directly from Americans across the country about the behavioral health...

Limits of Self-Management in Mental Health

Self-management teaches consumers of mental health treatment and people struggling with a mental health condition to eliminate all obstacles in your chosen path to recovery. The success of a person making true lasting gains in their recovery hinges on your capacity to identify immediate and...

Evolution and Innovation in Care

As a newly licensed master social worker, I began my career in a health center of a major New York City hospital system in 2007. Addiction and substance use, mental health, and comprehensive medical care were all provided within the center. Joining The Guidance Center of Westchester (TGCW) 12 years...

Early Childhood Mental Health Clinic: Unmasking Social-Emotional Needs in Young Children

Think about this: a child who turned 5 years old in March 2022 will have spent 60% of their young life in the age of COVID. Most, if not all, of the child's active memories will be a time when traveling outside the home means wearing a mask. They were told that masks keep them safe; masks protect...

The Triumph of “Recovery”

By the early 1970s, just a few years after aggressive deinstitutionalization began, it became clear that merely keeping people with serious and persistent mental illness out of the hospital and in the community was not enough. It was not even enough to make sure that they got good psychiatric...

The Integration of Treatment and Recovery: Special Considerations for Working with Children

Historically, the term “recovery” was commonly associated with substance use/addiction services and was popularized in the United States through Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) (Witkiewitz, K., et al., 2020). Beginning in 1939, AA published materials highlighting recovery as a personal journey toward...

Knowledge, Attitudes, and Practices Related to Prevention of COVID-19 Among New York State Behavioral Health Employees

The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in more than 79 million cases of confirmed infection and over 963,000 deaths in the United States.1 The pandemic has also resulted in increased levels of adverse mental health conditions, substance use and suicidal ideation.2 The reported prevalence of anxiety and...

How Peers Contribute to Treatment and Recovery on CBC’s Pathway Home™ Care Transition Team

Community-based care management services are vital in helping New York City’s most vulnerable members navigate an evolving healthcare landscape. CBC’s Pathway Home™ (PH) program is an evidence based multidisciplinary care transition intervention, tailored to walk side by side members from...

OnTrackNY: An Early Intervention Program to Interrupt Psychosis

A year ago, 21-year-old Christine* started hearing voices saying terrible things about her. She wondered “why doesn’t anyone around me admit to hearing them?” And now people have started to spy on her, through her phone. Her parents were upset that she wasn’t able to contribute to the...