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VNSW Mental Health Home Care Program: In Harmony with the Consumer Movement
It is becoming increasingly understood and appreciated just how much healing and comfort extend beyond the physical. 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 several years...
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His Battle with Depression Opened a Door to Helping Others – A Mental Health News Interview with Award-Winning Actor Joe “Joey Pants” Pantoliano
Joe Pantoliano is one of today’s best character actors. He has more than 100 film, TV and stage credits, including The Fugitive, Risky Business, Memento, The Matrix, and his Emmy-winning role as Ralph Cifaretto in HBO’s The Sopranos. One of his most recent films Canvas, tells the story about...
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Helping My Fellow Consumers in Their Recovery
When I was diagnosed with depression, I was devastated. I thought that this could not be happening. However, I accepted it. I knew that if I could just keep holding on, this too would pass. Somehow, I knew that I would get better. I enlisted into a partnership with a great psychiatrist, took...
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Finding My Voice
I was one of those folks who couldn’t decide what they wanted to be when they grew up. I knew that I wanted to do something that would give back to the community, but I couldn’t seem to find my voice. Never in a million years did I think that, one day, I’d be helping those living with mood...
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Eight Links to Recovery
As a Licensed Clinical Social Worker, I was no stranger to the symptoms of bipolar disorder when I began having sleepless nights and racing thoughts at age 44. I worked as a counselor for adults with mental illness at a residential program and I was teaching daily living skills to clients, some who...
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Cultural Competence and Recovery
It seems to me that within the behavioral health service field, cultural competence is an approach designed to improve access, engagement, retention, and to contextually improve the quality of life of individuals and families. Within a cultural competence framework, services facilitate...
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Clothes Make the Man
Stigma means “a mark of infamy.” In ancient times they used to literally brand criminals and slaves. Now we talk about the stigma of mental illness. We know how we are marked by others; that’s obvious. We’re marked by the media, the medical establishment, the ignorant and the uninformed....
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Black Teens, Especially Girls, at High Risk for Suicide Attempts
Black American teens, especially females, may be at high risk for attempting suicide even if they have never been diagnosed with a mental disorder, according to researchers funded in part by NIMH. Their findings, based on responses from adolescent participants in the National Survey of American...
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Baltic Street in NYC Shows the Power of Peer Support
The power of peer-led mental health services is at work at Baltic Street AEH in New York City, and is making a real difference. Baltic’s mission is to achieve full social inclusion for all persons living with mental illness. Its integrated network encompasses vocational, educational, social and...
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An Overview of Timothy’s Law: Its Past, Present, and Future
Like many structural shifts in public policy, it often takes a horrific tragedy to move us to do the right thing. Case in point-Timothy’s Law. Named after Timothy O’Clair, a 12-year old boy who committed suicide shortly before his thirteenth birthday, the law demands that insurance companies...
