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Moving Behavioral Health Inside Women’s Health Programs
According to UN Women, women spend about 2.5 times as many hours as men on unpaid care work, like caring for family members and managing household needs. The extra hours weigh heavily on their mental health, and 47% of women surveyed for Iris Telehealth's Invisible Load Index said they...
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Behavioral Health and the Justice System: Accreditation and Continuity-of-Care Standards for Justice-Involved Individuals Entering SUD Treatment
Men and women leaving jails or prison face some of the highest overdose risk of any population in the country. Typically, by the 3rd month of release, an estimated 75 percent of previously incarcerated people with an opioid use disorder (OUD) experience a return to opioid use, and formerly...
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The Role of CCBHCs in Reducing Incarceration
For decades, jails and prisons have functioned as the nation's largest, and least appropriate, providers of mental health and substance use treatment. People with untreated serious mental illness (SMI) and substance use disorders (SUD) often move repeatedly through arrest, incarceration, release,...
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Preventing Forensic Involvement Through Continuous Care
When our behavioral health, housing, and social service systems are unable to adequately meet the needs of people with serious mental health challenges, those individuals too often find their way into the criminal justice system without the treatment and support they need. The path to...
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The NYSPA Report – Treatment Before Arrest: Why Diversion Begins With Engagement
When psychiatrists discuss behavioral health diversion, we usually mean redirecting a person away from arrest, jail, or prosecution and toward treatment. Mental health courts, crisis-response programs, and alternatives to incarceration are essential; yet if diversion begins only after...
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Closing the Re-Entry Gap: Connecting Justice-Involved Individuals to Addiction Treatment
Individuals in incarcerated settings are found to have an increased risk of overdose and drug-related injury during community re-entry, with the first two weeks carrying the most risk (Hartung et al., 2023). Justice-involved individuals face significant barriers to accessing substance use services...
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Why Caregiver Involvement Is a Cornerstone of Treatment for Adolescents with Problematic Sexual Behavior
Adolescents with Problematic Sexual Behavior – just the phrase conjures up stereotypes of these youth as “mini sex offenders.” For many years, treatment approaches for these youth were founded on a set of principles drawn from theories about adult pedophilia. Treatment protocols for youth...
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The NYSPA Report – The Fifteen-Month Clock: Substance Use Disorder, Recovery Timelines, and the Law’s Deadline for Parents
The forensic dilemma at the intersection of substance use disorder (SUD) and family law appears at several junctures: pregnancy, child welfare, custody and divorce, juvenile justice, and education. Pregnancy is an especially telling case, a physical state that invites a future orientation toward...
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“Waking Up” After 20 Years of Depression
The Feeling of Losing Hope For two decades, daily life made me feel like I was moving through deep sand. Getting out of bed felt impossible, and even walking to the kitchen to do simple tasks like refilling my water bottle felt like a marathon. I dreaded waking up each morning, knowing I would...
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Beyond the Offence: Trauma, Borderline Personality Traits, and Female Offending
Women involved in the criminal justice system often present with complex and overlapping psychological, social, and developmental needs. Histories of childhood adversity and victimization are common in justice-involved populations, and research has linked cumulative adverse childhood experiences...
