InvisALERT Solutions – ObservSMART

Archive for the ‘Winter 2021 Issue’ Category

A Social Determinants Perspective of the Intersection of Ageism, Racism and Social Isolation During COVID-19

There is now well-established evidence on how long-standing systemic health and social inequities compound one’s risk of acquiring COVID-19. However, further research is needed to explore how disadvantaged social status(es) may interact with mandated or recommended social policies that aim to...

Social Determinants of Health and COVID-19: A Peer Perspective

As a peer professional and advocate who helps people recognize their inherent strengths and works to facilitate recovery, it is so very disappointing to consider that after the huge volume of research that has been conducted, and the enormous number of scholarly articles which have been written,...

Psychological Fallout of the Pandemic: What We Know, What We Don’t

More and more studies confirm widespread psychological fallout from the pandemic. The studies also confirm intuitive expectations about which populations are most psychologically vulnerable—those directly experiencing illness and death, those with economic hardship, frontline health care and...

The Detrimental Health Impact of Unemployment

Employment has the potential to contribute to positive health outcomes for people with serious mental illnesses; however, its analog, long-term unemployment, is a social determinant that has not been consistently recognized for its extremely negative effects on the individual’s recovery and other...

The Loneliness Epidemic and its Consequences

Former Surgeon General Dr. Vivek H. Murthy described loneliness as an epidemic long before the Coronavirus emerged and disrupted relationships in ways we might never have imagined (McGregor, 2017). Despite extraordinary advances in telecommunications technologies that have enabled us to connect in...

Jonathan Edwards Receives PhD in Social Welfare

Mental Health News Education, Inc. (MHNE), publisher of Behavioral Health News is pleased to announce that Jonathan P. Edwards, a MHNE Board Member since 2012, received his Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in Social Welfare from the City University of New York (CUNY) Graduate Center this fall. Dr....

4 Ways to Mitigate Insurance Costs in a COVID-19 Environment

Many nonprofit and social service organizations are struggling with drastically altered operations and decreases in revenue brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic. Some organizations have been forced to make tough decisions to decrease payrolls, temporarily shutter secondary service locations, or...

The Great Accelerant: COVID-19 and the Social Determinants of Behavioral Health

The effects from the COVID-19 pandemic are intensifying the wave of transition sweeping across health and behavioral health care. In the pandemic’s wake is accentuating our social inequalities and health disparities, from race and social justice, workforce inequality, to the influence of social...

A Network Approach for Social Determinants of Health

The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) describes Social Determinants of Health (SDoH) as “conditions in the places where people live, learn, work, and play that affect a wide range of health and quality-of life-risks and outcomes.”1 The impacts of these social determinants of health are well...

The East New York Health Hub: A Model for Addressing Social Determinants of Health

By definition and mission, non-profit human services organizations have been addressing the social determinants of health for over a century1 and have long understood the impact these factors have on health (mental and physical). Until about a decade ago, however, these same providers were not a...