-
Co-Occurring Fatigue: Compassion, Political, and Oppression Fatigue: Understanding and Meeting Our Special Needs as Helping Professionals
For those of us who work in caregiving environments, we are constantly presented with emotional challenges. Compassion Fatigue symptoms result from the chronic stress of care giving work. Leading traumatologist Eric Gentry notes that people who are attracted to caregiving often enter the field...
-
The Current State of OMH Housing
New York is one of the most expensive states in the country to live in, while the consumers that our nonprofit OMH housing providers serve are among the poorest. This combination requires New York State to step in to help make available enough safe and affordable housing for the most vulnerable...
-
Maintaining a Focus on Recovery for People Within the Supported Housing System
The changes that have taken place over the last few years in the behavioral health field are affecting the way staff view “clients” as well as the way these same “clients” are being helped to view themselves. There is a swirl of information and expectations, and government funding is...
-
BHN Spring 2016 Issue
"Preparing the New Behavioral Health Workforce” Articles in This...
-
Dual Career Path Development: A Critical Component of Staff Retention and Development
The creation and implementation of a dual career path program can dramatically improve an organization’s staff retention rates. Most organizations offer only one track for advancement for employees, the entry into management. Employees choosing not to enter into management are often left with...
-
Investing in a Professional, Caring, and Mission-driven Workforce
The behavioral health care workforce is one of the fastest growing in the country. Projections for 2020, based on U.S. Bureau of Labor statistics, forecast a significant rise in employment for substance abuse and mental health counselors with a 36% increase from 2010-2020 – greater than the 11%...
-
The Challenges of Hiring and Retaining Top Talent
Management consultant, educator, and author Peter Drucker stated, “Making a living is no longer enough. Work also has to make a life.” In this economic climate, many organizations have designed initiatives to nurture its rising talent. It makes good economic sense, as high-performance...
-
Employee Wellness: Meeting the Challenge of the Workplace
Today’s behavioral health agencies are under more pressure than ever to measure and improve outcomes, reduce costs, adapt to changing market and regulatory conditions. As a result of these sometimes competing pressures, burnout and compassion fatigue are ever present concerns in today’s...
-
An Organization’s Multidimensional Response to the Economy
When I reflect on the impact of the economy on mental health services, I find it impossible to describe the effect beyond the organization that I manage in Bethlehem, Connecticut. Wellspring is a nonprofit multi-service mental health organization that serves children, adolescents, young adults and...
