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The Missing Intercept: From Lived Experience to Lived Expertise – The Case for Justice Peers
A behavioral health crisis can become a 911 call, which can then become police contact. Police contact can become arrest or, in some cases, death. Arrest can become detention, which interrupts medication, housing, employment, treatment, family connection, social supports, and recovery. When all is...
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How Behavioral Health Practices Can Finance Growth and Expand Access to Care
Behavioral health providers face a difficult balancing act: demand for services continues to grow, while practices must manage workforce shortages, reimbursement pressures, administrative costs, technology needs, and the expense of expanding care capacity. For many organizations, the challenge is...
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The Kitchen Problem No One Talks About in Behavioral Health: How Residential Treatment Programs Are Rethinking Food Service and What It Means for the People in Their Care
Someone enters residential treatment. They have made one of the hardest decisions of their life. They give up their phone, their schedule, their routine. For the next 28 to 90 days, almost every aspect of their day is structured for them. When they wake up. When they go to therapy. When they...
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Elevated Use of Cannabis, Nicotine Among U.S. Adults Continues Into 2025
National Survey Finds Alcohol, Cigarette, Other Substance Use at Low Levels In 2025, adults in the United States reported using cannabis at or near record-high levels, continuing a long-term trend of increasing use. Nicotine vaping also remained high among young adults. These findings are based...
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Governor Hochul Announces $21 Million to Expand Emergency Programs for Individuals Experiencing a Mental Health Crisis
Comprehensive psychiatric emergency programs provide 24/7 emergency services, extended observation, and crisis outreach. Funding to establish new programs at hospitals in New York City, the Hudson Valley, and northern New York regions; help improve four others. On August 10, 2026, Governor...
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New York State Announces $660,000 Awarded to Strengthen Suicide Prevention Efforts in Five Rural Counties
Funding Will Support the Establishment of Sustainable Prevention Activities in Schools, Clinical Settings, and in the Community Office of Mental Health's Suicide Prevention Center of New York to Assist in Implementing Local Initiatives Statewide The New York State Office of Mental Health...
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How Cities Can Follow Oklahoma City’s Example to Address Residents’ Mental Health Needs Through Coordinated Emergency Response
Over the past three years, Oklahoma City has reimagined its emergency response system to better meet residents' behavioral health needs. The results are already impressive: the city's new alternative response teams have kept thousands of people out of the emergency room and drastically reduced...
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New York State Announces Statewide Enhancements to Improve Assisted Outpatient Treatment
Critical Investments from the FY 2026 Budget Standardize 'Enhanced Voluntary Agreements' with Recipients; Improving State Oversight State Also Completes Massive Data Modernization Enhancing Local Coordination and Improving Outcome Monitoring The New York State Office of Mental Health (OMH)...
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New York State Announces Efforts to Bolster Maternal Mental Wellbeing
More than $18.4 Million Available to Expand HealthySteps, an Early Childhood Mental Health Initiative that Screened 108,000 New Yorkers for Maternal Depression in 2025 Office of Mental Health Awards $350,000 in 'Collaborative Care' Grants to Help OBGYN and Family Medicine Practices Provide...
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New York Behavioral Health Advocates Rally at Capitol, Win Support of 100+ Legislators for Critical Funding Increase
The Mental Health Association in New York State and leading statewide behavioral health and human services organizations have been rallying with legislators at the State Capitol in support of the final budget for FY 2026-27 including a 4% targeted inflationary increase (formerly known as the cost...
