Helping Vulnerable Populations During COVID-19: Challenges of Mitigation in Congregate Residential Settings

In New York City, tens of thousands of people with serious mental illness or developmental disabilities live in congregate housing or homeless shelters. For behavioral health agencies like the Institute for Community Living (ICL), the COVID-19 pandemic has presented an urgent challenge: With over...

Integrating Primary Care into Assertive Community Treatment

The great health disparities and poor health outcomes experienced by people with serious mental illness are even more significant for the people served by Assertive Community Treatment (ACT) teams. Individuals are eligible for ACT services if they have been hospitalized more than four times in the...

Changing Physician Roles and Relationships in Integrated Care

Unacceptably high mortality and morbidity among people with serious mental illness have prompted a call to action for behavioral health providers from all disciplines. Included among these providers are physicians and other prescribers, who have an important part to play in the integration...

Behavioral Health Medical Homes: An Approach to Integrated Care

At first I was scared. I started skipping my appointments with my therapist and also Dr. Levy. I did not want to deal with it. But then my therapist and the doctor called me at home. They told me I was not alone, and they wanted to help me. That made all the difference. I came in. The doctor took...

Towards Seamless Integration: Advocating for Reform

Many people with serious mental illnesses have difficulty accessing primary care or do not feel comfortable in primary care settings, for a host of reasons. Often, they have experienced trauma, resulting in trust issues that impact their ability to form relationships with new providers. As a...

Healthy Living: A Self-Management Toolkit Promoting Full Recovery

If you have ever tried to quit smoking or lose weight, you might recall the difficulty you had sticking to your goal. Add the challenge of managing a serious mental illness (SMI) and these health goals can become daunting. However, the pursuit of these goals has become central to addressing the...

The Diabetes Co-Morbidity Initiative – The Institute for Community Living Responds to Health Crisis

Do you know someone who is living with diabetes? Most likely you do: About 1 in 3 people will develop diabetes during their lifetime. Moreover, it is more than twice as common in people with serious mental illness when compared to the general population. These are some pretty staggering numbers,...