From Access to Engagement: Reimagining the Consumer Experience in Behavioral Health

Behavioral health systems have made significant strides in expanding access to care. Peer services have grown across outpatient clinics, crisis teams, Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinics (CCBHCs), and substance use treatment programs. Telehealth has normalized remote care. Patient portals...

2025 Behavioral Health Trends Recap – Progress, Setbacks, and the Road to 2026

In early 2025, I called out 10 major trends shaping the behavioral health (BH) landscape: integration of behavioral and physical health, mental health parity, digital health and AI, federal policy shifts, prevention, vulnerable populations, workforce development, and overdose prevention. At...

America’s Hidden Maternal Mental Health Crisis

There is a quiet but growing crisis unfolding in America. It is the steady erosion of maternal mental health. New national data underscore what so many families and clinicians already know: U.S. mothers are struggling, and the supports meant to sustain them are lagging behind. A recently...

The Future of Mental Health Is on the Line—We Must Protect It

Federal restructuring risks erasing decades of progress. Together, we can demand better for our communities. Each May, we pause to raise awareness about mental health, which also serves as a time to engage in conversations about emotional well-being, reducing stigma, and promoting equitable...

A Dual Crisis: Understanding the Rise in Youth Suicide and Substance Use Disorders

As a psychiatrist and parent of two teenage boys, youth health and wellbeing are critically important to me, both professionally and personally. I am deeply concerned about the increasing prevalence and complexity of co-occurring disorders in youth, where mental health disorders coexist with...

10 Behavioral Health Trends for 2025

I hope everyone had a wonderful start to 2025…I am excited about continuing this ongoing dialogue, through my blog Behavioral Health: Matters, on critically important trends in the behavioral health sector. Here are my thoughts on the 10 areas of focus that we should be thinking about and...

How to Allow Your Kids to Stay Connected and Protected: Strategies for Healthy Social Media Use in Schools and Homes

Over the last few years, as my boys became adolescents and entered high school (right smack in the middle of the COVID pandemic), as a parent and a psychiatrist, I have witnessed firsthand the impact of smartphones and social media. There has been a flurry of articles on this topic as well...

Empowering Patients through Accessible Electronic Health Records: Benefits and Challenges

The integration of digital technology in healthcare has ushered in a new era of patient empowerment, providing an unprecedented level of engagement and autonomy in managing one’s health by enabling easier access to electronic health records (EHRs). This transformation has significantly altered...

Enhancing Geriatric Behavioral Health: Best-Practices and Technology-Assisted Care Solutions

As the United States grapples with the realities of an aging population, the importance of adapting our health and social service system of care to meet the needs of older adults has never been more critical. In 2020, approximately one in six people in the U.S. were aged 65 or over, highlighting a...

Overdose Safety in Older Adults: The Critical Role of Zero Overdose

The United States is grappling with an escalating public health crisis as overdose deaths continue to rise, and recent data underscores a distressing rise in opioid misuse and related overdose deaths among older adults. In NYC, there was a staggering 12% rise in overdose deaths in 2022 alone,...