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Your Options for Responding to Mental Illness Stigma (Protectively, Collaboratively, or Assertively)
I have been open about my bipolar disorder for almost twenty years. Immediately after I spoke at my first mental health awareness event, I was met with feedback and gratitude. People thought it was a brave thing for me to speak up about my mental illness to fight stigma. But the truth is, I felt I...
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Breaking Down Barriers: The STAR Program’s “Stop Mental Health Stigma” Campaign
In an era where mental health discussions are often shrouded in misunderstandings and misconceptions, the “Stop Mental Health Stigma” campaign emerges as a beacon of hope and enlightenment. Spearheaded by the STAR Program at SUNY Downstate Health and Sciences University and...
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Addressing Mental Health Challenges for Neurodivergent Youth
Youth mental health is a critically important topic that seems to be having a much-needed moment in the spotlight - like here in New York, where Gov. Kathy Hochul announced a $1 billion investment in a plan that may well transform the future of mental health in this state. Even Hollywood is...
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Peer Support Workforce Shortages Anticipated: What You Can Do
Imagine this: You are the manager in a behavioral health agency that has decided to hire peer support providers in your workforce. This position can give the agency a boost in revenue, additional help in needed areas with personnel shortages, and hope and practical help to service participants. You...
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Redefining Supported and Transitional Employment as Key Tools for Recovery
Recognizing the significance of employment in the recovery journey, supported and transitional employment have emerged as crucial tools to empower those facing mental illnesses. Services for the UnderServed (S:US) has implemented these innovative approaches through evidence-based programming, such...
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Consumer Perspectives: The Synergy of Housing and Employment Services in Mental Healthcare
This article is part of a quarterly series giving voice to the perspectives of individuals with lived experiences as they share their opinions on a particular topic. The authors are served by Services for the UnderServed (S:US), a New York City-based nonprofit that is committed to giving every New...
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Recovery Reimagined: Integrating Housing and Employment Support
Stable housing and meaningful employment support are cornerstones in the recovery process for any individual struggling with mental illness and/or substance use disorders. Within our healthcare system, these must be seen as basic needs that provide stability, purpose, and a sense of agency –...
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How Faith Communities Can Help Reduce Mental Health Stigma
Reducing the stigma around mental health requires a multifaceted approach in which individuals, communities, and society at large all have a role to play. But for many people who are seeking help for a mental health or substance use problem, their first point of contact isn’t a doctor or a...
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Mental Health Parity in New York – How It Started, How It’s Going
Picnics and Pizza The fight for mental health parity - equal coverage and reimbursement by health insurers of mental illnesses and conditions - has been long and challenging. In the 1990s, the National Picnic for Parity became a grassroots movement in support of parity. The group hosted spirited...
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45 Years Within Human Services – Reflections and Where We Go From Here
I have had the privilege of working within the field of autism over the past 45 years. For 24 of those years, I have been honored to work at Melmark, a multi-state human service provider with premier private special education schools, professional development, training, and research centers,...
