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Quality Integrated Care is Critical for the Recovery of Individuals with Mental Health and Substance Use Challenges
Integrated care works with the whole person in the world they are experiencing including their physical and behavioral health, as well as past trauma and other social determinants impacting their lives. Individuals with co-occurring disorders, when treated holistically, develop a trusting...
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Consumer Perspectives: Substance Use Treatment and Mental Health
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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The Critical Role of Peer Support Programs to Sustained Substance Use Disorder Recovery
Many people who have used behavioral health services can attest to the profound benefits of connecting with someone with shared experience. Finding others with common lived experience - often referred to as peers - and learning about their challenges and resilience are particularly valuable for...
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Mental Healthcare in America: An Industry on the Mend
America’s healthcare industry accounts for one fifth of its Gross National Product (GNP) and produces mediocre outcomes at best. Innumerable factors are implicated in this dysfunction, most of which are borne of a capitalist structure designed to maximize profits for its principal agents. This...
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Basic Research Has Had a Major Impact on Developing New Treatments for Serious Mental Illnesses
Depression is the leading cause of disability worldwide, with an estimated $2 trillion annual economic impact. The cost in terms of human suffering is, of course, incalculable. Each year about 8% of adults—nearly 20 million Americans—experience major depression; 8% of adolescents experience at...
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Outcome of Schizophrenia in Later Life: Conceptual Changes and Implications for Treatment and Policy
In tandem with the greying of the general population, there has been a dramatic increase in the number of older adults with schizophrenia (OAS). Since 2000, there has been a doubling of persons aged 55 and over with schizophrenia and they now comprise about one-fourth of all persons with...
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Safe Options Support: Charting a Path to Stability for Homeless Individuals through Coordinated Care
A transformative shift is underway for New York City programs focused on helping homeless individuals. Instead of relying on a singular approach to homeless outreach, new initiatives and adaptations are reshaping and diversifying the community-based services available. This remodeled,...
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Suicide in Adolescents: Warning Signs, Risk Factors, and What Parents Can Do to Support Their Teens
Suicidality can affect all age groups, including during the adolescent years (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC], National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, 2023). The CDC’s Division of Adolescent and School Health (2023) reported data concerning U.S. high school students’...
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Why Personalized Recovery-Oriented Services (PROS) Works: Achieving Independence and Fulfillment
The deinstitutionalization of the mentally ill in New York State some 50 years ago had a clear goal: To create accessible and adequate housing and support programs to allow people to live independently in the community, to work toward recovery and a full and productive life outside a psychiatric...
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The Mental Health Association of Westchester’s Intensive and Sustained Engagement Team (INSET)
Anyone involved in the mental health system, whether an individual diagnosed with a behavioral health condition, family member, or practitioner of services, knows that there is pervasive stigma in our country concerning mental health. Although the COVID pandemic has brought increased attention to...
