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How Volunteering Benefits the Mental Health of 124 “Foster Grandparents”
Florence, a senior citizen who volunteers in the Federation of Organizations’ Foster Grandparent Program (FGP), donned a wide-brimmed hat to teach a second-grade class about the history of the Kentucky Derby. Florence read “Seabiscuit, The Wonder Horse,” which discusses the history of the...
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Office of Mental Health Receives Grant to Expand Access to Fresh Healthy Produce to People with Mental Illness
The NYS Office of Mental Health (OMH) has received a $200,000 award to help people with mental illness gain access to healthy, fresh produce. The grant, from the NYS Health Foundation, will be used to expand the FreshConnect Checks Program and bring mobile farmers’ markets to congregate housing...
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Resources to Address Mental Health and Resiliency in School Settings
Going to school during a pandemic can be challenging for families and schools. The following resources are designed to address mental health and resiliency in school settings. Mental Health Technology Transfer Center (MHTTC) Resources SAMHSA funds the MHTTC Network, which is a collaborative...
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The Important Role Volunteers Play in OMH’s Mission to Help Vulnerable New Yorkers
Volunteers are extraordinary people who play a critical role in behavioral healthcare. This was never more evident than during the first months of the COVID-19 pandemic when the New York State Office of Mental Health (OMH) reached out to mental health care professionals and asked that they...
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As Students Grapple with Leave of Absence Challenges, Manuals Aim to Offer a Better Way Forward
David Mink finished the spring semester of his freshman year at Macalester College in Minnesota with a 0.0 GPA, amid a process in which he would take a semester of classes, withdraw, and try again. “I just kept banging my head into the wall and felt like nothing was working,” Mink says....
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Behavioral Health News Spotlight on Excellence – An Interview with Steve Miccio, CEO of People USA
Overview David Minot, Executive Director of Mental Health News Education, the non-profit organization that publishes Behavioral Health News, interviews Steve Miccio, CEO of People USA. Steve speaks about the Crisis Stabilization Center located in Dutchess County, NY and his collaboration with the...
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When Staff Burnout Prevents Progress
After nearly two years of facing COVID-19 waves and realities, healthcare workers are facing unprecedented levels of burnout. Providing important support, resources and space for staff can help prevent this and other acute stress responses from turning into longer term behavioral health...
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Serious Mental Illness Recovery: The Basics
When managing serious mental illness (SMI), the recovery journey can be long and challenging. It often requires creative and prolonged efforts to build and maintain a full life, but many people do reach recovery. In fact, up to 65% of people living with SMI experience partial to full recovery...
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Addressing the Needs of Frontline Workers
Throughout the past year, I have been struck by the degree to which attention to mental health and wellness, specifically of the impact of trauma on mental health, has entered mainstream discussion. “Frontline Workers” (FLW) who continued to show up for work despite personal risks have been...
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Post-COVID Strategies to Achieve the Trauma-Informed Behavioral Health System We’ve Needed All Along
For decades, systemic racism has disproportionately routed Black and Brown children who have unmet behavioral health needs to congregate care and residential programs, and adults with these needs, to jails and prisons (Bronson & Berzofsky, 2017; National Conference of State Legislatures, 2021)....
