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From Crisis to Recovery: The Role of Peer Support Specialists at NYC Well
In her foreword to Intimations, written on May 31, 2020, novelist Zadie Smith states that as a result of reading Stoic philosopher Marcus Aurelius’ Meditations, she discovered “two invaluable intimations. Talking to yourself can be useful. And writing means being overheard.” That she...
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Overcoming the Stigma of Mental Illness: Peers Play a Critical Role
Sharing a lived experience may be the single most important tool we have to address the stigma of living with a mental illness, and the isolation of COVID only exacerbated how important it can be to have someone to talk with who truly understands. Over the past two years, we all learned to keep a...
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Mental Health Is Essential to Stability
We are seven New Yorkers ranging in age from the 20s to the 70s. We all have a variety of behavioral health needs and have benefited from S:US programs such as housing assistance and supported housing, crisis respite, care coordination, substance use treatment and recovery clinics and services,...
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The Adolescent Therapeutic Community: An Integrated Model of Care
I was once told early in my career that the Therapeutic Community (TC) takes an hour to explain but a lifetime to master. The traditional Therapeutic Community model has saved countless lives over the past several decades featuring a therapeutic milieu that uses the community as the healer and...
