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Opioid Settlement Funds an Opportunity to Strengthen Services
The tragic loss of life and the impact of addiction on families and communities has been escalating in New York State annually almost every year for well over a decade. New York State’s response has been inadequate and lives have been lost as a consequence. Because of a strong federal...
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New Tool Deployed to Help Veterans: Supported Recovery Training and Certification
The prevalence of suicide, addiction to alcohol and other drugs, homelessness, unemployment, incarceration, physical and mental health challenges, and the need for health and social services is disproportionate among Veterans compared to the general population. Among Veterans, one in six who served...
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An Epidemic Rages On: “Treatment” Is Not Enough
Unprecedented rates of substance abuse and mental illness have afflicted nearly every segment of our population in recent years. This intractable public health crisis has led healthcare professionals, policymakers, and other stakeholders to reexamine longstanding assumptions concerning the...
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The Long History and Bright Future of Harm Reduction in New York State
For the past year, the New York State Office of Addiction Services and Supports (OASAS) has implemented a new division among its pillars of prevention, treatment, and recovery services. The newly formed Division of Harm Reduction seeks to bring both the harm reduction philosophy and its practical...
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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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Nurturing Healing Within Our Homes: Pathways to Treatment Within the Family
Nature versus nurture has plagued our educational and sociological philosophy for decades in social service and the mental health field. The idea behind treating addiction as a “family disease” has long been established in the understanding that there is a genetic component to addiction and...
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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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Caring for Yourself: Learning to Live with a Substance Use Disorder
Substance use and misuse have reached epidemic proportions across the United States. In a 2020 survey, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) estimated that more than 40 million individuals across the country over the age of 12 have a substance use disorder, with...
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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...
