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The Impact of Housing on Mental Health Issues and Substance Misuse
In Maslow’s hierarchy, physiological needs – food, water, shelter – are the base upon which all other human activity rests. As a population, particularly in more privileged areas, we tend to take these needs for granted: a house or apartment, food and clean water, and clothing are readily...
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Addressing Social Determinants of Health Among Individuals Experiencing Homelessness
Over 582,000 individuals on a single night in 2022 across the country were struggling with one of the key social determinants of health: homelessness. The Point-in-Time (PIT) census counts sheltered and unsheltered individuals experiencing homelessness on a single night in January. The PIT count is...
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Finding the Perfect Fit with Peer Support: Navigating Employment with Mental Illness
Searching for the right job, or even any job, can be stressful for weeks, months, or even years. The challenges may not even stop after obtaining gainful employment. They can bleed into maintaining that job, which then shields us from engaging in the stressful job search process. These challenges...
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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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Stand Up for Mental Health: Comedy that Gets Respect!
While performing comedy at hotels in the Catskill Mountains of New York, Rodney Dangerfield first complained in the 1960s, “I don’t get no respect.” Born “Jacob Rodney Cohen,” he was one of many Jewish comedians, such as Jackie Mason, George Burns, Mel Brooks, Carl Reiner, and Sid Caesar,...
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When Happy Hour Isn’t Always So Happy: One Clinician’s Point of View
I’m sure many of us reading the words “Happy Hour” get a little excited: as a time to socialize, network, and let loose. For some, it’s a chance to be an extrovert - while an invisible cloak helps suppress insecurities, fears, and worries. For many, in fact, happy hour is not really very...
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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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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...
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Substance Use Disorders: Frequency and Treatment for People with Serious Mental Illness
Throughout its history, America has attempted to punish substance users as a means to encourage their abstinence. These attempts have included imprisonment, fines, and forced rehabilitation programs, often sentenced at a higher rate to people of color (Volkow, 2023). Punishments like these often...
