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Will “System Transformation” Transform the System? Before We Celebrate: 20 Questions That Need Answers
System transformation is underway in New York State and throughout the United States through the development of elaborate financial structures such as accountable care organizations and health homes. No doubt these new structures will change the way business is done in the mental health system. But...
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Building an Integrated Delivery System Through Community Collaborations
Coordinated Behavioral Care (CBC) was launched in 2011 by a committed group of NYC not-for-profit behavioral health organizations to meaningfully participate in NYS’s Medicaid Redesign and Value Based Purchasing initiatives. CBC is dedicated to improving the quality of care for New Yorkers with...
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What’s New and Promising from the New York State Office of Mental Health Psychiatric Research Institutes
The NYS Office of Mental Health (OMH) operates two institutes, making our psychiatric research enterprise among the largest in the country. We are proud of the work underway at the institutes, knowing that their continued clinical advances will improve the lives of New Yorkers, as well as people...
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Deaths of Despair: Social Research Suggests Troubling Trends for the Next Generation of Older Adults
Recent social research suggests that the next generation of older adults may be more troubled than the current and previous generations. This, of course, is counterintuitive. 70 is the new 50, we say; 80 the new 60. We are living longer, and we are healthier, right? Yes, but will the next...
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We Need to Do More Than Just Talk About Mental Illness
Reprinted from The Hill There was a time when no one talked about mental illness. But, today, every tragic shooting is accompanied by calls for greater access to mental health treatment. The wheels of legislation turn slowly, but mental illness is a public health crisis that requires immediate...
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BHN Spring 2018 Issue
"Harm Reduction: Theory and Practice” Articles in This...
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NYS OMH ACT Teams Utilize Harm Reduction Techniques
Harm Reduction can be a useful tool to help address potentially risky, dangerous, or self-destructive behaviors, including drug addiction, unsafe sexual activities, self-harm, and binge eating. The goal of harm reduction is to make dangerous behaviors safer, and to reduce the level of harmful...
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Through Health Care System Integration
In many communities, harm reduction programs have helped prevent overdoses, lower HIV risk and hepatitis transmission and open the door to treatment for substance users. Originally started in the late 1980s, harm reduction approaches introduced syringe exchange initiatives with the goal of reducing...
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Harm Reduction: Theory and Practice
If we want to reduce the harm that derives from psychoactive substances, we need to begin by ending two ineffective, enduring and hugely expensive policies and practices in this country. Then we can get to true harm reduction. The first are strategies that seek to control access to and...
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Co-Occurring Disorders Among Social Workers
According to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) 2015 National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH), co-occurring mental health and substance use disorders (SUD) affected an estimated 8.1 million adults or 3.7% of the total adult population in the United States....
