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Learning from Client Surveys About Telehealth and the Impact of COVID-19
In the fall of 2019, as part of our effort to increase client accessibility to treatment, Westchester Jewish Community Services (WJCS) was preparing to launch a telehealth program. The plan had been to start a small pilot in the spring of 2020, with a few staff providing telehealth sessions, as...
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A Safe Space: Digital Tools Supporting Mental Health
As the COVID-19 pandemic swept the globe last year, collectively, mental health challenges were intensified. With the pandemic, a series of lockdowns, restrictions, and preventative measures were put in place, forcing many of us into isolation, primarily interacting in digital spaces. We’ve also...
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Telehealth Is Critical for Our Behavioral Health During the Pandemic
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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The Emergence of Telehealth and a Deepening Digital Divide
In recent years it has become commonplace to reference “transformational” initiatives within our health and social service systems that have altered the manner in which care is delivered and reimbursed. A movement to replace “Fee-for-Service” models with “Value-Based” alternatives...
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The NYSPA Report: The Future of Telehealth in New York State
For many years, the New York State Psychiatric Association (NYSPA) has been advocating for mental health parity – equivalent coverage and reimbursement for the treatment of mental health and substance use disorders. In addition to Timothy’s Law, New York’s mental health mandate, and the...
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Telehealth: Short and Long-Term Implications for Behavioral Health
Since the pandemic took hold just over a year ago, behavioral health entities had to adjust almost overnight to virtual care to ensure that services were not interrupted, especially for our most vulnerable populations. For many of these clients, in addition to the help they receive for their mental...
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Technology Helps OMH Increase Access and Continuity of Healthcare
As the COVID-19 pandemic spread and intensified last year, the NYS Office of Mental Health and behavioral healthcare workers across the nation faced two great challenges: First, ensuring our patients could access the treatment and services they needed without increasing the risk of exposure; and...
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Putting Tech to Work: Adapting and Enhancing Our Services
Putting advanced technology to work at Odyssey House was underway before COVID-19 disrupted our work and personal lives forcing us to change how we interact with each other. We have consistently invested in ways to make our administrative and program management tasks more efficient with remote...
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COVID-19 Crisis Exposes Missing Social Determinant of Health Domain
The Visiting Nurse Service of New York (VNSNY), established in 1893, is the oldest and largest not-for profit home health care agency in the country. VNSNY established its Community Mental Health Services (CMHS) division in 1986 with the first community based mobile crisis program. As a division,...
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Psychological Fallout of the Pandemic: What We Know, What We Don’t
More and more studies confirm widespread psychological fallout from the pandemic. The studies also confirm intuitive expectations about which populations are most psychologically vulnerable—those directly experiencing illness and death, those with economic hardship, frontline health care and...
