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The Impact of Peer-Based Storytelling on Workplace Mental Health
NAMI-NYC participant reflections illustrate why a peer-based approach matters. One participant shared that they did not know anyone in their life who had experience depression and that hearing a peer speak made them feel less isolated, saying, “I don't have anyone who has depression around me, so...
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When Workforce Strategy Becomes a Finance Problem
Every behavioral-health CEO I work with is watching the same crisis unfold. They need more clinicians than the market can supply, and even when they succeed in hiring, keeping those clinicians becomes a significant challenge. More than 122 million Americans live in areas where they might struggle...
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Keeping Clinicians in Private Practice: AI’s Role in Sustaining the Behavioral Health Workforce
The behavioral health workforce is under strain as demand for mental healthcare continues to accelerate. Over one third of the U.S. population lives in a Mental Health Professional Shortage Area as of 2024. Private practice clinicians are central to serving these communities, offering a low-cost...
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Maternal Mental Health in CUNY/SUNY Public Universities as a Workforce Development Strategy
Maternal mental health conditions are the most common complication associated with childbirth1 and the leading cause of maternal mortality in New York.2 Perinatal Mood and Anxiety Disorders (PMADs) include depression, anxiety, OCD, PTSD, and psychosis during pregnancy and up to one year postpartum....
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A Faltering Behavioral Health Workforce and a Prescription for Progress
The behavioral healthcare workforce is under considerable duress and ill equipped to meet a moment marked by unprecedented rates of mental illness, substance dependence, and other indices of human distress. By some measures, approximately half of mental health professionals report burnout because...
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Investing in the Behavioral Health Workforce: Training, Professional Development, and Advancing Clinical Excellence
Behavioral health clinicians are seeing more patients with complex, co-occurring disorders and acute symptoms that require multidisciplinary care. At the same time, referrals and expectations for timely, high-quality care are rising. These demands take a toll on care quality and clinician...
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Westchester County Develops “Lives Forward” Program – Providing Dual Certification MH and Addiction Peer Training to Currently Justice Involved Individuals
The philosopher Søren Kierkegaard said, “Life can only be understood backwards, but it must be lived forwards.” Few things illustrate this better than using one’s lived experience to support another person seeking recovery from co-occurring disorders. Now formally recognized as “peer”...
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Re-imagining Conservatorship: Recovery and Career Planning Through Peer Support
For most young people, career guidance centers on traditional roles—doctor, teacher, engineer, builder. Rarely does anyone tell a child struggling with a mental health condition that their experiences might one day qualify them for a career rooted in healing, empathy, and shared understanding....
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Innovative Training Through Personal Connections: How a Behavioral Health Podcast Is Transforming Staff Development
In today’s rapidly changing behavioral health landscape, frontline staff often face complex challenges that require continuous learning, updating skills, and meaningful guidance from those with deep expertise. Traditional training formats, while valuable, can be difficult to attend due to time...
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The NYSPA Report: Federal and State Coverage of Telehealth and Its Role in Expanding Access to Mental Health Care
Following the COVID-19 public health emergency, the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) made permanent expansions to the coverage of telehealth under the Medicare program. CMS has greatly increased the number of services included on the permanent list of telehealth services and...
