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Addressing the Needs of the Perinatal Behavioral Health Workforce
The behavioral health care workforce, including mental health and substance use services, is facing mounting uncertainty at a critical moment. Under the recently passed, One Big Beautiful Bill Act [Congress.gov, 2025], federal loan restrictions will impose strict caps on the borrowing of future...
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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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The People Behind Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) Neuromodulation
Protocol is important in Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS), but what makes the biggest difference is consistent care and support. A patient comes in every day depressed, exhausted, and not sure it will work. But there’s a person who made it easier to show up anyway. In TMS care, that person...
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Transforming Access Through Strategic Investment in Behavioral Health Workforce Development
In the face of rising demand for behavioral health care and persistent workforce shortages, NYC Health + Hospitals has made workforce development a central lever for system transformation. Through a suite of programs focused on recruitment, retention, training, and expanded career pathways, we are...
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2025 Behavioral Health Trends Recap – Progress, Setbacks, and the Road to 2026
In early 2025, I called out 10 major trends shaping the behavioral health (BH) landscape: integration of behavioral and physical health, mental health parity, digital health and AI, federal policy shifts, prevention, vulnerable populations, workforce development, and overdose prevention. At...
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Expanding Perinatal Mental Health Care in NYC: Advancing Equity and Family Well-Being
Perinatal mental health—the emotional and psychological well-being of individuals during pregnancy and the postpartum period—is a growing public health concern. In New York City, behavioral health conditions are among the leading underlying causes of pregnancy-related deaths. According...
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10 Behavioral Health Trends for 2025
I hope everyone had a wonderful start to 2025…I am excited about continuing this ongoing dialogue, through my blog Behavioral Health: Matters, on critically important trends in the behavioral health sector. Here are my thoughts on the 10 areas of focus that we should be thinking about and...
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Expanding Permanent Supportive Housing is Essential to Robust Social Safety Net
The current housing climate leaves millions of Americans at risk of housing instability or homelessness – and it is those who are living with mental and physical health challenges that are the most vulnerable. As communities battle the ever-escalating “cost-of-living” and a rising economic...
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NY State Governor Hochul Launches Health Care Worker Bonus Program
State Budget Allocates $1.3 Billion to Medicaid Program for Retention of Employees in Frontline Health Care and Mental Hygiene Positions Online Portal Launching for Eligible Employers to Disburse Funds to Qualified Employees Bonus Program Among Several FY 2023 Enacted Budget Initiatives...
