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Preparing the New Behavioral Health Workforce
The Affordable Care Act marked a national healthcare reform effort, and within that context, New York State, led by Governor Cuomo’s Medicaid Redesign Team, is undergoing a substantial shift in publicly funded physical and behavioral healthcare. The authors have been deeply involved in the...
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Supporting Peer Specialists
An increasingly common workforce issue is preparing “traditional” providers for working beside peer providers, that is, individuals with the lived experience of mental health issues. SAMHSA (Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration) defines a peer provider as “a person who...
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The Foundations of a New “Wellness” Workforce
A revolution in the payment and delivery of behavioral health services is poised to transform the healthcare industry and all of its participants. Key stakeholders, including service recipients and their families, medical professionals, social service and community-based organizations, governmental...
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The Challenges of Hiring and Retaining Top Talent
Management consultant, educator, and author Peter Drucker stated, “Making a living is no longer enough. Work also has to make a life.” In this economic climate, many organizations have designed initiatives to nurture its rising talent. It makes good economic sense, as high-performance...
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10 Percent of US Adults Have Drug Use Disorder at Some Point
A survey of American adults revealed that drug use disorder is common, co-occurs with a range of mental health disorders and often goes untreated. The study, funded by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA), part of the National Institutes of Health, found that about 4...
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Training Increases Substance Abuse and Mental Health Interventions
Two to three brief training sessions can significantly increase pediatricians’ use of techniques for identifying and treating young people with potential alcohol, substance use, and mental health problems, according to a new study in a large pediatric primary care clinic. Collectively known as...
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Coming to Grips with Substance Use Issues Among Employees’ Young Adult Dependents
The impact of substance use and mental illness on the workplace has been well documented. But how well do employers grasp what’s at stake when faced with employees whose adult dependents are grappling with a mental health or substance use issue? These employers are confronted with two...
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The Emerging Role of Nursing in the Delivery of Psychiatric Care
Although we have always known that mind and body are connected, there is now increased understanding that mental and physical health are closely intertwined. Recent studies indicate an interaction between symptoms of mood and anxiety with exercise, diet, and overall health, as well as chronic...
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Supervision: Paying Attention to the Soul, Not the Technique
Although I’ve never been a psychoanalyst, I did spend a year in analysis and took classes at the Columbia Psychoanalytic Institute. I left at the end of a year because being in practice at that time I came to realize that my own style of work was much more realistic, confrontational and time...
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The NYSPA Report: Momentum Building for Comprehensive Mental Health Reform in Congress
More than three years after the tragic shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School sparked a national conversation on issues related to mental illness and the prevention of violence to self and others, Congress is currently closer than any point in recent history to act on bipartisan, bicameral...
