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The Integrated Mental Health and Addictions Treatment Training Certificate (IMHATT)
The New York State Office of Mental Health (OMH) and the Department of Psychiatry, Columbia University, established the Center for Practice Innovations at Columbia Psychiatry and New York State Psychiatric Institute (CPI) in November 2007, to promote the widespread use of evidence-based practices...
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Co-Occurring Conditions in Mild Autism Spectrum Disorder: Integrated Treatment Approaches
Co-occurring mental health conditions are the rule rather than the exception in autism spectrum disorder (ASD). A full 70% of individuals with ASD have one co-occurring condition and 40% have two or more (Siminoff et al, 2008). Living with autism is a journey, and in talking to families, I often...
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Address Comorbidities with Tech-Supported Approaches to Integrated Care
Consider this common scenario: Trying to assess a high-need patient with diabetes, a care coordinator with access only to the patient’s physical health record is unaware of her history of depression. Conversely, a behavioral care coordinator reviewing her depression charts, may be unable to...
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Understanding Co-Occurring Disorders: A Mother’s Journey To Turn The Tide On An Epidemic
Co-occurring disorders (COD) is the combination of one or more mental health challenges/disorders and substance misuse/addiction. My son Harris had COD and died by accidental overdose when he was 19. I am so grateful that Behavioral Health News is devoting attention to this topic because...
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A Human Right Still Unmet: Medical Treatment of Mentally Ill Prisoners
Individuals with mental illness have the right to receive appropriate medical treatment in correctional settings and upon release. It sounds perfectly reasonable, but unfortunately, is far from reality. That was the consensus of a distinguished panel of mental health and legal experts who recently...
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Why Integrated Care for Co-Occurring Disorders Is So Important
Providing integrated treatment for people with co-occurring behavioral and physical health disorders has become a central goal of mental health policy reform. Why? In part the answer is that the failure to provide effective integrated care drives up the cost of care. But the answer also is that...
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Understanding Co-Occurring Disorders
For decades, we have talked about substance use and mental health conditions as “co-occurring.” We have incorporated it into our language, for example, saying that a person “needs a co-occurring program.” Sometimes the term takes on a life of its own, prompting providers to view treatment...
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Trauma and “Whole Person” Healthcare
Any effort to understand and treat co-occurring disorders cannot ignore the prevalence of trauma in the lives of those who are struggling with recovery from mental illness and addiction. A look at the trauma prevalence data in both general and behavioral health populations clearly makes the case....
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The Sensory Comfort Cart: A Portable Resource to Assist in the Recovery of Patients with Co-Occurring Diagnoses
This article describes a brief history of sensory modalities in mental health and substance abuse treatment, the purpose and current use of a sensory comfort cart at NewYork-Presbyterian Westchester Division (NYPWD), early patient outcomes, and implications for discharge and recovery. Brief...
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The NYSPA Report: PTSD and It’s Co-Morbidities
Posttraumatic Stress disorder (PTSD) is a mental health problem that some people develop after experiencing or witnessing a life-threatening event, like combat, a natural disaster, a car accident, or sexual assault. The following data shows the gravity of the problem posed due to PTSD. The National...
