MAY 31, 2022 (Reprint from NYAPRS ENEWS)

As we mark Mental Health Awareness Month, our country faces an unprecedented mental health crisis among people of all ages. Two in five American adults report symptoms of anxiety and depression, and more than half of parents express concern over their children’s mental well-being. Over forty percent of teenagers state they struggle with persistent feelings of sadness or hopelessness. These growing demands have exposed longstanding cracks in our care infrastructure while compounding many other domestic policy challenges, from criminal justice to homelessness to the labor shortage. 

To address this crisis, as part of his Unity Agenda, President Biden has put forward a comprehensive national strategy to tackle our mental health crisis, and used his State of the Union Address to call for a major transformation in how mental health is understood, accessed, treated, and integrated – in and out of health care settings. Across the federal government, the Administration has already invested nearly $4 billion in American Rescue Plan (ARP) funding to expand access to mental health and substance use services. The President’s FY23 budget goes further, by proposing over $27 billion in discretionary funding and another $100 billion in mandatory funding over 10 years to implement his national strategy and transform behavioral health services for all Americans. 

This month, the Biden-Harris Administration is taking additional, new actions to advance the President’s mental health strategy across its three objectives: strengthening system capacity, connecting more Americans to care, and creating a continuum of support.

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May 31, 2022 (Reprint from SAMHSA News)

On May 5, SAMHSA celebrated National Children’s Mental Health Awareness Day 2022 with the webinar: Peer Support for Youth and Families.

The video is now available for the event commemorating child and youth mental health and honored youth and family peer support.

Hear from featured speakers:

• Miriam Delphin-Rittmon, Ph.D., Assistant Secretary for Mental Health and Substance Use
• Hugh Davis, Executive Director, Wisconsin Family Ties
• Johanna Bergen, Executive Director, Youth MOVE National

May 29, 2022 (Submitted by Dan Frey and City Voices)

The Friendship Squad pairs people with lived experience together in friendships. Email Dan Frey (or click the ad below) and schedule an interview for this worthwhile volunteer opportunity.

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May 25, 2022 from Dr. Ashwin Vasan

“Using mental health as a political football to embody the rise of crime and hate or to highlight service failures is misguided. We must abandon the idea that everyone living with serious mental illness can only be helped with acute care and hospitalization; we know that’s not true. We must instead move to a model of prevention and recovery centered on breaking isolation. We’ll do this by investing in social infrastructure.”  Dr. Ashwin Vassan (was the director of Fountain House before being appointed NYC’ Commissioner of Health this year) 

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Commissioner of Health, New York City

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VyW7P9KtNIM    (37 minutes)

Today, I joined Henry Street Settlement to discuss NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene‘s plan to address mental health. There has never been a more important time to center mental health care in New York City. New Yorkers are in pain; none of us left the last two years emotionally unscathed. We know that the pandemic’s effects have not been experienced equally; communities of color are feeling the impact most acutely. That has made access to mental health care all the more critical. We’ve neglected mental health for far too long; we can and must do more.

A New York State Department of Health survey conducted in the last year found that New Yorkers are experiencing anxiety, depression, and financial stress. One in four reported symptoms of anxiety; one in five reported symptoms of depression. A report from The Trevor Project indicated that 45% of LGBTQ+ youth said they have seriously considered suicide in the past year. Similar statistics exist for a number of marginalized, under-invested in, and under-resourced groups, and we must address this as the crisis that it is. 

COVID-19 negatively impacted us all, but especially children, people with serious forms of mental illness, and people with substance use and addiction issues. We must address the problem at scale and emphasize prevention and rehabilitation, not stigmatization.

Using mental health as a political football to embody the rise of crime and hate or to highlight service failures is misguided. We must abandon the idea that everyone living with serious mental illness can only be helped with acute care and hospitalization; we know that’s not true. We must instead move to a model of prevention and recovery centered on breaking isolation. We’ll do this by investing in social infrastructure.

New York City will soon announce expansion of NYCWell and provide resources to support the 988 Federal Crisis Response Line rollout.

I understand that this issue is complex and personal. Mental health is an issue that is deeply personal to me, too: I lost an Uncle to suicide and alcoholism when I was ten years old. I am grateful to know and support organizations serving people dealing with mental health issues each day. But I also understand that the work of mental health organizations addressing key needs should not be regarded as isolated projects or bright light success stories, but must be brought into a comprehensive system of mental health services. NYC is proud to work to address that need.

Full video of remarks here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VyW7P9KtNIM    (37 minutes)

Ann Kasper, MA, PSS

May 24, 2022 (Reprint from NYAPRS ENews)

Give Yourself the Gift of Yoga with Dagny, Meditation with Ruth This Morning

For almost 2 decades, Dagny Duhamel has lovingly brought balance and healing to upwards of 1,000 attendees at NYAPRS conferences via Shiatsu sessions she has offered at various healing rooms and spaces across the Nevele Grande, Honors Haven, Hudson Valley and Villa Roma conference sites.

Dagny is also an expert Yoga teacher who has been offering free weekly web based yoga sessions over the past year or so for NYAPRS, and we’d like to invite you to take a few minutes this morning and open yourself to the refreshing peace of a recently taped yoga session, to be found at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7OrfIbsdPg4

So many of you have also raved about the very special weekly meditation sessions offered by NYAPRS’ own Ruth Colon-Wagner, for the deep sense of peace she offers in such a very kind and loving way.

We have over a year’s worth of meditation and yoga sessions for you to enjoy…..please check them out at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCcDsF6srMhVmePwfsH2KH-w/videos.

Wishing you all a peaceful and productive day….

May 23, 2022 (Reprint from Sascha Altman DuBrul’s Underground Transmission)

Welcome to this sporadic newsletter about personal and collective healing. I send it to old and new friends as well as to people I’ve crossed paths with doing work in the Transformative Mental Health realm over the last two decades. Today I’m writing briefly about an article in last week’s New York Times profiling important work in our extended community. I’m also reflecting on giving a talk to graduating social work students last week. I still have a few openings in my counseling practice, find the link at the bottom and get in touch or send your loved ones my way. I hope this little newsletter finds you well.

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May 21, 2022 – The continuation of a story by Howard Diamond

RANDOM ACT BY A PEER SPECIALIST     Part 2 by HOWARD DIAMOND

(To start at the beginning, click here)

HOLLY SEARCHING FOR RUTH

Part One ended with Holly Stephens, Peer Specialist and her Peer Supervisor, Steffie Green, concerned about one of the individuals they were working with. Her name is Ruth and is eight months pregnant. She was staying at a respite, named Generations Lodge Respite managed by Marty Sinclair. Inexplicably on March 29 Ruth left Generations and now two weeks later, April 12 no one has heard anything.

Although Steffie and Holly were not directly working with Ruth, her case was miraculously still open. Miracles do happen! Therefore, Holly gained the opportunities to  use work time to assist in the search for Ruth. Each day Holly spent at least one hour in search mode. With the assistance of Generations and her contacts, Holly has made numerous phone calls and met with people to discuss finding Ruth. To this point there are no leads and if like magic, Ruth disappeared.

Although Holly tried to stay safe, she went to places that often had a history of bad instances. Steffie gave the okay to Holly to explore certain areas to look for Ruth. On April 14, Holly went to a neighborhood known for drugs and alcohol, a place where she ventured before. This time was different. Holly’s antenna and radar were in full force as she walked around the back streets, but no sign of Ruth.


ACKNOWLEDGED BY HER DIRECTOR

Around two weeks later, on April 27, Steffie received an email from Marty concerning Ruth. Before reading the entire message, she printed it and wanted the ability to share with others, especially Holly.  Steffie went down the hall and read and discussed the email with Holly.  Steffie read the email aloud which included that on April 24, Ruth gave birth to a son, named Gabriel, five pounds, five ounces and were both in good health. Also, they were pushed ahead on the Lake Town County’s wait list for a low-income housing unit.

When and if they return, Marty stated that they probably will be able to return to Generations, pending new physicals. What everyone was still troubled by is, whether they are safe where they are currently residing. In the email, there was no mention of where Ruth gave birth or where they were.  A few days after, Ms. Carlson invited Holly and Steffie to the next Board Meeting scheduled for May 12 and they will be sitting at the dais table. Gladly, both the ladies confirmed with an enthusiastically dramatic, YES!l

(Continue Reading)

May 21, 2022 (Excerpts from New York Times Article by Daniel Bergner)

This article is adapted from “The Mind and the Moon: My Brother’s Story, the Science of Our Brains, and the Search for Our Psyches,” published this month by Ecco.

Caroline Mazel-Carlton began hearing voices when she was in day care. Mornings, by the time she was in middle school, a bowl of oatmeal awaited her for breakfast next to a white saucer of colorful pills. Her voices remained vibrant. They weren’t within her head; they spoke and screamed from outside her skull. They belonged to beings she could not see…

…Chacku Mathai, whose Indian family immigrated to the United States when he was a child, works as a project director with a large New York State-funded program, OnTrackNY, which combines an emphasis on medication with the inclusion of client perspectives about their care. And he facilitates Hearing Voices groups. During one of our many conversations, Mathai told me a parable about a traveler in a foreign land coming across a bird he has never seen before, a peacock. Thinking that such a freakish creature will never survive, the traveler cuts off its feathers to correct nature’s error.

Mathai, who hears voices and has visions and was hospitalized after a suicide attempt as a teenager, is something like the peacock, except that he rejects medication that would shear away his difference. By immersing himself in yogic practices, he gives his mind a measure of rest. Still, voices stalk him, suspicious of people and full of foreboding. Sometimes, he told me, he thinks about whether, if the perfect antipsychotic existed, he would take it. “My experience is so rich,” he said, “I wouldn’t trade it for anything.” He spoke of having a keen empathy for the singularity and solitude of others, a sensitivity that can bring a feeling of being universally joined.

(Read the Full Article: NYT subscription required)

Daniel Bergner is a contributing writer for the magazine. This article is adapted from his book “The Mind and the Moon: My Brother’s Story, the Science of Our Brains, and the Search for Our Psyches,” published this month by Ecco. Danna Singer is a photographer based in Philadelphia as well as a lecturer at Yale School of Art and Princeton. In 2020, she was named a Guggenheim fellow.

May 20, 2022 (Reprinted from NYAPRS ENews)

NYAPRS Note: Longtime wellness expert and creator of the 8 Dimensions of Health Dr. Peggy Swarbrick has published a very special new tool, a Journey to Wellness Guide. “This Journey to Wellness Guide will help you find new ideas to use to begin or continue on your personal journey, no matter where you are in your life. If you have ever experienced chronic stress, addiction, trauma, or another life challenge, you will find examples here that have helped many to pursue and continue a journey to wellness. You can use the online full guide at https://alcoholstudies.rutgers.edu/wellness-in-recovery/journey-to-wellness-guide/ or the attached full sized or pocket PDFs.

Here’re an intro to the guide:

“Welcome to your own Journey to Wellness where you will find new ideas to use to begin or continue on your personal journey, no matter where you are in your life. If you have ever experienced chronic stress, addiction, trauma, or another life challenge, you will find examples here that have helped many to pursue and continue a journey to wellness, along with reminders about the importance of doing these simple activities and actions. Certain patterns of thinking and feeling can fuel unhealthy habits and behaviors. These patterns include insecurity, self-sabotage, and self-criticism, which can lead to neglecting your own health and wellness. Sometimes people let go of the things that help them feel well and strong, like hobbies and creative activities. Sometimes people let go of the people who help them feel well and strong, like friends and family. Overview The journey of 1000 miles begins with a single step. LAO TZU

AIM FOR PROGRESS, NOT PERFECTION. The Journey to Wellness will help you create patterns of thinking, feeling, and doing to restore a sense of wellness. Planning to do just a single activity each day will make it more likely that you will complete it. Remember that you won’t always have the energy to take the actions you planned. Some days will be easier than others. Beating yourself up is not helpful. Instead, focus on the action you did take and will take. Remind yourself that tomorrow is a new day.

View the Pocket Guide
View the Full Guide

May 20, 2022 (Reprinted from Matt Canuteson, OMH Diversity and Inclusion Officer)

Greetings,

As we celebrate Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month this month, we would like to honor and recognize the remarkable contributions and commitment that OMH’s Asian American and Pacific Islander employees make to the mental health field, every single day. We recognize the current and historic disparities that exist for these communities and as an Agency remain committed to ensuring that supports and services are put in place to promote equity and inclusivity for all.

OMH recognizes the increase in discrimination and injustices targeted towards these communities both historically and currently. We continue to implement activities and supports aimed at addressing the mental health impact that experiencing these situations have on individuals. In alignment with these efforts, we have convened an Asian American Mental Health Workgroup tasked with developing and implementing concrete strategies and initiatives aimed at addressing current and historic disparities and fostering support for these communities. With participation and support from NYC Council members, NYC government leaders, OMH leadership and other amazing providers and stakeholders, this workgroup meets regularly to identify policy, system, and program-level recommendations to be implemented across the system.

Additionally, we remain focused on increasing information sharing in an effort to further inform providers, advocates and stakeholders about unique challenges faced by minority communities. In alignment with these efforts, we continue to create numerous tip-sheets and resources focused on bringing awareness and attention to supports and services available for special populations. We invite you to explore the resource attached, Spotlight on Asian Americans which brings awareness to the unique challenges faced by this community as well as available resources and supports.

Asian American Spotlight

Read More from this letter from Matt Canutseon, OMH Diversity and Inclusion Officer

See More Resources on the National Center on Law and Elder Rights (NCLER)