November 11, 2022 (by Matthew Canuteson, Diversity and Inclusion Officer, Office of Diversity and Inclusion New York State Office of Mental Health)

This Veterans Day, as we honor and recognize all of the individuals who have served in the U.S. Armed Forces, OMH wishes to reaffirm its commitment to ensuring all individuals who are in need of mental health services and supports are able to receive them.

Over 714,000 veterans and their families call New York State their home and it’s vital that there is focused attention on ensuring they are all receiving needed benefits and services. OMH recognizes that veterans and their families can face unique mental health challenges and has engaged in specific activities aimed at promoting information sharing and increased access to services.

Click to view the full Spotlight

Additionally, OMH continues to create and disseminate educational resources and tip-sheets through its various platforms. These materials bring attention to the unique challenges faced by specific populations and allow for needed resources and supports to be shared with the community at large. We encourage you to explore the attached tip-sheet, Spotlight on Veterans, and learn more about this community and the resources that are available to veterans and their families who may need them.

OMH remains focused on soliciting feedback and involvement from members of special population groups, including veterans, to further promote a more inclusive and equitable behavioral health system for all. In alignment with these focused attentions, is OMH’s current efforts to gain increased involvement from veterans in the agency’s advisory bodies and stakeholder groups. OMH greatly values the input and guidance that members of its advisory bodies and stakeholder groups provide, and their decisions directly drive policy change, program advancements and overall improved service delivery. OMH will continue to ensure veterans are actively involved in the agency’s advisory bodies and stakeholder groups in order to best meet the behavioral health needs of veterans and their families across the state.

This Veterans Day, may you all join OMH in thanking all of the veterans and their families for their service and the sacrifices they have made for our country.

Matthew Canuteson
Pronouns: He, Him, His
Diversity and Inclusion Officer
Office of Diversity and Inclusion New York State Office of Mental Health
44 Holland Ave 2nd Floor, Albany, NY 12229
518-473-4548
matthew.canuteson@omh.ny.gov
www.omh.ny.gov

November 10, 2022

SAMHSA Releases Interim Strategic Plan

The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) is pleased to announce the release of the agency’s Interim Strategic Plan (ISP). The ISP presents a new mission and vision that emphasize a more person-centered approach and briefly describes our priorities and guiding principles. This ISP not only represents SAMHSA’s thinking as an agency, but also reflects the insightful feedback we have received from our many partners over the past months. However, this is only a first step as we are also developing a full four-year Strategic Plan (2023-2026). Later this winter, we will post a draft of the new Plan on our website; the intent of this posting is to solicit public feedback to ensure the Plan is as responsive and inclusive as possible.

Learn More

November 10 (Matthew Canuteson, Diversity and Inclusion Officer, OMH Office of Diversity and Inclusion)

Greetings,

As we celebrate Native American Heritage Month this year, OMH wishes to reaffirm its commitment to reducing disparities in access, quality and treatment outcomes for marginalized and underserved populations.

Native American Heritage Month, also commonly referred to as American Indian and Alaska Native Heritage Month, is a time to celebrate the rich and diverse cultures, traditions, and histories of Native communities. Additionally, it provides an opportunity to educate individuals about the unique challenges faced by these communities historically and presently.

Click to view full Spotlight

OMH recognizes that Indigenous communities have faced longstanding oppression, discrimination and violence throughout much of U.S. history. These experiences include forced resettlement, residential boarding schools and cultural deterioration and have led to multigenerational trauma and inequities. OMH continues to have focused attention on ensuring there is increased education around the impact that these experiences and multigenerational trauma has had on Indigenous communities.

In alignment with these efforts, OMH has collaborated with subject matter experts, discipline leads and members of the Indigenous community to create the attached resource, Spotlight on Indigenous Communities. This resource provides additional information about the culture and strengths of Indigenous communities as well as the unique experiences they have faced. Additionally, OMH continues to foster relationships with organizations focused on providing guidance, support and best practice approaches to serving Indigenous individuals.

The Spotlight on Indigenous Communities provides direct links and contact information for many of these organizations. You are encouraged to explore this resource and share with others.

Additionally, OMH continues to enhance its efforts to ensuring mental health services are provided in a manner that is culturally and linguistically appropriate to all individuals. These efforts include the addition of equity language to all agency RFPs and licensing tools. The equity language is grounded in the National Standards for Culturally and Linguistically Appropriate Services and includes how mental health service providers can actively work towards mental health equity.

This Native American Heritage Month, we invite you to join OMH in promoting an inclusive and respectful environment for all New Yorkers!

Matthew Canuteson
Pronouns: He, Him, His
Diversity and Inclusion Officer
Office of Diversity and Inclusion
New York State Office of Mental Health
44 Holland Ave 2nd Floor
Albany, NY 12229
518-473-4548
matthew.canuteson@omh.ny.gov
www.omh.ny.gov

November 9, 2022 (Reposted from NYAPRS ENews)

NYAPRS Note: Kathy Hochul achieved great national recognition last night when she was elected New York State’s first woman Governor. See below for details, as well as links to the outcomes of other statewide, NYS Senate and Assembly and US House races. US Senator Chuck Schumer was re-elected as well.

NYAPRS congratulates and greatly looks forward to continuing to work very closely with the Governor and her Administration.

Statewide races: 2022 New York Election Results | USA TODAY

US Congress: https://www.usatoday.com/elections/results/2022-11-08/us-house/new-york/

NYS Assembly: https://www.usatoday.com/elections/results/2022-11-08/state/new-york/lower/

NYS Senate: https://www.usatoday.com/elections/results/2022-11-08/state/new-york/upper/

Democrat Kathy Hochul Becomes 1st Woman Elected NY Governor

By MICHELLE L. PRICE, Associated Press – November 9, 2022

Democrat Kathy Hochul has become the first woman elected New York governor, winning the office outright that she took over in 2021 when former Gov. Andrew Cuomo resigned…

“Tonight you made your voices heard loud and clear. And, and you made me the first woman ever elected to be the governor of the state of New York. But I’m not here to make history, I’m here to make a difference,” Hochul told supporters Tuesday night.

“I have felt a weight on my shoulders to make sure that every little girl and all the women of the state who’ve had to bang up against glass ceilings everywhere they turn, to know that a woman could be elected in her own right and successfully govern a state as rough and tumble as New York.”

Hochul, a Buffalo native, had been expected to win in a state where there are more than twice as many registered Democrats as Republicans. New Yorkers haven’t elected a Republican as governor since Gov. George Pataki won a third term in 2002. But Zeldin made the race competitive, closing in on Hochul in the final weeks and appearing to spur her to speak more about public safety.

“It’s been a battle where we’ve been focused on ideals. We’ve been bringing our message without apology or regret,” Zeldin said at his election night party Tuesday. He took the stage before The Associated Press had called the race.

….As a nod to the history Hochul hoped to make as the first woman to be elected governor, she appeared at a rally days before the election with Vice President Kamala Harris, the first woman to be elected to the country’s second-highest office, and Hillary Clinton, the first woman to be a major party’s presidential nominee and New York’s first female senator.

Hochul is among eight women who have won statewide elections in New York, a group she initially joined when she was elected lieutenant governor in 2014. She became the first woman to serve as governor when she took over for Cuomo.

November 1, 2022 (Contributed by Co-Editor Peggy Swarbrick)

Monthly Celebrations

National Gratitude Month
Take time this month to give thanks for the big and small things that you appreciate. It’s good for your mental health!

Sweet Potato Awareness Month
It’s easy to cook sweet potatoes, which are a nutrition powerhouse! Full of vitamins and fiber, they’re sweet and tasty, too. You can just slice them in half and bake them cut side down on a greased pan. Find more info and interesting recipes at the Have a Plant website.

(For week by week celebrations, click here.)

October 31, submitted by HOWARD DIAMOND

Halloween, nutmeg and pumpkin spice
Is that everything that will be nice?
Ready once, twice and thrice
Can I have that last humble slice?

The grass is green and the sky is blue
What are we thinking and going to do?
Dogs bark, cats meow and cows moo
Are we believing our perceptions to be true?

October is a time for weather to change
Are people staring at me cause I’m strange?
Temperatures move within a big range
Have to alter those ideas and rearrange?

Autumn leaves are blowing far and wide
Can we share with those we confide?
Driving the roads along the countryside
Is our thinking making us decide?

This part of the season changes almost every day
Are there still plenty of days to get outside and play?
Of course, the colored leaves are in total disarray
Is there really anything for me to finally say?

Costumes of various designs line each street
Is Halloween still an incredible feat?
Neighborhoods come together and meet
Please be safe while we trick and treat.

A Halloween Poem by Howard Diamond,  Certified Peer Specialist from Long Island

October 24, 2022 (Howard Diamond, Regular Guest Blogger)

“Faster than a speeding bullet, more powerful than a locomotive, able to leap tall buildings in a single bound“, so begins almost every episode of, “50s, The Adventures of Superman. Of course, this is fiction, but it appears that Superman was a risk taker. As most of us know, he was from another planet, Krypton. Maybe on his planet, it was commonplace, but on Earth each one was a risk. Also, by accomplishing these feats, Superman had dignity from us mere earthlings.

Is there dignity in risk taking by any of us? Does this make us feel better, before, during and after the risk as its climax approaches? At that juncture, are we left with any dignity or was it totally lost? Probably not much, but when one gets an exhilarating feeling then it might have been worth the experience. Dignity of risk refers to the concept of affording a person, including one with a disability, the right (dignity) to take reasonable choices to learn, grow and have a better quality of life.

This concept dignity of risk is understood by most practitioners and peers as the chance, choice, or possibility of someone failing in their goals or capacity to self-manage independently. Contrary to popular belief, more often than not, individuals do succeed, as long the risk is not too
strenuous. It means there is a level of self-worth promoted by people when we are left to our own devices to make choices for ourselves. We can call it self-esteem, or self-respect; people generally feel better about ourselves when we are given the opportunity to fail or succeed at whatever it is we are set out to do.

Indisputably, the broad range between disregard and extreme vigilance carries with it has serious implications for both clinical practices and peer specialists in mental health. Even within our personal lives, we have friends and family we care for and we wonder where a specific line in the sand is drawn when it comes to caregiving or caring for a friend or a family member who is struggling to maintain safety living independently. For the majority of psychiatrists, therapists, and peers, the terrain between the two poles of dereliction of duty and overshielding is even more unclear. Sometimes, an in-dispute for all these types of teams, occur with workers from different ethical points of view.

Inherently, there is a major issue with complete autonomy and “free-will” when one is in treatment is twofold:

• Treatment is a contract between a provider and participant which carries with it the conjecture of compliance/or active participation in one’s own care.
• Without any direction and control from providers, therapists, peers, and psychiatrists will run the risk of being irresponsible or doing malpractice should something unforeseen happen to a client that may have been preventable should the client have been watched more closely during his time in active treatment.

The limits of the law are written and very clear. It is written down on paper and stored on computers, so they are indisputable. Therefore, we must abide by them, whether we are in sessions with our psychiatrists, therapists, peers or we find ourselves in everyday situations. Every state in the United States has a regulatory body that decides where this line is drawn between negligence and dignity of risk for Peer Specialists, Therapists and Psychiatrists.

Peer Specialists also are currently working on actively drawing up plans to manage risk more effectively to reduce the likelihood of harm to clients and us. Due to this, we can collaborate more closely with our professional counterparts. There is very small space between theory and practice is when the line gets unfocused when figuring what to do with a person where their dignity of risk of homicidal or suicidal behavior is unclear or is unable to be assessed.

In situations like this, besides our “gut” feeling on which side of the negligence versus overprotection spectrum do our instincts tell us to decide? What will help us and to inform us of our choice. With the assistance of our supervisors we can make an effective list.

Below are only five:

What will be the alliance between we have with our client
What is current “professional” relationship between the client and us
What is the trust between the two of us
What is the mental status of the individuals
What is level of mental distress is seen

*Remembering that Peer Specialists are professionals also.

More importantly, what does it say for us as a practitioner when we make our decision? Are we taking risks by working with others we don’t know? Hey, we take risks by walking out the front door. Common ground is important here to keep the conversation going. Boundaries are crucial and must be set at the beginning so the risks of stepping on stones do not happen regularly and dignity is kept.

Dignity and risk occur often when we are growing in our existence and with our relationships within the human experience. Whether this be a friend, family, co-workers or supervisors, we take many risks which can turn into increased dignity. Be careful when we take risks, but dignity
is a good feeling. Occasionally this has happened to me, so take risks and improve our dignity for the days of our lives.

See you in the NewsBlogs and Newsletters.

Howard Diamond is a Certified Peer Specialist from Long Island.

(Download a PDF of this blog)

October 20, 2022 – Reprint from the N.A.P.S. Webite

National Association of Peer Supporters (N.A.P.S.) writes, “The idea of a ‘national day’ for peer supporters began to take shape at the 2014 Annual International Association of Peer Supporters (iNAPS) conference in Atlanta, Georgia. This day of celebration, recognition, and reflection began when, the then National Director of Peer Support Services with the Veteran’s Administration, Dan O’Brien-Mazza discussed his idea at a membership meeting. His idea sparked much enthusiasm from other iNAPS members.

“We now have Global Peer Support Celebration Day (GPSCD), an annual celebration of peer supporters, peer support, and recognizing their work in helping their peers with mental health, addictions, and or trauma-related challenges move along the continuum of recovery and inclusion into communities of his/her choosing. This annual, worldwide event takes place annually on the third Thursday in October.“

Repost from NYAPRS E-News

NYAPRS Note: Celebrate Global Peer Support Day by downloading a copy of the National Association of Peer Supporters’ Global Peer Supporters Celebration Day toolkit by support NAPS’ groundbreaking efforts with a donation via https://givebutter.com/peersupportworks.

Join those of who are currently attending NAPS terrific annual conference virtually by registering at https://whova.com/web/x675ucyq8nZMVNRmMMk5ieIcqzYZxFGlPv0QNmISwS8%3D/.

Celebrate Global Peer Support Day be downloading a copy of the National Association of Peer Supporters’ Global Peer Supporters Celebration Day toolkit by support NAPS’ groundbreaking efforts with a donation via https://givebutter.com/peersupportworks.

Join those of who are currently attending NAPS terrific annual conference virtually by registering at https://whova.com/web/x675ucyq8nZMVNRmMMk5ieIcqzYZxFGlPv0QNmISwS8%3D/.

Following is a proclamation by OMH Commissioner, Ann Sullivan.
(Click here to download a PDF)

October 18, 2022 by Howard Diamond

Last year, when I was completing an article, I received an email that the Mental
Health Community lost another legend, Steve Harrington from Michigan. His
death on November 29, 2021, left me feeling a little empty inside. Steve was
one of the founding members and the first Executive Director of the National
Association of Peer Supporters. Although we never met, we spoke and
emailed each other on numerous occasions until his stroke several years ago
back in 2015. After a few times talking and laughing together, he gave this
person the inspiration and courage to start writing again. Thank you, Steve.

Howard Diamond is a New York State Certified Peer Specialist  from Long Island

October 15, 2022 by Howard Diamond

Read about Fall Sports 2022 in a poem
Coming here without any fanfare
Arriving with no more than a low hum
All major sports combine and we will care.

Baseball just started their playoffs           
Both New York teams need to jell
Submitting lineups without being showoffs
To win the series they better play well

Football has our area teams doing great      
Both over .500 for first time in years
Too early to see that they really rate
Maybe this season will not end in tears.

Hockey will drop the pucks in a day or two
One of the locals made it to the round of four
Others making their fans cheer and not to boo
Applauding crowds are always looking for more.

Basketball opens with back to back games to play
A new year, a new season and a new story
Our squads each with an attitude to display
Can our teams return to their respective glory?

Fall Sports 2022 can be interesting and fun
Some teams around the leagues are pretenders
Whatever our preference the top will be won
The better clubs play each match as contenders.

Root, root for the teams we want to move up
Whether bad or good, we still can cheer
Trying to win the Lombardi Trophy, or Stanley Cup
Each group will compete without much fear.

Fall Sports come around every year
Always trying to be better than the rest
Showing prowess when they are here
This season like all we’ll try our best.

An Annual Fall Sports poem by Howard Diamond, a Certified Peer Specialist from Long Island