The stigma around mental health is such a difficult topic. I hesitated to take on the challenge of writing this article because, despite being a mental health professional for over 20 years, I still struggle with not being biased myself.
Healthcare professionals continue to face unimaginable stress, exhaustion and burnout, and they need support to remove or mitigate stressors and tools to help them cope.
BY RAJITHA BOMMAKANTI, BSN, RN-CCM Case managers are an integral part of the healthcare team. Their roles are crucial in preventing readmissions and coordinating services for patients and their families. During the COVID-19 pandemic, inadequate resources in the community, overloaded caseloads and intensive care units being at maximum capacity have put…
BY LYNNE BECKER, MSPH, AND HANNAH BURGESS, MPH MENTAL HEALTH IN NUMBERS One in every 5 U.S adults experiences mental illness. One in every 20 U.S adults experiences serious mental illness. Nineteen percent of these individuals are managing anxiety disorders, and 8% of them are struggling with depression. However, in 2020, only…
BY SANDRA KAHN, AP, RN, BSN It is a new year, and it is time to get serious about the future of your health. The decision to take action for your health is one of the most important decisions you can make for yourself, if not the most important, since without…
BY ANITA HERRON, BA The National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) launched Mental Health Resources for Service Members, Veterans and their Families (HFMHR) in time for Veterans Day, 2021. The original 6-session NAMI Homefront (HF) program was developed to meet the unique needs of families of service members and veterans with mental health…
BY DR. SUZANNE RYBCZYNSKI AND DR. CARMEN LOPEZ-ARVIZU On October 19, 2021, faced with the toll of the COVID-19 pandemic on an already strained pediatric mental health system, the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and the Children’s Hospital Association declared a “national emergency in children’s mental…
BY MELANIE A. PRINCE, MSN, BSN, NE-BC, CCM, FAAN One’s first reaction after reading this title may be negative, but that is not the intention. The intention is to highlight the sometimes “clandestine” acceptance and reverence of mental healthcare in certain sectors of our society. Another intention is to share my…
BY REBECCA PEREZ, MSN, RN, CCM Behavioral healthcare in the United States falls perilously short of being a functional, effective system. Mental health and substance use disorders (MH/SUD) are universally categorized as behavioral health disorders, and this label will be used throughout this article (Knutson, 2021). Currently, available services are underfunded,…
BY SUSAN PLOUGH, PHCNS-BC, MSN, CCM At the end of 2020, many Americans thought the worst of the pandemic was behind us. However, as we enter 2022, we continue to deal with many of the same issues we dealt with then. We would all agree that COVID-19 is an international public…