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Attorney General James Secures $720 Million from Eight Drug Companies for Fueling the Opioid Crisis
New York Attorney General Letitia James last week announced eight pharmaceutical companies will pay approximately $720 million for their role in manufacturing opioid pills that fueled the ongoing nationwide epidemic of opioid addictions. These funds will help deliver critical resources to communities throughout New York and the nation to combat the opioid crisis. New York will receive up to $38.7 million from the eight companies. To date, Attorney General James has secured more than $3 billion to support New York opioid abatement, treatment, and prevention efforts. “For years, drug companies prioritized profits at the expense of struggling New Yorkers who became trapped in deadly opioid addictions,” said Attorney General James. “While communities throughout our state continue to suffer from the opioid crisis, these resources will help us begin to heal. I will continue to work to hold those responsible for the opioid crisis accountable and ensure that New Yorkers who have been most affected get the support they need.” Read more here.
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New Map Project to Boost Mental Health Access for NY Responders
Several first responder groups are teaming up to create a map outlining mental health resources across New York. The New York State Mental Health Association (MHANYS) and Firefighters Association of the State of New York is asking first responder peer support teams to fill out a survey that identifies the services they offer. Organizers want to learn about team structures, training, and services. The end goal is to create a clearer picture of available resources and expand access to mental health support for those on the front lines. Anyone with questions is asked to reach out by email to hero@mhanys.org.
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School Smartphone Bans Reflect Growing Concern Over Youth Mental Health and Academic Performance
The number of states banning smartphones in schools is growing. New York is now the largest state in the U.S. to ban smartphones in public schools. Starting in fall 2025, students will not be allowed to use their phones during the school day, including during lunch, recess or in between classes. This bell-to-bell policy will impact almost 2.5 million students in grades K-12. By banning smartphones in schools, New York is joining states across the country. The bans are happening in both traditionally liberal and conservative states. Alabama, Arkansas, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma and West Virginia all passed legislation in 2025 that requires schools to have policies that limit access to smartphones. The policies will go into effect in the 2025-2026 school year. This brings the total to 17 states, plus Washington, D.C., that have phone-free school legislation or executive orders. A professor who studies communication and culture, while writing a book about parenting culture, has noticed the narrative around smartphones and social media shifting over the past decade. Read more here.
Related: Distraction-Free Schools: Governor Hochul and New York City Public Schools Chancellor Aviles-Ramos Highlight Smartphone Restrictions in Nation’s Largest School System Starting This Fall
Here’s how one of Onondaga County’s biggest school districts will enforce NY’s cell phone ban
2 Ways ‘Short-Video Addiction’ Changes Your Brain, By A Psychologist
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The Rise of Emergency Room Mental Health Crisis Units
Dr. Scott Zeller, past president of the American Association for Emergency Psychiatry and vice president of acute psychiatry at Vituity, has long been troubled by disparities in emergency medicine. “When you come to the emergency room with an asthma attack, staff start you on treatment right away,” he said, adding that emergency medical care aims to treat the person and discharge them or admit them to the hospital. That’s not the case with mental health emergencies. People can spend hours languishing, without treatment, in the emergency room waiting for an inpatient psychiatric bed, a practice called psychiatric boarding. Lawsuits across the nation have increased attention on the issue. As with medical emergencies, people in mental health and substance use emergencies respond best when treatment is initiated quickly. “The sooner someone is stabilized, the faster they can be discharged to a less restrictive level of care,” said Zeller. Read more here
Related: Pew - Hospitals Can Improve Suicide Care Practices and Help Save Lives
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How to Address Shortage of Mental Health Workers? Create More Pathways to Certification.
When Jeff Shumway became director of Utah’s Office of Professional Licensure Review, he learned early on that the state’s procedures for licensing behavioral health professionals seemed to top everyone’s must-review list. “We started just informally talking to legislators and kind of doing a straw poll of what was on their minds because they are listening to constituents all the time, and this kept bubbling up,” Shumway says on NCSL’s “Our American States” podcast. “Uniformly, people were saying, ‘Yes, absolutely, please look at that first.’” He adds that data also supported the need to rethink the way behavioral health care was delivered for substance abuse and mental health treatment. “We looked at some of the national surveys for children and for substance abuse and mental health and found that in Utah, we were providing behavioral health services to about a half million people a year across all the different kind of systems,” Shumway says. “But that there was probably another 200,000 to 500,000 that were not receiving any behavioral health services.” Read more here.
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Unpacking the Past (and the Groceries) With Your Therapist
On her way to a client’s house, Debra Borden, a therapist in Water Mill, N.Y., might stop to pick up groceries. This may seem a tad unorthodox. But if her client wants to unpack their trauma, that means making a lasagna. Ms. Borden practices cooking therapy, an experiential therapy discipline in which licensed counselors cook meals alongside their clients. Like art therapy or pet therapy, cooking therapy is designed to provide moments of self-reflection as the task at hand takes on new layers of meaning. You’re not just softening a mirepoix, you’re softening yourself. When Ms. Borden began cooking with clients more than a decade ago, she didn’t know about Julie Ohana, a therapist in Detroit who in 2005 started a blog about cooking therapy. And neither Ms. Borden nor Ms. Ohana knew about the therapist Charlotte Hastings, who has practiced what she calls “kitchen therapy” from her home in Brighton, England, since 2011. Read more here.
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The Foster Care System Has a Suicide Problem. Federal Cuts Threaten To Slow Fixes.
Elliott Hinkle experienced depression and suicidal thoughts even before entering the foster care system in Casper, Wyoming, at age 15. At the time, Hinkle, who is transgender, struggled with their sexual identity and gender issues, and their difficulties continued in foster care. They felt like they had no one to confide in — not their foster parents, not church leaders, not their caseworker. "To my knowledge, I don’t remember ever taking a suicide screening,” Hinkle said. “No one ever said: ‘Are you having thoughts of taking your life? Do you feel hopeless?’” With their psychological and behavioral health needs left unaddressed, Hinkle’s depression and suicidal thoughts worsened. “Do I stay in the closet and feel terrible and want to end my life?” Hinkle said. “Or do I come out and lose all my supports, which also feels dangerous?” Children in foster care are significantly more likely to have mental health issues, researchers say. They attempt or complete suicide at rates three to four times that of youths in the general population, according to several studies. LGBTQ+ people in foster care, like Hinkle, are at an even higher risk of having suicidal thoughts. Read more here.
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Strengthening Behavioral Health Systems Through Medicaid: Three Strategies for State Action
State governments have a critical opportunity to address the interconnected challenges of unmet mental health and substance use disorder (SUD) needs. Nearly one in three people in the United States experience these conditions, yet only about half of adults with mental illness - and fewer than one in four with SUD - receive the care they need. Co-occurring disorders are common: approximately one-third of adults with a mental illness also have an SUD, yet 38% go untreated for either condition. Medicaid members, in particular, are disproportionately affected by mental health and SUD needs, but often encounter additional barriers, including smaller provider networks and longer wait times, challenges exacerbated by the widespread behavioral health workforce shortage. When timely behavioral health care is out of reach, the consequences ripple across communities and strain public systems. Read more here.
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Demand for 988 Continues to Grow at Third Anniversary
July 16 marked the third anniversary of 988, the national three-digit crisis line that connects people to a network of over 200 local and state-funded crisis centers by phone, text, or chat. Since its launch in 2022, 988 has operated against the backdrop of rising suicide rates—more than 509,000 lives were lost between 2013 and 2023, with firearms accounting for over half of all deaths. As 988 enters its third year, sweeping Medicaid changes are projected to reduce federal spending by $1 trillion and could result in nearly 12 million people losing coverage, potentially disrupting access to mental health care. While the federal budget proposes level funding for 988, most of that supports the national infrastructure, leaving state and local systems vulnerable. The recent elimination of the specialized LGBTQ+ youth line, which handled about 10% of 988 contacts, adds to growing concern for a population already at higher risk. Together, these shifts could widen the gap between rising need and available support. Read more here.
Related: LGBTQ advocates brace for Thursday closure of 988 lifeline service
NAMI/Ipsos 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline Tracker
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Majority of SUD Providers Plan New Service Line Expansion
The majority of addiction treatment providers are actively pursuing expansion, with new locations and de novo centers as the most popular growth lever in the substance use disorder (SUD) treatment sector. However, workforce challenges are creating a significant barrier to expansion plans, threatening to constrain growth despite market demands. To dive deeper into the latest trends and challenges facing substance use disorder treatment providers, ATB and Behavioral Health Business surveyed dozens of industry professionals from a wide range of roles from April 16 through May 16. The group included C-suite executives from provider organizations, consultants, government officials, payers, investors, and technology vendors, among others. Roughly 28% of respondents said their number one growth strategy for the next year is de novo expansion. Read more here.
Related: EHR Decision Support Integration Could Bridge Primary Care SUD Treatment Gaps
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UPCOMING EVENTS & TRAININGS
Resiliency Building for Vicarious Trauma | Workforce Wellness Workshop 2
17, 2 - 3 pm, SAMHSA
The Future of Reentry Programs and Policy
July 22, 2 - 3 pm, CSG Justice Center
Patient Treatment Preferences in Bipolar-I Disorder: Are We Really Listening?
July 23, 12 - 1 pm, PsychU
Breaking the Cycle: Interrupting Intergenerational Trauma in Substance Use Disorders
July 23, 12 - 1:30 pm, NAADAC
Beyond Access: CCBHCs and the Future of Rural Behavioral Health
July 24, 2 - 2:30 pm, National Council for Mental Wellbeing
Improving Medicaid Crisis Response: Introduction to National Training and Technical Assistance Center (NTAC) and Shaping Future Technical Assistance Support
July 23, 2 - 3 pm, CMS
Integrating Behavioral Health and Primary Care in Rural Communities
July 24, 10 - 11:30 am, NCROTAC
Introduction to Service Program for Older People (SPOP)
July 24, 12 - 1 pm, NYSACHO
The Impact Of Adherence In Patients With Bipolar I Disorder
July 24, 12 - 1 pm, PsychU
Resilience in Action: Navigating the Overdose Crisis with Limited Resources
July 24, 1 - 2 pm, National Council for Mental Wellbeing
Eating Disorder Awareness for School Providers
July 24, 1 - 2 pm, SAMHSA
Financing Models and Federal Resources for Enhancing and Sustaining Peer-Run and Recovery Organizations
July 24, 2 - 3 pm, SAMHSA
Ask the Expert: Understanding Stress, Distress and Trauma
July 24, 4 - 5 pm, NAMI
Law Enforcement and Public Health Collaboration
July 29, 12 - 1:30 pm, NCROTAC
What Youth Justice Leaders Should Know About Medicaid
July 29, 2 - 3 pm, Annie E. Casey Foundation
Aging and Addiction: Clinical Strategies for Supporting Older Adults with OUD and SUDs
July 30, 12:30 - 2 pm, NAADAC
How Humor Helps: Applying Humor With Stress
July 31, 11 am - 12:15 pm, Great Lakes ROTA-RC
A Public Health Approach: Mental Health Promotion and Suicide Prevention Policies
July 31, 1:30 - 2:30 pm, NASMHPD
Employment Supports: Advancing Opportunities for Recovery
July 31, 2 - 3 pm, SAMHSA
From Theory to Therapy: The Evolution of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Psychosis in U.S. Mental Health Care
August 5, 2 - 3 pm, NASMHPD
Crisis Intervention Teams: Partnering with Families of Loved Ones with Serious Mental Illness and Serious Emotional Disturbance
August 6, 2 - 3 pm, SAMHSA
Intergenerational Family Substance Misuse & Recovery
August 7, 2 - 3 pm, SAMHSA
Forensic Interviewing Best Practices for Vulnerable Populations
August 13-14, 8:30 am - 4:30 pm, IN-PERSON in Schenectady, NY
Deepening Quality Improvement Efforts: Real-World Success Stories
August 14, 1 - 2 pm, Social Current
Stepping Up for Youth: Improving Behavioral Health Outcomes in the Juvenile Justice System
August 14, 2 - 3 pm, CSG Justice Center
The Science of Addiction and Recovery—A Father’s Perspective
August 14, 2 - 3 pm, SAMHSA
From Crisis to Care: How CCBHCs are Revolutionizing MOUD Access
August 14, 3:30 - 4:30 pm, National Council for Mental Wellbeing
Black Men’s Mental Health Conference: Heal Brother, Heal
August 16, 9 am - 3 pm, IN-PERSON at the ETEC Building, University at Albany
Peer Connections Office Hours - Co-Instruction Best Practices
August 18, 2 - 3 pm, National Council for Mental Wellbeing
Substance Use and Psychiatric Care: Bridging the Divide for Whole-Person Treatment
August 18, 2:30 - 4 pm, National Council for Mental Wellbeing
Navigating the New Risk Environment: Top Compliance, Legal and Operational Challenges for Behavioral Health Providers
August 19, 12 - 1 pm, Behavioral Health Business
Suicide and Substance Use Disorders: A Current Epidemic
August 20, 12 - 1:30 pm, NAADAC
Contracting to Provide Peer Services: Is Your Organization Ready?
August 20, 2 - 3 pm, SAMHSA
2025 Suicide Prevention Summit - VIRTUAL
August 23-24, 9 am - 4:30 pm, Mental Health Academy
Creating Optimal Access for OUD Services Utilizing Stages of Change
September 4, 3 - 4 pm, PCSS
Toward Whole-Person Care: Integrated Substance Use and Primary Care Integration
September 8, 2:30 - 4 pm, National Council for Mental Wellbeing
Mental Health Awareness: Shedding Light on the Interplay between Suicide & Stigma
September 10, 12 - 1 pm, PsychU
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CLMHD CALENDAR
JULY
Mental Hygiene Planning Committee Meeting
July 26: 1 - 3 pm
AUGUST
Quarterly LGU Billing Staff Call
August 5: 11 am - 12 pm
CLMHD Executive Committee Meeting
August 6: 8 - 9 am
LGU Clinic Operators Call
August 12: 10 - 11:00 am
Addiction Services & Supports (ASR) Committee Meeting
August 14: 11 am - 12 pm
Mental Health Committee Meeting
August 14: 3 - 4 pm
Children & Families Committee Meeting
August 19: 11:30 am - 1 pm
Membership Call
August 20: 9 - 10:30 am
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