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3 Years After Buffalo Mass Shooting, NY Fights Domestic Terrorism With County Teams
In the three years since a gunman killed 10 people in a racist attack at a Buffalo supermarket, New York officials have rolled out a program in counties across the state to prevent similar tragedies in the future. At the heart of the effort are threat assessment teams made up of mental health officials, educators, social workers and local, state and federal law enforcement officers. The so-called Threat Assessment and Management (or TAM) teams’ mission is to assess whether or not people flagged to them as potential threats actually pose a risk of committing violence, such as school shootings or a racially motivated mass murders. When it's determined that they do, a team is tasked with deciding what can be done to intervene beforehand. The teams are now operational in dozens of counties across the state, including Nassau and Suffolk on Long Island, Westchester and Rockland. Read more here.
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Drug Overdose Deaths Fell Sharply in 2024, as Fentanyl Cases Dropped but Meth Spiked
Drug deaths plummeted in 2024, according to new federal data. An estimated 80,391 people died of a drug overdose in the U.S. last year, marking the lowest total since 2019. The sum represents a roughly 27% decrease from 2023, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The new data reflect a trend that began in late 2023, when overdose deaths finally began to drop after years of steady increase. The years during and after the Covid-19 pandemic, in particular, saw overdose rates skyrocket from an annual plateau of roughly 70,000 per year to an all-time high of nearly 115,000. But it also included swings that prevent new complications: namely, a surge in deaths involving methamphetamine. Read more here.
Related: NPR: Experts warn Congress cuts to addiction funding will mean more overdose deaths
NCSL: Saving Lives: State Strategies for Combating Overdose
The Access Gap Is Moving: Rapid Shifts in SUD Treatment for Older Adults
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Governor Hochul Announces $4.5 Million Awarded to Fund Services for Children and Youth Living With Mental Illness
Governor Kathy Hochul last week announced that $4.5 million in state funding was awarded to establish 10 new Youth Assertive Community Treatment teams, including five in New York City, two on Long Island and three in areas north of the metropolitan area. Administered by the state Office of Mental Health, the new multidisciplinary teams will support 360 additional youth with serious emotional disturbances who are either at risk of entering, or are returning home from high intensity services, such as inpatient settings or residential services. Read more here.
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MHANYS Receives the Mental Health First Aid Organization of the Year Award from National Council for Mental Wellbeing
In a ceremony held at the Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) Summit in Philadelphia on May 4, 2025, the National Council for Mental Wellbeing recognized the Mental Health Association in New York State (MHANYS) as Organization of the Year. The award was part of the National Council’s annual MHFA Impact Awards Ceremony which celebrates individuals and groups that have demonstrated what it means to be a true leader in changing the conversation surrounding mental health. The primary criteria used to determine the MHFA Impact Award winners include the number of individuals trained in Mental Health First Aid (MHFA), measurable impact, and excellence and effectiveness while conducting the training course. Read more here.
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Medicaid Payments Barely Keep Hospital Mental Health Units Afloat. Federal Cuts Could Sink Them.
SPENCER, Iowa — This town’s hospital is a holdout on behalf of people going through mental health crises. The facility’s leaders have pledged not to shutter their inpatient psychiatric unit, as dozens of other U.S. hospitals have. Keeping that promise could soon get tougher if Congress slashes Medicaid funding. The joint federal-state health program covers an unusually large share of mental health patients, and hospital industry leaders say spending cuts could accelerate a decades-long wave of psychiatric unit closures. At least eight other Iowa hospitals have stopped offering inpatient mental health care since 2007, forcing people in crisis to seek help in distant facilities. Spencer Hospital is one of the smallest in Iowa still offering the service. CEO Brenda Tiefenthaler said 40% of her hospital’s psychiatric inpatients are covered by Medicaid, compared with about 12% of all inpatients. An additional 10% of the hospital’s psychiatric inpatients are uninsured. National experts say such disparities are common. Read more here.
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He Hears Voices in His Head. He Also Helped Win an Election.
In a psychiatric ward in Upper Manhattan, Arvind Sooknanan made a plan for his life. He would drop out of high school, take the G.E.D. test and go on to college, be the first in his family to get a degree. He was 18 years old, living with a mental illness called schizoaffective disorder, and he had been brought to the hospital after a driver on the George Washington Bridge spotted him trying to jump off. Of all the psych wards he had been through, he told me recently, that one, at Columbia-Presbyterian Hospital, was the nicest. We were talking in an empty office at Fountain House, whose free “clubhouses” are run for, and partly by, people with serious mental illness. Since that episode on the bridge, Mr. Sooknanan, now 26, had passed the G.E.D. test, earned a college degree and, at the age of 21, run the campaign for the first South Asian woman elected to the New York State Legislature. He had also become, through Fountain House, a model for what people with serious mental illness can accomplish, and an ambassador to the lawmakers who set mental health care policy. Read more here.
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Value-Based Care Strategies for SUD Organizations Are a ‘Continuum,’ Not an Endpoint
Taking incremental steps is critical for providers looking to transition into value-based care models for substance use disorder (SUD) services. Overall, SUD treatment is seeing a growing shift toward value-based payment models. This dynamic has the potential to improve patient outcomes, close care gaps and encourage integrated care coordination. However, providers looking to shift to a value-based care model often face a brick wall of challenges that is stacked with a lack of consensus on measuring quality and outcomes, workforce strains and care fragmentation. Inching closer to adoption of these models shouldn’t be viewed as a destination but rather as a movement across a continuum, Brett Cohen, CEO of Recovery Centers of America, said during a panel at Behavioral Health Business’ VALUE Conference in March.
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Nonprofit Group Homes in New York Face Funding Shortfall, Leading to Staffing Crisis
Almost anyone who works in a group home in New York will say that it is a labor of love. They do it for the smiles they get from bringing their developmentally disabled clients out for a sparkly manicure or whipping up their favorite meals at night. They do it for a ‘thank you’ they hear from a mostly nonverbal resident after helping them get dressed in the morning. One thing they do not do this critical work for is a competitive salary. According to politicians, caregivers and other advocates, the money simply is not there—a nonprofit funding shortfall that has led to low pay, high turnover and staffing shortages. Caregivers who work in group homes provide much-needed help for people of all ages who have mental illness or intellectual/ developmental disabilities (I/DD). Despite their important roles, direct support professionals (DSPs) face ongoing salary challenges that stem in part from a lack of funding. Read more here.
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Mental Health Support for Black Families: 2025 Study Report
The Child Mind Institute and The Steve Fund have released a new report, Mental Health Support for Black Families, highlighting the persistent barriers Black youth and families face in accessing mental health care. Based on a national survey, the study reveals that while most respondents hold positive views of mental health services, stigma and unmet needs remain significant challenges. The report offers recommendations to improve culturally responsive care and build greater trust within Black communities.
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Mental Health and Substance Misuse Treatment Is Increasingly a Video Chat or Phone Call Away
More Californians are talking to their therapists through a video screen or by phone than in person, marking a profound shift in how mental health care is delivered as record-setting numbers seek help. While patients and providers say teletherapy is effective and easier to get than in-person services, experts in the field noted that teletherapy often requires a skilled mental health practitioner trained to pick up subtle communication cues. Almost half of the roughly 4.8 million adults who visited a medical professional for mental health or substance use disorders in 2023 did so exclusively through teletherapy, according to a KFF Health News analysis of the latest data from UCLA’s California Health Interview Survey. Read more here.
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Spring 2025 Issue of OMH News
This issue celebrates Mental Health Awareness Month with highlights on statewide initiatives, new investments in mental health services, innovative programs like Safe Options Support, and updates on children’s mental health efforts. Click here to read the full issue.
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UPCOMING EVENTS & TRAININGS
Navigating Pharmacotherapy: Co-occurring Bipolar Disorder and Opioid Use Disorder
May 15, 3 - 4 pm, SMI TTAC
NAMI Capital Region Children’s Mental Health Awareness Fair
May 17-18, 11 am - 3 pm, Colonie Center, Albany
Peer Support Profession Summit - Niagara Falls, NY
May 20-21, BIPOC PEEEEEEK
Mental health in local New York communities: A conversation with the Directors of Community Services in Genesee, Seneca, and Wayne Counties
May 20, 12 - 1 pm, NYSPHA
Bridging Divides Where Systems Meet for Youth & Families - Part 1: For Youth Sakes – Pivot Quickly!
May 21, 12 - 1:30 pm, NTTAC
Compassion Fatigue and Burnout for Rural Providers
May 22, 10 am - 12 pm, NCROTAC
Measurement-Informed Care and the Collaborative Care Model (CoCM)
May 22, 2 - 3 pm, National Council for Mental Wellbeing
Co-response Hiring and Workforce Guidance
May 22, 2 - 3:30 pm, CSG Justice Center
Bridging Divides Where Systems Meet for Youth & Families - Part 2: Programs that Connect – The Evolution
May 28, 12 - 1:30 pm, NTTAC
Engaging Pharmacists in Improving Treatment Outcomes for Patients with Opioid Use Disorder
May 28, 2 - 3 pm, FORE
2nd Annual Documentation Event - IN-PERSON
May 29, 9 am - 3 pm, Crown Plaza, Albany, MCTAC
Trauma-Informed Supervision for Supervisors (in Rural Communities)
May 29, 1 - 3 pm, NCROTAC
Youth & Young Adults with Serious Mental Health Conditions – Reflections of 30 Years: Part 2
June 2, 12 - 1 pm, Transitions ACR
An Affirming and Effective Substance Use Disorder Curriculum for the LGBTQ+ Community
June 4, 12 - 1:30 pm, NAADAC
Unveiling ADHD's Complex Relationship with Substance Use and Young Adults
June 11, 12 - 1:30 pm, NAADAC
Bridging Divides Where Systems Meet for Youth & Families - Part 3: Sustainability in Uncertainty
June 11, 12 - 1:30 pm, NTTAC
Housing Instability Access to Care: Best Practices for Health Centers
June 12, 1 - 2 pm, Corporation for Supportive Housing
Advancing licensure: Growing the mental health care workforce
June 12, 2 - 3 pm, Kaiser Permanente
The Next Five Years: How Addiction Treatment Has and Will Change in the Decade Since COVID Changed Everything
June 12, 2 - 3 pm, Behavioral Health Business
Next Steps for Cultural Responsiveness in Ethical Decision-Making
July 9, 12 - 1:30 pm, NAADAC
Breaking the Cycle: Interrupting Intergenerational Trauma in Substance Use Disorders
July 23, 12 - 1:30 pm, NAADAC
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CLMHD CALENDAR
MAY
Developmental Disabilities Committee Meeting
May 15: 1 - 2 pm
Children & Families Committee Meeting
May 20: 11:30 am - 1 pm
Membership Call
May 21: 9 - 10:30 am
JUNE
CLMHD Executive Committee Meeting
June 4: 8 - 9 am
AOT Coordinators Meeting
June 6: 10 - 11:30 am
LGU Clinic Operators Call
June 10: 10 - 11:30 am
Addiction Services & Supports (ASR) Committee Meeting
June 12: 11 am - 12 pm
Mental Health Committee Meeting
June 12: 3 - 4 pm
Children & Families Committee Meeting
June 17: 11:30 am - 1 pm
Membership Call
June 18: 9 - 10:30 am
CLMHD Office Closed - Juneteenth
June 19
Mental Hygiene Planning Committee Meeting
June 26: 1 - 3 pm
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