Volunteers are extraordinary people who play a critical role in behavioral healthcare. This was never more evident than during the first months of the COVID-19 pandemic when the New York State Office of Mental Health (OMH) reached out to mental health care professionals and asked that they volunteer to help New Yorkers who were feeling the stress and anxiety caused by the pandemic.

Volunteers in the Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) and Host Visitation programs at The Mental Health Association of Westchester support children and youth who have experienced abuse or neglect, helping to ensure that each child is well cared for and, ultimately, that they are reunified with their parents and/or placed in a loving, permanent home.

As nonprofits experience enduring obstacles to the fulfillment of their missions, their leaders and managers may look to a newly minted pool of prospective volunteers to extend the depth and breadth of their service offerings or to compensate for shortages in paid personnel. Success in this endeavor requires meticulous attention to volunteers’ motivations and the cultivation of corresponding strategies to sustain their engagement. The development of effective “volunteer management” skills may prove indispensable to many organizations’ success.

The Compeer volunteer program provides one-on-one supportive friendships and mentoring to improve the quality of life for adults recovering from mental illness. Due to the pandemic, the program shifted to be remote and since then, they have seen a record number of volunteer inquiries.

Data from a nationally representative survey indicate that in 2019, nearly three-fourths of U.S. adults reporting buprenorphine use did not misuse the medication in the past 12 months. In addition, buprenorphine misuse among people with opioid use disorder trended downward between 2015-2019, despite increases in the number of people receiving buprenorphine treatment. The study highlights the need to expand buprenorphine-based treatment while monitoring and reducing misuse.