NYS Pilots Program to Promote Recovery From Addiction and Mental Health Disorders

ALBANY, NY (03/08/2010)(readMedia)-- The New York State Office of Mental Health (OMH) and New York State Office of Alcoholism and Substance Abuse Services (OASAS), in collaboration with the Center for Practice Innovations at the New York State Psychiatric Institute, today launched a statewide initiative to promote wellness self-management for adults with both mental health and substance use problems.

Addressing an individual's whole health that includes enhancing both their mental and physical health is critical in sustaining recovery. This new wellness program provides individuals with tools necessary to make their own informed decisions and reach a goal of life-long recovery.

OMH Commissioner Michael F. Hogan, Ph.D., said, "Wellness Self Management is a proven, consumer friendly approach to recovery. Focusing on "dual recovery" for those individuals with mental health and alcohol/drug problems makes great sense. We hope these practical tools are soon widely used across New York State."

OASAS Commissioner Karen M. Carpenter-Palumbo said, "More than 40 percent of the individuals being treated for chemical dependence have a diagnosed mental illness. We recognize that a key component to their successful recovery depends on their ability to manage their health and wellness."

Since 2007, OMH has been implementing the Wellness Self Management (WSM) program, a curriculum-based clinical practice that provides information, knowledge and skills designed to help people make decisions that support recovery. Based on one of the nationally recognized evidence-based practices for adults with serious mental health problems, the curriculum has been organized into a personal workbook that is infused with principles of recovery such as shared decision–making, choice and hope.

OMH and OASAS have developed a new curriculum-based workbook modeled after the WSM approach that integrates mental health and substance use topics. The curriculum has been organized into a 57-lesson personal workbook that covers many different topics addressing recovery, including practical facts about mental health problems and treatment; coping and stress management; mental health wellness, relapse prevention, and the connection between physical and mental health problems. The format of each lesson includes important information followed by discussion points, a personalized worksheet and finally an opportunity to plan and implement an action step.

Over 30 agencies (list attached) that serve individuals with co-occurring problems have been identified to participate in one of three learning collaboratives to field-test the new curriculum, known as WSM Plus (WSM+).

Learning collaboratives bring together agencies that share a common desire to improve services to individuals with both mental health and substance use problems. These agencies learn from each other by sharing practical and creative problem solving strategies as they implement and evaluate the WSM+ program. An upstate collaborative will involve six OASAS and six OMH programs; a downstate collaborative will involve seven OASAS and five OMH programs; and a third downstate collaborative will involve eight OMH programs.

Agency training kicks-off March 9 in New York City and March 12 in Albany. Evaluation of WSM+ will include collecting data on attendance, reasons for discontinuation, direct observation of practitioner skills, participant perception of progress on personally meaningful goals, and feedback from key stakeholders via a series of focus groups and interviews. Over the next 18 months, OASAS and OMH expect to finalize the WSM+ workbook and offer this resource to programs across New York State.

As New York State's mental health authority, the Office of Mental Health is responsible for the planning and delivery of high quality care, treatment, and rehabilitative services to adults with severe mental illness and children with serious emotional disturbance. Services promote recovery and provide hope for the future, and are designed to be consumer and family focused, responsive to individual needs, and respectful of culture and language.

OASAS oversees one of the nation's largest addiction services systems dedicated to Prevention, Treatment and Recovery, with more than 1,550 programs serving over 110,000 New Yorkers on any given day.

Through efforts such as the Your Story Matters campaign at www.iamrecovery.com, the agency hopes to foster a movement of recovery, one that sheds the stigma and promotes a life of health and wellness. For more information, please visit www.oasas.state.ny.us.

Follow OASAS: www.twitter.com/nysoasas / facebook profile: NYS OASAS / www.youtube.com/nysoasas

List of OASAS Agencies Involved in the joint OASAS and OMH Learning Collaborative:

• Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Division of Substance Abuse, Wellness Center at Waters Place located in the Bronx

• Carver Community Center located in Schenectady

• Catholic Charities of the Roman Catholic Diocese (Women's Halfway House) located in Utica

• Catholic Family Center (Freedom House) located in Rochester

• Friends of Recovery of Delaware and Otsego Counties, Inc. located in Oneonta

• Horizon Village, Inc. located in Buffalo

• Syracuse Brick House located in Syracuse

• Exponents Medically Supervised Outpatient Program located in New York

• ICD-International Center for the Disabled located in New York

• Promesa, Inc. located in the Bronx

• Samaritan Village, Inc. located in Briarwood

• Sancia Recovery, Inc.

• The Pederson Krag Center located in Huntington

List of OMH Programs that are part of the joint OASAS and OMH Learning Collaborative:

• Putnam Family and Community Services

• Phelps Memorial Hospital Center

• Clear View Center

• Rehabilitation Support Services

• Capital District Psychiatric Center

• Dutchess County Dept of Mental Health

• Creedmoor Psychiatric Center

• Rockland County Dept of Mental Health

• Institute for Community Living

• Pilgrim Psychiatric Center- Phoenix House PROS First

• Pederson Krag Mental Health Clinic

List of OMH Programs that are part of the OMH-Only Learning Collaborative:

• Cluster Inc.

• Community Access

• Institute for Family Health

• Kingsboro Psychiatric Center

• Pathways to Housing

• New York State Psychiatric Institute-Inwood Clinic

• Urban Pathways

• PSCH