Let’s talk about how we feel
For decades, mental health has been a taboo topic.
We can talk about a family member’s cancer, for example, but not about the depression that keeps a loved one from going to work or the anxiety that makes it difficult for that person to leave the house.
COVID-19 isolation: You’re not alone
For most people, the term “social distance” is contradictory to the very nature of who we are: social animals whose very existence relies on interacting with others, whether through families, workplaces, neighborhoods, nations and beyond.
So when we’ve been asked to “social distance” due to the COVID-19 pandemic, many of us may feel alone – physically, psychologically, and of course, socially.
COVID-19 and housing for people experiencing homelessness: Today’s innovations, tomorrow’s solutions
To meet the needs of individuals experiencing homelessness as well as to help curtail COVID-19’s trajectory, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends that those individuals with suspected or confirmed COVID-19 cases live in housing that isolates them from others.
It’s a common-sense recommendation as the number one call to action to control this pandemic is social distancing – living and working apart from one another as much as possible.
Seven steps to maintaining resilience during COVID-19 stress
Resilience is important to good mental health and wellbeing.
It helps us to overcome adversity in general and, more specifically, mental health challenges, including substance use disorders. All of us, at some point in our lives, need to tap into resiliency to overcome one obstacle or another.
Healthcare workers: You have the power to manage COVID-19
The anxiety and fear resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic can be profound, and nowhere is that more evident than with frontline healthcare workers.
Working long hours in substandard conditions with patients who are often very ill and highly contagious, they fear for their personal health and that of their families.
Coronavirus anxiety: Identify, address and ease it
Catastrophes, including public health emergencies such as COVID-19, affect mental health, both at the individual and population levels.
Indeed, people experience a wide range of mental health issues during and long after emergencies, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).
Supporting employees at work and beyond
The new year brings excellent news for Beacon Health Options (Beacon).
Mental Health America (MHA) has awarded Beacon its platinum certification for The Bell Seal for Workplace Mental Health, MHA’s new national employer certification program.
Beacon Health Options to expand presence in Walmart
In a continued effort to make healthcare more affordable and accessible, Beacon Health Options has partnered with Walmart on the opening of their second Walmart Health center, located in Calhoun, GA.
Beacon Care Services, a subsidiary of Beacon Health Options, will provide behavioral and mental health care, including individual, couples, group and family counseling to consumers, aged 6 and up, to address mild-to-moderate mental health issues.
Helping primary care stop substance use disorder before it starts
Crises such as the nation’s current opioid epidemic call for clinical innovation combined with experience that has proven to be effective.
At Beacon Health Options, we tapped into both to create the Massachusetts Consultation Service for Treatment of Addiction and Pain (MCSTAP) to help primary care providers (PCPs) treat patients with chronic pain and/or substance use disorder (SUD).
Rising suicide rates: A call for improved crisis services
There are several critical factors that have contributed to the rising demand for crisis services: reliance on emergency departments and law enforcement as the de facto crisis system, high suicide rates, stigma around mental illness, inadequate access to behavioral health care, and a relentless opioid epidemic.
As part of our ongoing, in-depth look at that those factors, today Beacon Lens will focus on suicide.