Philly health officials, advocates split on impact of smoking ban at inpatient rehabs

WHYY    July 1, 2019 Protesters marched down Market Street Tuesday to demand that Philadelphia’s Department of Behavioral Health end its ban on smoking cigarettes at inpatient addiction-treatment facilities. The protesters say the ban dissuades people from entering treatment if they can’t smoke inside. They also say it makes people more likely to leave treatment early against […]

Philly launched a program to put homeless people to work. Here’s what happened.

Philadelphia Inquirer    June 11, 2019 As a Monday morning rain rinsed LOVE Park and chased early commuters into their offices, 34 people gathered by the LOVE sculpture and waited impatiently for a lottery to begin. Roberto Valdez, an outreach worker from Mental Health Partnerships (MHP), read out the numbers, and wide grins broke out. There was […]

New Philadelphia emergency unit responds to overdoses in Kensington

WHYY    June 10, 2019 Every morning at 8 o’clock, social worker Shane Randall gets an email telling him which addiction-treatment facilities have available beds that day. But Randall doesn’t work for a rehab facility, or for a homeless-services organization. He works for the Philadelphia Fire Department. His job is a part of a new partnership between […]

Philly’s Mural Arts taps an underutilized workforce with ‘same-day pay’

KYW Newsradio    June 5, 2019 PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Cities around the country are experimenting with employing homeless people by offering jobs that provide a day’s pay for a day’s work. Philadelphia has developed its own version of the “same-day pay” model, with a pilot project run by the Mural Arts program. Monday through Thursday, at […]

City of Philadelphia to host free mental health events throughout May

Philly Voice    May 3, 2019 The City of Philadelphia will recognize May – a month dedicated to mental health awareness – by providing an array of free events. Spearheaded by the city’s behavioral health department, the events promoting mental wellness and healing will pop up around Philly. Some events will serve to highlight the mental health […]

Philadelphia Announces Free Mental Health Month Events Promoting Healing, Wellness and Understanding

May 1, 2019 An Intimate Conversation with #MeToo Founder Tarana Burke, Two Mental Health First Aid Certification Trainings and a Community Celebration for Children are all Part of the Lineup. PHILADELPHIA — In observance of Mental Health Awareness Month, Philadelphia’s behavioral health department will host a number of free community education and outreach events during May to […]

Gompers Elementary School focuses on mental health

thenotebook    April 12, 2019 Mora-Lee Moore, an 8th-grade class representative at Gompers Elementary School in Wynnefield, put it succinctly: Mental health is the “most deeply cared-about issue in our community,” she said. Student Council member Roger Stone added his own take. At Gompers, he said, “Everyone’s always on edge and can’t let loose because they’re afraid […]

Participatory Grantmaking Initiative Brings Public-Private Partnership to Address Behavioral Health Needs of Immigrant Communities in Philadelphia

April 11, 2019 (Philadelphia, PA) – The City of Philadelphia Department of Behavioral Health and Intellectual disAbility Services (DBHIDS) joins the Scattergood Foundation, United Way of Greater Philadelphia and Southern New Jersey, and Patricia Kind Family Foundation in supporting the Community Fund for Immigrant Wellness. The $100,000 contribution from DBHIDS will grow the pooled fund […]

Worth a shot: City doubles down on MAT therapy in continued fight against the opioid epidemic

Philadelphia Weekly    March 12, 2019 Leonidas Tsiaras is an example of how medication-assisted treatment for opioid use disorder can turn around someone’s life.After surgery for extraction of his wisdom teeth at 20, Tsiaras, now 42, became addicted to prescription Percocets doctors gave him for pain, and as the story so often goes, pretty quickly found himself […]

Philadelphia promotes buprenorphine for opioid addiction treatment

WHYY    March 6, 2019 When Ronald McAdams got out of prison at age 60, he didn’t want to go back to Philadelphia. He’d spent more than 30 years trying to kick his opioid addiction, in and out of rehabs and detoxes, and was afraid if he went back he’d get hooked again. He was always wary […]