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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 promote mental wellness, healing […]

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 that people won’t […]

(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 to $300,000. Grants […]

April 2019 Application period is closed Do you know someone who has a lived mental health experience and would be an excellent candidate for the Certified Peer Specialist (CPS) profession? Beginning Monday, April 1, through Friday, April 19,  2019, the Department of Behavioral Health and Intellectual disAbility Services will accept applications for the Certified Peer […]

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 injecting heroin. He […]

The opioid crisis continues to shock with its persistence and casualties. Last year, about 1,100 people died of overdose in the city. One fact that should bring people to a standstill — if only for a minute — is this: The Department of Public Health recently estimated that between 50,000 and 100,000 people in Philadelphia […]

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 of buprenorphine because […]

Philadelphia officials unveiled a new advertising campaign Tuesday that urges people battling opioid addiction to seek medication assisted treatment. There are some 12,000 medication-assisted treatment slots in Philly – and 24 percent of them are currently available. City officials want to get the word out that help is available. “This campaign is largely to say […]