Recovery Update

N.A.P.S (National Association of Peer Specialists) mission is to grow the peer support profession by promoting the inclusion of peer specialist throughout healthcare and community system in the U.S. Click the "learn more" to get more information and resources from N.A.P.S.

It should be no surprise to anyone that our young people are going through a lot right now. In just the past few years, they've had to navigate the isolation of the pandemic and learn remotely, they've had to deal with the effects of climate change, they've witnessed police brutality and a rise in other violent acts, like mass shootings.

The Sonoma County Board of Supervisors has approved an updated mental health plan utilizing $28 million in mental health funding — and local experts say the new measure, passed Jan. 24, has the potential to address a lack of mental health services in Sonoma Valley. The funding comes from Proposition 63, a statewide personal tax surcharge of 1% on incomes over $1 million, which is earmarked for county mental health services expansion and funding.

A New York City directive allowing first responders to enforce a state law that allows them to potentially involuntarily commit people experiencing a mental health crisis can proceed after facing legal challenges by mental health advocates, a judge has ruled. The ruling, issued Monday by U.S. District Judge Paul Crotty in the Southern District of New York, denied a motion brought by individuals and mental health organizations in December.

Barbara H. Stanley, a psychologist and researcher who developed a simple, effective tool for suicide prevention, died on Wednesday in a hospice in Scotch Plains, N.J. She was 73. Her daughter, Melissa Morris, said the cause was ovarian cancer. Dr. Stanley, a professor of psychology at Columbia University and the director of suicide prevention training at New York State Psychiatric Institute, helped propel a major shift in the field of mental health as researchers began to view suicide as a distinct problem that could be directly addressed, rather than as a symptom of another disorder.

For at least 60 years, technologists have hunted for a mental health holy grail: A computer that listens to our problems and helps us. We keep failing at making an artificial-intelligence Sigmund Freud, and there is both value and risk in leaning on technology to improve our mental well-being. Let's talk it over. (Imagine me saying that in my most cliched therapist voice.)