Have you ever wondered what it would be like to be someone that suffers with Dissociative Identity Disorder? Or Schizophrenia? Movies like M. Night Shyamalan's Split or Ron Howard’s A Beautiful Mind portrays these mental illnesses as dramatic and unbelievably insane disorders to live with. However mental disorders are much more commonplace than most people expect, according to the National Alliance on Mental Illness 1 out of 5 Americans will experience some form of mental illness in a given year.
Transitional Services for New York, Inc. (TSINY) is a not-for-profit multi-faceted mental health corporation which, in contract with New York City and the State of New York, provides community based services to individuals recovering from mental illness. TSINY was established in 1975 as an alternative to long-term hospital placement. Since then, TSINY has expanded into a multi-faceted mental health corporation offering a full range of residential programs and outpatient services designed to increase personal motivation, strengthen work skills and encourage participation in community activities. All their programs utilize a recovery based approach to mental health, supporting individuals on their personal journey of recovery and promoting well being rather than just treating the illness. TSINY aids people suffering from mental illness within New York City's 5 boroughs through providing services from transitional residential housing and employment training to clinics for therapy, assessments, and medication management. TSINY’s approach to mental health care is vital to their clients livelihood as they attempt to not only cope and recover from their illnesses but fully integrate back into society to become independently functioning citizens.
Their programs include a variety of services like I previously mentioned, however I would like to further explain them in order to emphasize their importance. The clinics provides; both short-term and long-term therapy, family therapy, group therapy, crisis intervention, advocacy, linkage and referrals. While service coordinators organize clients budgetary expenses, housing, and their day-to-day living situations. TSINY also provides both educational preparation for both the high school and college level as well as vocational training and resume building for clients. All these services are meant to aid clients in the hope of them becoming independent again.
Not only do their clients benefit from these services but their families and friends benefit as a result of the weight of mental illness being lifted due to this kind of rehabilitation. My personal connection to TSI is through my sister having worked as a service coordinator for a few years. Hearing the stories of the clients she has helped makes me more grateful for my mental health and appreciative of TSINY’s work to provide the resources for those afflicted to rebuild their lives. My sister has been able to enlighten me on the varying types of mental disorders and how her work has allowed her clients to better organize their own treatment, housing, and employment opportunities. Transitional Services for New York’s main goal is to get their clients to be able to both live and obtain clinical treatment on their own. Although TSINY does provide referrals for those needing a more intensive or structured service.
The work TSINY provides is extremely important to support those suffering or recovering from mental disorders and episodic illnesses. Even though TSINY is mainly funded through the state and federal government, like many other health care services have seen severe funding cuts from the recent presidential administration. TSINY does not have a larger number of donors and relies on fundraising/donations to maintain and expand many of the programs that they run. Although TSINY services only the NYC region, their work is invaluable to the communities it serves and deserves this classes funding. I’m sure mental illness has touched all of our lives or a person we know whether it be depression and anxiety or something like bipolar disorder. Finding happiness in my own life has been something I’ve struggled with, without something like mental illness holding me back. Now I can only imagine how much harder it must be to lead fulfilling lives for those suffering from these mental disorders. That is why I believe the services TSINY provides are essential and can turn around someone’s life for the better. Regardless of whether TSINY receives the support of this class I hope to have raised awareness for mental illness and the organizations that aid those that suffer from them.
TSINY sounds like a fantastic organization and I am looking forward to hearing it pitched. I like that you opened this post with references to popular movies that revolve around the topic of mental illness, addressing the stigma right off the bat. I am wondering, does this organization do any work to combat society's stigma of having a mental illness?
ReplyDeleteThe mission of TSINY stimulates both "head" and "heart." As stated in the opening of your post, 1 in 5 Americans are affected by mental illness in their lifetime. The abundance of statistics like this are an easy win for "head" thinkers; helping this organization will help a large percentage of affected people. As far as your personal experience, I am interested to hear more about the specific stories that pushed you to become passionate about the organization.
Additionally, I appreciate that you included the fact that working alongside TSINY has made you grateful for your own circumstances. I think it is easy to get caught up in feeling "high and mighty" when engaging in philanthropy and it is important to check your privilage.
When I think of serious mental illness, for some reason, my head always goes directly to the homeless. I am not a resident of New York City, but I have volunteered there in the past providing necessities to homeless men and women, and have noticed that there is a high incidence of mental illness among the homeless population of New York City. This is not an anomaly, though, as there are similar problems in cities across the United States. On the global scale, however, the United States is* (*in italics!) an anomaly, and its cities are currently facing an unresolved mental health epidemic of staggering magnitude.
ReplyDeleteFortunately, a lot of money has been earmarked for personal wellness projects on the state level. Don't be too soon to count those lucky stars, for a lot of this money that should be going to organizations such as TSINY is instead diverted towards "improving grades, ending poverty, cutting divorce rates, helping individuals gain comfort with their gender identity, decreasing rates of bullying, and increasing employment," as stated in an article published yesterday by the Washington Examiner. None of these issues should inspire certain anger, and in another spending package I would be wholeheartedly in support of any of these objectives, but they are somehow allowed to be included in the mental health narrative and are, therefore, often the objectives that benefit from mental health grants from the state and federal government. This leaves organizations with a true emphasis on helping the mentally ill on the verge of financial insolvency and floundering for all the extra money they can muster, and in another instance of cumulative threats, homeless people with mental illness receive little assistance in recovery and rehabilitation.
There are multiple arguments for supporting the mentally ill, but one of the most topical discussions is that of making sure that the funding reaches its true destination. Mentally ill people have issues beyond their control and did not choose the hormonal or chemical imbalance that led to their condition, but it is also the job of the government to ensure the money goes to those who truly need it, because as much as it is necessary to sympathize for the mentally ill, it is equally as important to recognize the dangers posed by untreated serious mental illness. The current solution of sending those in need of treatment to jail for their uncontrollable behavior is especially ineffective (and recidivism rates are high, making it really ineffective), and the fact that the system of providing aid is riddled with loopholes should arouse enough anger to, hopefully, incite change to the current process of granting mental health aid. All I am saying is that TSINY can only do so much before a macro-intervention into the policy of grant giving takes place, because their website and this blog post show a great mission, but I am sure that there are still many thousands of people in New York City alone who fail to reap the rewards of money that TSINY deserves but never gets to touch because it is going to fund ZUMBA classes and marriage counseling.
SOURCE: https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/restore-sanity-to-mental-health-spending
Hi Connor,
ReplyDeleteAccording to the Broome County Needs Assessment, approximately twelve percent of adults report having poor mental health. In addition, there are on average thirteen suicides per one hundred thousand persons in Broome County. Both statistics are above the New York State average. Based on data from the National Alliance on Mental Illness, one in five adults suffer from some type of mental illness, with one in twenty-five suffering from an advanced or serious form. I know that you included that statistic in your post, but I did want to re-iterate it because it is such an astonishing one. These numbers are staggering: mental illnesses are very real and exist in so many people. There is a plethora of mental illnesses, ranging from any sort of disorder that may affect one’s mood, behavior, or actions. And what’s even worse than the commonality of mental illnesses is that those who suffer from them don’t choose to. Suffering from mental illness is not a choice one makes: it is something that by happenstance weeds its way into someone’s life.
The stigma surrounding mental illness—to be brief—is that those who suffer from one should be ignored or be distanced away from others. An article by Psychology Today helps summarize this stigma. People who suffer from a mental illness are oftentimes in isolation or feel distanced from society because of this stigma. Many people don’t want to donate to mental health organizations and would rather invest their efforts in something else. I think part of this stigma comes from the fact that no one can truly understand the toll a mental disorder takes on one’s life: only the person who suffers from it understands. Can people truly be empathetic toward those with mental illnesses? How can one imagine something as devastating as a mental illness? People may think that mental illnesses are not a serious concern. I’ve even heard arguments that people are “faking” things, for example depression or OCD. The fact of the matter is that these illnesses are very real, and people need to become more aware of the severity and impact of these mental illnesses.
I very much appreciate what TSINY does. And being someone who has suffered from mental illness in the past, this is an organization I can fully support. I personally do all I can to help raise awareness for mental health, and to get rid of the stigma surrounding mental illness. I think that it is great TSINY goes the extra step: they don’t focus on curing the illness, but rather helping those who suffer or have suffered from a mental illness become readjusted to society and lead a fulfilling life. However, I do want to pose a few questions about this organization. First, are these services free to people? Secondly, what efforts are they making to raise awareness for both their organization but also mental illness in general? Are they helping to combat the stigma surrounding mental illnesses? In any regard, what TSINY is doing is fantastic. I do hope that more people in the future end up supporting this organization, or other similar organization
Sources:
https://donorswhocare.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/CFSCNY-Needs-Assessment-Broome-County.pdf
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/brick-brick/201405/the-stigma-mental-illness-is-making-us-sicker
https://www.nami.org/learn-more/mental-health-by-the-numbers
This above comment was by Ryan Kani.
DeleteHey Ryan,
DeleteIn regards to your questions about the services of TSINY, their programs are mainly run and paid for by client's medicaid/insurance. Although clients are not denied service if they do not have medicaid, because TSINY will assist them in obtaining the insurance they need it. Therefore no their services are not completely free however TSINY does their best to aid any and all that come to them for help.
TSINY does not have any explicit efforts towards the destigmatization of mental illness, however many of their programs inadvertently fight those stigmas. Through their employment programs and recovery based treatment they encourage and promote the idea that those with mental illness can become fully functioning citizens. Certain programs run through TSINY works in tangent with other local nonprofits to provide them with much needed employment from TSI's own clients. Not only does this provide clients with jobs but allows them to also give back to the community with which they live. Through having people with mental illness working in the community and having TSINY promote the nonprofits where they work, a mutually beneficial relationship is created. One such nonprofit that TSINY supports is "Turn the Page Again" which is a bookstore of gently used books at affordable price ranges for those that can't afford new books. This book store employs strictly individuals afflicted with mental illness. They offer competitive employment positions, as well as training to expose individuals to the world of work. As well as job development and coaching services are available to assist individuals with job readiness training to further develop transferable skills for future educational and/or job placements. With support from TSINY, the community, and the Queens Library they have been able to grow their business educate the community about the importance of recovery as well as reducing the stigma of mental illness through events/sales in the store. I hope this answers your questions about TSINY and highlights the great work they do.
Hey Connor,
ReplyDeleteThank you for giving light to your organization. As a person who has a family member that struggles with a mental illness disorder and is currently getting counseled by a certified psychiatrist, I am always grateful for organizations like the Transitional Services for New York, Inc.
In the United States, health care coverage for people diagnosed with a mental illness or illnesses are not considered like any other condition. This is even after passing the Mental Health Parity And Addiction Equity Ac, which promises easy access to treatment and care for patients with these particular disorders. In an article by NPR from 2017, it states that according to a report, “behavioral care was four to six times more likely to be provided out-of-network than medical or surgical care.” This means that if a child or an adult is diagnosed with a behavioral disorder, they are most likely referred to a provider that is not contracted with the held insurance. Ultimately, this would result in high out-of-pocket costs, making it difficult for patients to afford care.
The Affordable Care Act, created and signed under President Obama has significantly improved mental health coverage. There are no longer enrollment denials or higher insurance costs and Medicaid has been expanded. However, access is still an ongoing issue and certain prescription drugs are not covered under insurance.
This leads to multiple questions that we as a society need to think about. How can we create easier access to treatment that is both efficient and affordable? How can we expand organizations, such as TSINY or MHAST, so that they can reach a variety of patients?
After researching about TSINY and volunteering at MHAST last semester, the work that these types of non-profit organizations do is tremendous. It is crucial that people with mental health disorders get the treatment or the help they need.
- Jacob Yi
https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2017/11/29/567264925/health-insurers-are-still-skimping-on-mental-health-coverage
https://www.healthinsurance.org/obamacare/how-obamacare-improved-mental-health-coverage/