October 1-7 is Mental Illness Awareness Week, a week created in the hopes of educating and increasing awareness about mental illness. Mental health issues are important to address year-round, but highlighting them during this week provides a time for people to come together to support, educate and fight against the stigma surrounding mental health. Many people with serious mental illness are challenged doubly. Not only do they struggle with the symptoms and disabilities that result from the disease, but they are challenged by the stereotypes and prejudice that result from misconceptions about mental illness. Millions of Americans face the reality of living with a mental illness. In fact, there are more than 200 classified forms of mental illness. Some [...]

September marks Suicide Prevention Awareness Month. The month gives us time to connect with those affected by suicide, reflect on how suicide has touched our own lives and to share resources to better support individuals, families and their communities in efforts to prevent suicide. According to the CDC, each year more than 41,000 individuals die by suicide, leaving behind thousands of friends and family members to navigate the tragedy of their loss. Too often people considering suicide are afraid to ask for help, and those who think they see the signs of trouble are reluctant to be wrong and then offend, or cause embarrassment. NAMI reports that suicide is the 10th leading cause of death among adults in the U.S. [...]

The opioid epidemic has devastated thousands of families across our nation, state and local communities. Today people across the country and around the world come together to raise awareness for Overdose Awareness Day. For many this is a day of grieving those we have lost, but also a day of hope, a call for further action to end the overdose crisis and a chance to share resources to help those suffering. At the national level, drug overdoses killed more Americans than the entire Vietnam War in 2016. In Burlington County alone, overdoses from heroin and other opiates rose 46 percent from 2011-2016. Since last year, more than 165 people have died of an illicit drug overdose in the county, including [...]

Thirty-one-year-old Jamie lives with a developmental disability and also struggled for years with suicidal ideations and psychiatric hospitalizations. Living independently and maintaining interpersonal relationships was extremely difficult due to challenges with a personality disorder and bipolar disorder. For much of her life, Jamie yearned to find independence. In 2008, Jamie entered our Supervised Apartments where she started to learn coping and anger management skills. The program provides adults with developmental disabilities the necessary daily living skills to function on their own with minimal assistance such as meal preparation, medication administration, household upkeep and community integration. Today Jamie can proudly say that she has not had any hospitalizations in nearly ten years and no longer experiences thoughts of suicide. With [...]