Sabina Lim, MD, MPH, Vice President and Chief of Strategy for Behavioral Health at Mount Sinai Health System, and Joan Bell, LCSW, Clinical Director of The Mount Sinai Hospital’s Psychiatry Ambulatory Services. Photo by Richard Vernon.
On Saturdays during the month of February, a group of organizations that support the homeless known as the Rescue Alliance, including Salvation Army, The Bowery Mission, Hope For New York, and New York City Relief, host an annual service event called Don’t Walk By. Volunteers canvass the streets and subway lines of Manhattan to introduce themselves to those in need, and invite them to dinner at a host site where they are offered a hot meal, a backpack filled with supplies for the winter (socks, blanket, etc.), basic medical care, psychological support, behavioral health referrals, connections to support services, and a safe and warm place to unwind. In 2019 and 2020, clinicians from across the Mount Sinai Health System have participated by providing brief counseling, crisis intervention, and coordination of care to mental health and addiction services.
On February 1, Hillary Perlman, LCSW, Manager of the Mount Sinai Morningside Psychiatric Mobile Crisis Team, Kay Hua, MD, a psychiatry resident at Mount Sinai Morningside and Mount Sinai West, and Laura Diamond, LMHC, EdM, MA, Counseling Supervisor for the inpatient detox/rehab program at Mount Sinai West, provided mental health counseling and opioid/substance use counseling and referrals in downtown Manhattan. The volunteers helped individuals identify which services they wanted to utilize while they were at the event and advocated for them throughout the process. They also distributed naloxone kits to those interested and provided instructions on how to use them.
Hillary Perlman, LCSW, Manager of the Mount Sinai Morningside Psychiatric Mobile Crisis Team, Kay Hua, MD, a psychiatry resident at Mount Sinai Morningside and Mount Sinai West, and Laura Diamond, LMHC, EdM, MA, Counseling Supervisor for the inpatient detox/rehab program at Mount Sinai West. Photo by Richard Vernon.
“We were honored to be a part of such an important event,” said Ms. Diamond. “It’s inspiring to see different organizations come together to help the community that we are all a part of and to bridge the gap to care and support. This is our community, so this is exactly where we should be. A simple conversation with someone can provide us with enough information to easily connect individuals to life-saving services. For the most part, many of the participants were simply looking for someone to talk to, and it was extremely gratifying for each of us to be that person.”
On February 22, Sabina Lim, MD, MPH, Vice President and Chief of Strategy for Behavioral Health at Mount Sinai Health System; Joan Bell, LCSW, Clinical Director of The Mount Sinai Hospital’s Psychiatry Ambulatory Services; and Anita Kennedy, CRPA, CMA, Peer Engagement Specialist at the Addiction Institute of Mount Sinai at Mount Sinai Beth Israel, provided mental health and opioid/substance use counseling and referrals, distributed more than 50 naloxone kits, and trained 57 people on their use.
Ciarra Leocadio, a REACH patient navigator/outreach worker, provided overdose prevention education and naloxone distribution.
Several volunteers attended from Mount Sinai’s Respectful and Equitable Access to Comprehensive Healthcare (REACH) Program, which provides a patient-centered, harm reduction approach to primary care for persons who use alcohol and other drugs, and for individuals living with hepatitis C. Martha Giardina, RN, a REACH nurse, Katherine Dunham, a REACH patient navigator/outreach worker, and Ciarra Leocadio, a REACH patient navigator/outreach worker, provided overdose prevention education and naloxone distribution. “The work of the REACH Program would not be possible without our strong connection to our community partners; we were grateful to be part of this event and are inspired by the commitment to help those in need of mental health and addiction services,” said Jeffrey Weiss, PhD, MS, Director of REACH and Associate Professor of Medicine.
“I am so proud of and grateful to the Mount Sinai Behavioral Health team who have volunteered at this important community event,” said Dr. Lim. “As clinicians, it is important for us not to wait for people to come in, but to go out into the communities we serve to make the connections. I am also so impressed by and thankful to the Rescue Alliance agencies for organizing this event and for the incredible work they do every day for the homeless.”