Healing Hands Newsletter

Healing Hands: Meeting the Challenges of Comorbid Mental Illness & Substance-Related Disorders

Comorbid mental illness and substance-related disorders—commonly known as co-occurring disorders (COD) or dual diagnosis—present difficult treatment problems. Clients with COD are extremely heterogeneous with respect to type and severity of illness, personal skills, and available care networks. Those who are homeless may be at increased risk for exacerbated illness due to limited treatment access and […]

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Healing Hands: The Specter of Liver Disease (2008)

HCH providers see many patients with liver disease, mainly secondary to hepatitis C (HCV). While the incidence of newly acquired HCV infection has decreased in the United States, over 4 million Americans are estimated to have been infected.1 A disproportionate number of homeless people (22%–53%) have the virus2,3– indeed, incarcerated and homeless individuals are not

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Healing Hands: Tools to Help Clinicians Achieve Effective Discharge Planning

Too many people without financial resources and social supports cycle among hospitals, mental health facilities, foster care or group homes, correctional institutions, shelters, and the streets. These insidious “revolving doors” exacerbate homelessness and call for clinicians and communities to find coordinated solutions that are humane and cost effective. First steps often involve creative adaptation of

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Healing Hands: The Presence of Spirituality in Healing

The following article discusses healing practices that incorporate spirituality as part of the recovery process for individuals with mental illness and addictions whose psychological distress is exacerbated by homelessness. Arising from both secular and sectarian models of care, the approaches featured here include empathic engagement and support, Native Hawaiian Healing, meditation and yoga, group meetings

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Healing Hands: Traumatic Brain Injury: Emerging Tools for Assessment and Care

Traumatic brain injury and attendant cognitive deficits are an ongoing problem for people experiencing homelessness. Much like the chicken and egg quandary, determining the relationship between brain injury and homelessness can be difficult. Trauma survivors may have suffered brain injury as children through abuse or accident, or during military service. Without adequate assessment, continued follow

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Traumatic Brain Injury: Emerging Tools for Assessment and Care

Traumatic brain injury and attendant cognitive deficits are an ongoing problem for people experiencing homelessness. Much like the chicken and egg quandary, determining the relationship between brain injury and homelessness can be difficult. Trauma survivors may have suffered brain injury as children through abuse or accident, or during military service. Without adequate assessment, continued follow

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Healing Hands: Exposure-related Conditions: Symptoms and Prevention Strategies

Exposure-related conditions are a constant reality faced by homeless individuals who spend most days and many nights outside. Without shelter against the elements, they are dependent on mild temperatures and dry weather for a tolerable existence. And while some people who live on the streets may have tents or cardboard structures to provide a modicum

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