Latest news with #behavioralHealth
Globe and Mail
30-06-2025
- Health
- Globe and Mail
Michele Bowers Awarded WTWH Healthcare's 2025 Future Leaders in Behavioral Health
Tampa, Fla. - June 30th, 2025 - Sophros Recovery is proud to announce that Michele Bowers, Clinical Director and Licensed Mental Health counselor, was selected as one of WTWH Healthcare's 2025 Future Leaders in the Behavioral Health category. The Future Leaders awards program recognizes dynamic leaders, age 40 and under, who are defining the future of aging and healthcare across the behavioral health, complex rehab technology, at-home care, home medical equipment, hospice and palliative care, senior housing, and skilled nursing industries. Bowers served as a Senior Therapist at Sophros Recovery for nearly two years before becoming the center's Clinical Director in March of 2025. Throughout her tenure with Sophros, she has had a significant impact on the center's ability to deliver patient-centered care. She believes that her number one priority as a therapist is creating a safe and authentic environment to provide individuals with a space for healing and transformation. Sophros Recovery is a Tampa and Jacksonville-based outpatient addiction treatment center committed to guiding individuals toward lasting healing. At Sophros, clients receive personalized, evidence-based care while addressing co-occurring mental health conditions like trauma, anxiety, and depression. Comprised of leading health professionals like Bowers, Sophros Recovery empowers clients to reclaim control, heal mind, body, and spirit, and rediscover a meaningful life in recovery. "It has been amazing to watch Michele's rapid growth as a clinician and a leader,' says Nick Padlo, CEO of Sophros Recovery. 'In her short time since becoming clinical director, the atmosphere at the facility has improved, census is up, and more clients are finding success in recovery. We are excited to see her continue to lead the team and help clients in the Tampa area regain their lives." As a Future Leader, Bowers has been invited to attend WTWH Healthcare's INVEST Conference, taking place from October 22nd to 24th, 2025, in Nashville, TN. The event will celebrate the honorees and the contributions they are making in the fields of behavioral health, mental health, substance use disorder, and addiction recovery, among many others. 'I believe quality, intentional leadership has the power to transform not just an organization, but the lives it touches,' says Bowers. 'At Sophros Recovery, leading with purpose means creating space for clients and staff alike to grow, heal, and thrive, and that's been the most meaningful part of my journey. To be recognized for doing work that matters so deeply to me, and to the mission of Sophros, is truly special.' For more information about the program and to view the complete Future Leaders Class of 2025, visit About Michele Bowers: Michele is a Licensed Mental Health Counselor originally from Buffalo, NY, who earned her Master of Arts from Medaille College and began her career in a co-occurring outpatient clinic before relocating to Tampa in 2020. With experience working with both adolescents and adults from diverse backgrounds, she has supported individuals facing challenges such as anxiety, depression, trauma, suicidal thoughts, addiction, and severe mental illness. Michele's therapeutic approach is rooted in creating a safe, authentic space for healing, blending psychodynamic, solution-focused, holistic, and acceptance and commitment therapies to meet each client's unique needs. She is passionate about guiding clients through deep personal transformation and finds fulfillment in witnessing their growth and empowerment.
Yahoo
28-06-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Zeke Cohen calls for Baltimore City Council hearing on behavioral crisis response
Baltimore City Council President Zeke Cohen wants the city to take a closer look at behavioral health crisis response issues by adding another hearing to the council's busy oversight schedule this summer. Cohen's request comes after three people experiencing behavioral health crises died in an eight-day period this month. June 17: Bilal Yusuf-Muhammad 'B.J.' Abdullah Jr, 36, was shot and killed after exchanging gunfire with Baltimore Police Department officers near the Upton subway station. June 24: An unidentified man approached a police cruiser stopped at West Franklin Street and North Franklintown Road and walked repeatedly into the middle of the road. An officer tried to restrain the man and called for EMS, but the man became unresponsive before they arrived and died at a hospital hours later, according to the Maryland Office of the Attorney General. June 25: Police shot and killed Pytorcarcha Brooks, 70, on Mosher Street. Police said Brooks brandished a knife and lunged at one officer before another officer at the scene fired his weapon. 'These tragedies are a heartbreaking reminder that far too many Baltimoreans suffer in silence,' Cohen said in a statement Friday.'Today I am calling for a hearing in the City Council's Public Safety Committee to examine our behavioral health crisis response systems.' Councilman Mark Conway, who chairs the Public Safety Committee, has sought to hold council hearings on the city's opioid crisis — an epidemic with clear ties to the behavioral health challenges facing Baltimore. The council's upcoming schedule includes hearings related to the opioid crisis on July 9 and July 16, but they will be taken up by the Public Health & Environment Committee. Conway's advocacy on the opioid crisis put him at odds with Mayor Brandon Scott, who argued earlier this year that holding public hearings would jeopardize Baltimore's ongoing legal efforts to hold pharmaceutical companies responsible for distributing drugs in the city. The city has already secured more than $400 million in settlements, though a judge ruled that jurors last November awarded Baltimore 'grossly excessive' compensation from pharmaceutical titans McKesson and AmerisourceBergen. This case remains ongoing and could be headed for a retrial if the city does not accept the decision that reduced jurors' original verdict by more than $200 million. Other notable oversight hearings on the council's upcoming schedule include transportation (July 10), crime reduction/violence prevention (July 15), psychiatric rehabilitation programs (July 23), and recovery homes/substance abuse clinics (July 30). Have a news tip? Contact Carson Swick at cswick@
CBS News
20-06-2025
- Health
- CBS News
Dog on Colorado's Anschutz Medical Campus leading way on novel obsessive-compulsive disorder therapy treatment
It has become common for dogs to be used for a variety of behavioral health solutions, including those like post-traumatic stress disorder, for instance. But at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, there is a single dog that is being used in a rather unique way: helping patients with obsessive compulsive disorder, or OCD, manage their symptoms. Cate Rush, a social work fellow who works on the campus, has had Otis the Bernese Mountain Dog since her junior year of her undergraduate studies. He's helped in her in a variety of ways throughout her adult life, and she's now using him to help her patients as well. Cate Rush with Otis CBS "I just feel like it's so special that he's able to do something that humans cannot," she said. Otis is a trained therapy dog but works with a specific set of clients. Most of the patients that come see Cate have OCD. "Therapy dogs aren't commonly used for OCD so it's been a bit of a learning experience how to use him," she said. The research on the use of dogs for OCD patients is still evolving, as is most of the research around therapy dogs in general. It's only been since the turn of the 2000s that having dogs used as aids for behavioral health solutions has become more common. But it's rare to see one that is working with OCD patients. Otis is the only dog of his kind on the medical campus in Aurora. Obsessive-compulsive disorder currently affects 2.5% of the United States population and can be treated with what is called exposure and response prevention therapy, or ERPT. It usually involves exposing patients to things that trigger their obsessive behaviors while giving them tools to help prevent them from engaging in their typical compulsions. A 2010 study by the University of Pennsylvania, cited in the National Institute of Health, showed that ERPT can significantly reduce OCD symptoms in up to 80% of patients. CBS That's where Otis comes in. He can help in a variety of ways, as a supportive and helpful sidekick to those being exposed to triggering things or situations or, in some cases, being a walking exposure therapy himself. "There are a lot of patients who might have contamination fears," Rush said, "They can use him in exposure so I've had patients touch his paws or rub his belly." "I had a patient and one of her final exposures in the IOP -- the intensive outpatient program -- was to high five Otis and that was really sweet," she added. While Otis isn't part of any official research at Anschutz just yet, his presence signals an evolving approach to behavioral health solutions. One wag at a time.
