David Susman

Fighting Opioid Misuse and Chronic Pain

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Guest Post by Amanda Merchant, Ph.D., Lisa Willner, Ph.D. and Jonathon Cole, Ph.D. Psychologists who treat those with chronic pain are well aware that living with daily pain for months or years on end can take a significant toll. Being limited in daily activities due to pain can lead to loss of job and livelihood, reduced ability to care for and interact with others, loss of leisure-time activities, depression, irritability, anger, loss of concentration and sleep disruption. Whether the pain …

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I’m Working on a New Me

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Stories of Hope: Laura Marchildon This is part of a series featuring individuals who share their life experiences with mental health issues. Recently, I asked mental health advocate Laura Marchildon to share her story about her history of mental health challenges and some of her current advocacy work. Here’s Laura’s story: My name is Laura Marchildon and I have Bipolar Disorder. My mental health journey began in March 2010, just one month after my 41st birthday. My onset literally happened over night. For 41 years I had the proverbial “normal” …

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Why I’m a Mental Health Advocate

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I’ve often gotten the question, “Why do you choose to be a mental health advocate?” It’s a great question,  and a number of reasons come to mind for why I’ve chosen to engage in mental health advocacy. Here are my top five reasons: 1) I was raised to believe in public service. My family has always been big on public service. I’ve had several relatives who have served in various appointed and elected positions serving the public. Undoubtedly my father …

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Whatever Is Happening Will Pass

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Stories of Hope: An Interview with Ben Scanlan This is part of a series featuring individuals who share their life experiences with mental health issues. Recently, I asked Ben Scanlan about his history of mental health challenges and about some of his current activities. Here’s our interview: DS: Tell us about when you first started becoming aware of concerns related to your mental health. How did these issues continue to affect you before you sought treatment? BS: Mental health difficulties had been around between the ages of 17 and 24, …

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National Recovery Month

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Each September, SAMHSA, the US Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration sponsors “National Recovery Month” to increase awareness of mental health and substance use issues. Key themes include: 1) mental health is essential to overall health; 2) prevention works; 3) treatments are effective; and 4) recovery is possible. The Recovery Month initiative encourages persons with mental health or substance use issues and their supporters to become active in promoting positive change through advocacy events by discussing prevention, treatment, and recovery. Current statistics Here’s …

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There’s a Rainbow Waiting for You

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Stories of Hope: An Interview with Richard Brea This is part of a series featuring individuals who share their life experiences with mental health issues. Recently, I asked mental health advocate Richard Brea about his history of mental health challenges and about some of his current advocacy work. Here’s our interview: DS: Tell us about when you first started becoming aware of concerns related to your mental health. How did these issues continue to affect you and those around you before you sought treatment? RB: I first started to get …

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Recovery is a Journey, not a Destination

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Stories of Hope: An Interview with Jim Buchanan This is part of a series featuring individuals who share their life experiences with mental health issues. Recently, I asked mental health advocate Jim Buchanan about his history of mental health challenges and about some of his current advocacy work. Here’s our interview: DS: Tell us about when you first started becoming aware of concerns related to your mental health. How did these issues continue to affect you and those around you before you sought treatment? JB: …

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The Incredible Power of Peer Support

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If you’re at all familiar with issues surrounding mental health and/or substance misuse, you’ve probably heard of the idea of peer support. But what is peer support and how do you become a peer supporter? Let’s cover these and a few other important points about this very effective and helpful approach. What are the origins of peer support? The idea of people helping others with similar needs goes way back in history. In the modern era, peer support has often …

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