Michael B. FriedmanWelcome!  This website contains my writings about mental health policy, social advocacy, social work, political philosophy, and more.   Some are published essays--OP-EDS, book chapters, etc.  Some are lectures, some are statements made at public hearings; some are reports; some are background materials on policy issues; and a few are academic publications.

The primary purpose of this website is to provide access to my writings to my students, my colleagues, my family, and friends. Perhaps it will help my grandchildren remember me.  Others who are interested or who just stumble onto the site via Internet searches are, of course, also welcome.    

You are all invited to comment via E-mail.  Just click on the "Contact" box on the side of this page.  I will respond to your comments as quickly as I can. 

All material on this website is copyrighted either by me or by the organization that published it.  Use of this material requires appropriate citations.  Reproduction requires permission from me or the organization that holds the copyright.


RECENT
 
Writings in 2024
 
  • Music with Social Meaning at An Die Musik   view
  • Jammin' at Keystone Korner   view
  • Jazzway 6004 Returns   view
  • Conversation, Not Debate   view
  • Time To Face The Challenges of An Aging America   view
  • Good Advice: Easy to Give, Hard to Take   view
  • Keep Cognitive and Behavioral Health On The Planning Table   view
  • Policy Issues in Geriatric Behavioral Health   view
  • National Academies Mental Health and Aging Proceedings   view
  • Critical Questions on Housing and Recovery   view
  • Asian Cognitive and Behavioral Health Policy   view
 
Writings in 2023
 
  • On Decriminalizing Illegal Drug Use   view
  • Successful Aging of People With Serious MH Challenges view
  • Jazz Improvisation   view
  • Review of Joshua Espinoza's Album   view
  • Living Well With Serious Mental Illness for NAMI-MD   view
  • Living Well With Serious Mental Illness view
  • Speak Out: Mental Health Advocacy Manual 2023   view
  • One Mind: Too Many Silos at MGA   view
  • Overcoming The Stigma of Mental Illness   view
  • Confronting The Challenges of Aging In America   view
  • Reduce Suicide Among Older Veterans   view
  • Blame to Burden and Beyond: Families in Behavioral Health  view
  • Social Work's Pluralism (2023)   view
  • A Defining Identity for Social Work? (2023)     viewMorality in Social Work (2023)   view
  • Social Work and Social Justice In A Pluralistic Society (2023)   view
  • Competence and Knowledge in Social Work (2023)   view
  • Culture and Competence in Social Work (2023)   view
Writings in 2022
 
  • Mental Health: Pride In Past; Hope for the Future   view
  • Meeting MH Challenges of Elder Boom for NAMI   view
  • Geriatric Cognitive & Behavioral Health Policy: Challenges and Controversies    View
  • Jazz: Players and Listeners Make Music Together   view
  • Mental Health Policy Lectures at Columbia University  view
  • Stigma As A Political Weapon   view
  • What We Lose When We Stay Home   view
  • One Mind, Many Silos   view
  • Cognitive and Behavioral Health of Older Adults For AAPI  view
  • A Reflection on War: Baltimore Sun Editorial   view
  • National Geriatric Cognitive and Behavioral Health Data 2022   view
  • Geriatric Cognitive and Behavioral Health Data: Maryland 2022   view
  • Geriatric Cognitive and Behavioral Health Data: New York 2022   view
  • Triumph of "Recovery"   view
  • Montefiore Conference: Advocacy For Geriatric Cognitive and Behavioral Health   view 
  • Plan To Reduce Suicide   view
  • Walking And Mental Well-Being: Sr. Planet Presentation   view
  • Volunteering Can Make Old Age Meaningful  view
Writings in 2021
  • Walking For Mental Well-being   view
  • Let's Celebrate Our Workforce   view
  • Meet Cognitive and Behavioral Health Challenges of the Elder Boom   view
  • Growing Up During The Pandemic: Trauma and Resilience   view
  • Policy Issues: Serious and Persistent Mental Illness in Late Life   view
  • Geriatric Mental Health Policy Overview for DFTA   view
  • Advocacy With and Without Advanced Technology   view
  • 10 Years Into The Elder Boom: Miles To Go   view
  • Statement To The Maryland Aging Commission   view
  • Advocacy re. Social Determinants of Mental Health   view
  • Psychological Fallout Of The Pandemic: Know, Don't Know   view
  • Jazz in Retirement   view
Writings in 2020
  • Surviving the Holidays During the Pandemic   view
  • Psychological Fallout of Pandemic on Older Adults   view
  • Behavioral Health During and After The Pandemic   view
  • Psychological Fallout As Deaths Increase   view
  • Confronting The Psychological Fallout of Corona Virus   view
  • Crisis of Suicide in America   view
  • Put Ideological Differences Aside   view
  • Deinstitutionalization Did Not Cause Homelessness   view
  • Do Advance Directives Now   view
  • Make Pain Mgt Precision Medicine   view
  • Pain and the Opioid Epidemic   view 
  • Jazz in Baltimore: Christie Macdonald   view 
  • Jazz in Baltimore: Germano's   view

Writings in 2019

  • Do Not Use Mass Murder As A Reason To Improve MH Policy  view
  • Put Mental Health Into Healthy Aging   view
  • Policy History: Community Support and Beyond   view
  • Policy History: From Institutions to Community MH   view
  • Behavioral Health Workforce "Crisis"   view
  • Will Federal Criminal Justice Reform Help Mentally Ill?   view
  • Geriatric Behavioral Health Matters   view
  • Geriatric MH: Leading The Way in NYS   view
  • Schizophrenia In Later Life: Public Policy   view
  • Attack on ACA Is Attack on Mental Health: Sequel   view
  • Is The State of the World Causing More Mental Illness?   view
  • Fund Geriatric Mental Health: Senate Testimony    view
  • Address "Adverse World Events" To Improve Mental Health   view
Writings in 2018
  • Mental Health System Not Responsible for Mass Murder   view
  • Mass Murder Is Not A Mental Health Matter   view
  • Don't Blame Physicians for Suicide Spike   view
  • Will "System Transformation" Transform The System?   view
  • Attack on ACA Is Attack on Mental Health   view
  • 10 Policy Issues About Geriatric Behavioral Health   view
  • MH System Needs Reform   view
  • Deaths of Despair   view
  • Moral Obligations of Older Adults To Their Society   view
  • Legalization of Drugs: The Ultimate Harm Reduction Measure   view
  • What Physicians Can Do To Prevent Suicide   view
  • GeriatricMental Health Data Book   view
  • Why Integrated Care Is Important   view
Writings in 2017
  • Pain and the Opioid Epidemic view
  • Housing for Older Adults with Psychiatric Disabilities   view
  • Meeting The Mental Health Challenges of The Elder Boom (book chapter)   view
  • Older Adults with Mental Illness: A Vulnerable Population   view
  • Elder Abuse: Challenges To The Mental Health System   view
  • Insomnia in Older Adults   view
  • A National MH Advocacy Agenda   view
  • Fight Threats To Federal MH Funding   view
Writings in 2016
  • Moral Obligations in Old Age   View
  • Response to Kleinman on Caregiving   View
  • A Remarkable Bio of The Stranger   View
  • Beyond Systems of Care?   View
  • Being My Mother's Health Care Proxy   View
  • A National Mental Health Agenda   View
  • Speak Out To The Presidential Candidates   View
  • Creative Art and Aging Well   View
  • Congressional MH Reform: Hope or Hype?   View
  • Not Sure I Want To Be 100   View
  • Noteworthy Deaths   View
  • Behavioral Health Workforce for an Aging America   View
 Writings in 2015
  • Violence and Mental Illness: Suicide Is The Major Problem   View
  • Mental Health Systems Reform and the Workplace   View
  • Complexity of American Mental Health Policy   View
  • Improving Mental Health Policy: No Simple Solution   View
  • In Praise of Liberalism   View
  • Integrated Care At Last?   View
  • Art and Well-Being in Old Age   View
  • Do Art   View
  • Old, Drinking Too Much?   View
  • Prescription Painkiller Deaths   View
  • Being Great in Old Age   View
  • Improving American Mental Health Policy   View
  • Not Such A Grumpy Old Man    View
  • Doctors Can Promote Successful Aging   View
  • Aging Well Is Not An Oxymoron   View