AGAINST ALL ODDS
A Practical Guide to Successfully Navigate Psychosis and Behavioral Health Systems
ABOUT THE BOOK
An Insider’s Roadmap to Serious Mental Illness and Behavioral Health Systems
Whether you are someone with serious mental illness such as psychosis, a caregiver seeking help, or a clinician wanting to better understand the nuances of behavioral health care, Against All Odds offers a framework for better understanding severe psychiatric conditions and successfully navigating behavioral health systems.
Some of the biggest barriers to care for people with serious mental illnesses are often not clinical – they are not because of bad therapists or the lack of effective medications. Instead, they are systems-level issues and related to the maze-like complexity of how behavioral health systems are structured.
As a psychiatrist who grew up with a mother with schizophrenia, Dr. Gary Tsai offers an insider’s perspective on the process of seeking care for serious mental illnesses, informed by both firsthand personal and expert professional experiences. Distilling complex topics into simplified concepts, Against All Odds provides unique insights and practical strategies designed to address the most common challenges confronting people with severe mental disorders and their caregivers, including:
How to approach impacted loved ones and resistance
Understanding behavioral health systems, policies, programs, laws, practitioners, and payers
Identifying a good clinician or care team
Being an effective advocate
… And much more.
Against All Odds offers tools and strategies to navigate the recovery journey and will reshape your understanding of serious mental illness and behavioral health systems!
Foreword by Patrick J. Kennedy
Through his unique perspective as an expert and as someone who has walked this journey personally, Dr. Tsai illustrates important considerations for all caregivers with grace and compassion… an invaluable tool for laypeople and experienced clinicians alike.
Dr. Tsai has provided a concise and extraordinarily useful book for individuals with serious psychiatric disorders and their families. His overview of behavioral health systems including treatment settings, laws, types of practitioners, and insurance coverage, is the best description I have seen.
Patrick J. Kennedy
Former U.S. Representative (D-RI) and founder of The Kennedy Forum
E. Fuller Torrey, M.D.
Author of Surviving Schizophrenia and internationally renowned psychiatrist and schizophrenia researcher
BOOK HIGHLIGHTS
SERIOUS MENTAL ILLNESS 101
SUCCESSFUL ENGAGEMENT STRATEGIES
BEHAVIORAL HEALTH SYSTEMS, SETTINGS, & PRACTITIONER TYPES
LAWS GOVERNING BEHAVIORAL HEALTHCARE
BEHAVIORAL HEALTH PAYERS / INSURANCE
EFFECTIVE ADVOCACY AS A CAREGIVER
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GARY TSAI, M.D.
Gary Tsai, M.D. is a board certified physician in psychiatry and addiction medicine, and an award-winning documentary filmmaker and author.
He is deeply committed to health system transformation as the Director of the largest substance use system in the nation and a Volunteer Assistant Clinical Professor at the University of California, Los Angeles.
Balancing a diverse clinical background with decades of lived experience navigating a loved one through our convoluted health and behavioral health systems, Dr. Tsai is dedicated to helping individuals and families impacted by serious mental illness through consultations, workshops, and his award-winning book, Against All Odds: A Practical Guide to Successfully Navigate Psychosis and Behavioral Health Systems.
He is also interested in leveraging the power of film, media, and technology to spur positive change. His first film titled Voices (www.VoicesDocumentary.com) is an award-winning documentary featuring untold stories of psychosis that premiered nationally on PBS in May 2015 for Mental Health Awareness Month.
Dr. Tsai resides in the Los Angeles area with his family and dogs. When not working, he can be found playing basketball, flag football, and recovering from injuries along with other weekend warriors.
CONTACT
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