Cornell Scott-Hill Health Center, the first Community Health Center in Connecticut, marked its 55th anniversary by celebrating, along with the Cornell Scott-Hill Health Center Foundation, the impact of local community leaders and organizations in the New Haven region.

At a sold-out celebratory event held on Thursday, September 21 at the New Haven Lawn Club, CS-HHC and the CS-HHC Foundation honored Ece Tek, M.D., Chief Medical Officer for Behavioral Health and Addiction Services, CS-HHC, who received the Cornell Scott-Hill Health Center's Innovation Award. Dr. Tek was one of four individuals recognized at this event. 

Read more here...

Members Share Your News: CPS Member, Christopher Hammel, MD, Opens New Practice

Polaris Psychiatry is the group practice of Christopher Hammel, MD (owner of Connecticut Psychiatry) and Tonya Ruggieri, MD (Co-Director of the Center for Interventional Psychiatry at the Institute of Living at Hartford Hospital, and a biomedical engineer). We are a new practice focused on interventional psychiatry, initially offering TMS to patients with treatment-resistant MDD. Please contact us to discuss referrals, and we would also be glad to stop by your office to leave business cards and pamphlets for your patients, and/or to talk with you about TMS!

###

CPS President, Tichianaa Armah, Advocates for Increased Teleheath Access for Under Resourced Populations

On Sept. 12 & 13, DEA hosted the first of two days of public Telehealth Listening Sessions to host presentations by individuals representing various points of view related to the proposed permanent rules pertaining to controlled medications. 186 requests to present either in person or virtually were submitted and 60 were selected. Among those selected was Dr. Tichianaa Armah who spoke on behalf of CT Psychiatrists and the Community Health Center, Inc. She spoke about the importance of telehealth for increased access for under resourced populations and the impact of changes to audio only visits on people of color and monolingual Spanish speaking patients and the elderly. 

###

Federal Government Takes Parity Discussion to States

After meeting with Department of Labor representatives, psychiatrists in Connecticut are encouraging their colleagues in other states to work with their district branches, report problems they have with insurers, and raise public awareness about parity issues.

For about 15 years, federal law has required insurance companies to cover treatment for mental disorders at the same level as medical/surgical care. Yet Tichianaa Armah, M.D., still has patients who must call a laundry list of psychiatrists before they find someone who is in network, even though the lists were provided by their insurance companies. 

In August, Armah was joined by other psychiatrists and mental health advocates to describe examples like this directly to the people who have taken up the fight to crack down on insurers that are not complying with the federal parity law. Members of the Connecticut Psychiatric Society (CPS) and representatives of other mental health advocacy organizations met with Lisa Gomez, assistant secretary of the Department of Labor’s Employee Benefits Services Administration (EBSA), to discuss parity. Armah is chief psychiatry officer with Community Health Center Inc. and president of CPS.

Read More From APA Here

###

NEW HAVEN — Dr. Tichianaa Armah, Chief Psychiatry Officer at Community Health Center Inc., assumed the presidency of the Connecticut Psychiatric Society at the society's annual meeting on Tuesday, June 13, at the New Haven Lawn Club. 

She succeeds Dr. John Santopietro, Physician-in-Chief, Hartford HealthCare Behavioral Health Network, and  Senior Vice President, Hartford HealthCare, who becomes the society's immediate past president. 

The society also that evening elected the following officers and councilors: 

• President-Elect - Paul Bryant
• Treasurer - Jessica Abellard
• Secretary - Carla Schnitzlein
• Councilors - Ruby Lekwauwa, Ayala Danzig
• APA Assembly Rep. - Tobias Wasser

Read more about all of CPS 2023-24 officers here.

Dr. Armah is the Chief Psychiatry Officer and Vice President of Behavioral Health at the Community Health Center Inc., an organization that provides comprehensive integrated care for the historically under-resourced communities. Most recently, CHC has been a leader in providing COVID-19 testing and vaccinations in Connecticut.

Dr. Armah received her Medical Degree at the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry, and went on to Yale for her residency in Psychiatry. There, she was named the American Psychiatric Association’s Yale Minority Fellow for 2011, and an early organizer of the department's Social Justice and Health Equity curriculum. Today, she remains an Assistant Clinical Professor at their School of Medicine, actively involved in the advocacy tract.

Driven to increase access to quality mental health care for vulnerable populations, she has been active in educating Physicians & Nurse Practitioners. Dr. Armah approaches local communities and patients with her fundamental value of the mind, body, and spirit connection for overall well-being. She can frequently be found at universities, giving talks that encourage the treatment of mental illness with cultural humility, or at podiums or on Zoom discussing mental health. Additionally, she frequents schools and career fairs to speak to students, encouraging more underrepresented minorities to enter the mental (and general) health fields.

ABOUT CPS: The Connecticut Psychiatric Society is a 600-member District Branch of the American Psychiatric Association.  CPS, the voice and conscience of psychiatry in Connecticut, works to ensure access to humane care and effective treatment for people with mental illnesses. It also advocates for an environment where quality psychiatric care is available for all who need it.

###

NEW HAVEN -- June 16, 2023 -- Katherine G. "Kiki" Kennedy, M.D., of New Haven this week received the Connecticut Psychiatric Society's Service to CPS Award.

Kennedy, an Assistant Clinical Professor at Yale School of Medicine and Chair of the Council on Advocacy and Government Relations for the American Psychiatric Association was recognized for her substantive advocacy work on the society's behalf. New CPS President Tichianaa Armah presented the award to Kennedy at the society's Annual Meeting on Tuesday at the New Haven Lawn Club. 

In memory of Cornelis Boelhouwer, M.D., the Service To CPS award is presented to a CPS member who has made significant contributions to CPS that brings credit and honor to the organization and whose actions best exemplify the ideals of CPS.  

View other CPS award winners through the years here

ABOUT CPS: The Connecticut Psychiatric Society is a 600-member District Branch of the American Psychiatric Association.  CPS, the voice and conscience of psychiatry in Connecticut, works to ensure access to humane care and effective treatment for people with mental illnesses. It also advocates for an environment where quality psychiatric care is available for all who need it.

###