NSLS Celebrates Mental Health Awareness Month

Nassau Suffolk Law Services is celebrating Mental Health Awareness Month with new supervising attorneys in our Behavioral Health Law Project. Paola Arango and John Batanchiev were recently promoted to Senior Staff Attorneys for our Behavioral Health Law Project as well as the Veterans, Public Benefits and Re-Entry Units. Batanchiev will supervise these units in Nassau County and Arango will supervise these same units in Suffolk County along with the Adult Care Facility Unit. Arango, a native Spanish speaker, has been a staff attorney in the Behavioral Health Law Project since graduating from the University of Connecticut School of Law in 2015. Batanchiev is a graduate of Florida Coastal School of Law. He joined Law Services’ Civil Unit in 2017 after nearly seven years as a foreclosure prevention staff attorney with Long Island Housing Services.

The Behavioral Health Law Project serves the legal needs of people with serious mental illness. People with a mental health condition often find it difficult to access legal assistance because of their symptoms or stigma. The Behavioral Health Law Project serves people who receive SSI or SSD based on their mental health condition as well as people with a history of repeated or long-term hospitalizations based on their condition. Eligibility criteria for those who are not receiving SSI/SSD include:

• Inpatient stay in a psychiatric hospital at least twice within the past 2 years;
• Emergency room visits for psychiatric problems at least three times in the past 18 months (only one visit is countable in each 3-month period);
• Inpatient stay in a psychiatric hospital for six consecutive months at any time in his or her life; or
• Residing in a community residence or supported housing for the mentally ill for six consecutive months.

Services include among other things assistance with SSI or SSD appeals, access to healthcare, housing matters, and public benefits.

Pictured above: Paola Arango, Esq. and John Batanchiev, Esq.