Author Archives

Max E. Guttman, LCSW

Max E. Guttman is the owner of Recovery Now, L.LC, a private mental health practice in New York City. Through his work as a Licensed Clinical Social Worker, therapist, and disability rights advocate, Max fights for those without a voice in various New York City care systems. He received a ‘2020 Bearcats of the Last Decade 10 Under 10’ award from the Binghamton University Alumni Association.

‘I knew my illness was so complex that I’d need a professional understanding of its treatment to gain any real momentum in recovery,’ Guttman says. ‘After undergraduate school and the onset of my illness, I evaluated different graduate programs that could serve as a career and mechanism to guide and direct my self-care. After experiencing the helping hand of my social worker and therapist right after my ‘break,’ I chose social work education because of its robust skill set and foundation of knowledge I needed to heal and help others.’

‘In a world of increasing tragedy, we should help people learn from our lived experiences. My experience brings humility, authenticity, and candidness to my practice. People genuinely appreciate candidness when it comes to their health and Recovery. Humility provides space for mistakes and appraisal of progress. I thank my lived experience for contributing to a more egalitarian therapeutic experience for my clients.’

Neo-Institutionalization: The Overregulation of Community Mental Health


Neo-institutionalization evolved and came into being out of the clumsy rollout of de-institutionalization policies in the 1970 and 1980s.

man wearing blue scrub suit and mask sitting on bench

DNR, Sign me Up


Do Not RESUSCITATE, PLEASE. DNR orders, or Do Not Resuscitate orders, aren’t very tricky when it comes to the law and how the law is carried out and interpreted by doctors and patients embarking on a palliative care end of life plan. A DNR order means do not […]