Hector Colon-Rivera MD, MBA, MRO

01/15/2026

Right now, the White House Administration is slashing billions in critical funding for substance use and mental health programs, grants that help communities respond to the overdose crisis and support mental well-being nationwide.

Why this matters:
• These grant cuts threaten vital services provided by recovery community organizations, public health departments, prevention and treatment providers, and more, services that save lives.

• During an ongoing public health emergency around addiction and mental illness, taking away resources is both reckless and dangerous.

✅ What YOU Can Do RIGHT NOW:
1. Call your U.S. Representative and both Senators

Use the Capitol switchboard at 202-224-3121, or look up your office numbers online.

2. Tell them to urgently urge the Majority and Minority leadership to:

o Publicly press the administration to reverse the cuts to substance use and mental health grants today.

o Protect and restore funding for SAMHSA and other key behavioral health programs.

3. Use this script to deliver a clear message:

“Hi, I’m [Name] from [City/State]. I’m calling because I’m deeply concerned that the administration has revoked $11 billion in addiction and mental health grants—programs that save lives. I urge [Senator/Representative Name] to demand that the administration immediately restore these funds. This isn’t the time to slash critical help during a mental health and overdose crisis.”

4. Share this call to action with your networks:

o Post on social media using hashtags like or .

Facebook

This is urgent. The Trump Administration just canceled billions in grants from SAMHSA—affecting thousands of programs that support mental health care, substance use treatment, and recovery support services, and prevention programs.

📞 Call your Senators and Representative right now at 202‑224‑3121. Tell them:
“I demand congressional action to reverse these reckless cuts to lifesaving mental health and addiction programs—do it now.”

Share this and tag your friends: every call counts.

01/14/2026

Now available on demand!

Grief and Mental Health Among Migrants and Refugees: Challenges in Hispanic and Latino Communities.

Explore how migration-related grief and ambiguous loss shape mental health outcomes—and discover trauma-informed, culturally responsive strategies to foster resilience in displaced communities.

Gain practical insights on:

Understanding migration-related grief and ambiguous loss

Identifying key risk and protective factors

Applying trauma-informed approaches in clinical and community care

Watch now: https://lnkd.in/g3iqTt-j

This link will take you to a page that’s not on LinkedIn

01/12/2026

¡Buenas noticias! Nuevos servicios de salud mental y adicciones en español ahora disponibles en el oeste de Pensilvania (condados como Venango, Butler, Westmoreland). Gracias a Carelon por hacer esto posible. Telehealth bilingüe, evaluaciones y más. ¡Contáctanos!

Exciting update: Spanish-speaking families in Western PA can now access culturally responsive behavioral health and addiction services via telehealth. Thank you, Carelon, for partnering to serve counties like Venango, Butler, Westmoreland! Bilingual care that meets you where you are. 📞

01/06/2026

Should Psychiatry Play a Formal Role in Obesity Care?

Psychiatrists routinely treat the emotional and behavioral drivers of weight gain—binge-eating disorder, trauma dysregulation, mood disorders, ADHD, and medication-induced weight gain. Yet we rarely ask: if these fall within our expertise, should we be more formally involved?

The science is compelling. Neuroimaging shows altered reward circuits in obesity. GLP-1 agonists act through central appetite pathways—patients report decreased cravings and unexpected emotional shifts. These mechanisms overlap with core psychiatric domains: addiction, affect regulation, and reward processing.

Key questions:

Should residency training include the psychiatric dimensions of obesity?

How do we integrate psychiatric expertise into collaborative care models?

Can neurobiological framing reduce stigma without over-medicalizing?

Psychiatry is already involved—just not intentionally. As obesity treatment increasingly centers on the brain, our role becomes harder to overlook.

It took decades for psychiatry to embrace addiction as a brain disease. Obesity may be undergoing a similar transition. We can deepen this conversation without dominating it.

What should psychiatry's role be?

https://www.psychiatrictimes.com/view/should-psychiatrists-own-and-fully-embrace-obesity-as-a-brain-based-disorder-

Psychiatry explores the complex interplay between obesity and mental health, advocating for integrated care to enhance treatment outcomes and reduce stigma.

12/31/2025

✨ A Doorway Into 2026

And a New Book Coming Soon!!

There are only a few days each year that feel like an actual threshold. New Year’s Eve is one of them.

We stand between what was and what could be. Between memory and possibility.

As we cross into 2026, I want to offer a moment of reflection and a glimpse into something personal I’ve been working on: BECOMING VISIBLE: 10 Lessons in Leadership, Presence, and Being Seen, coming early 2026.

This book was born from years of moments like this, quiet thresholds where I learned that showing up, even when I felt unseen, was its own kind of leadership.

It’s part memoir, part leadership guide, and fully an invitation to lead from your story, not despite it.

Looking Ahead
— What intention do I want to carry forward?
— How do I want to treat myself when things get hard?
— What kind of energy do I want to bring into my relationships?

Light a candle. Take a breath. Write down just one truth: something you're grateful for, and one intention for 2026.

You don’t have to share it. You just have to name it.

Here’s to showing up — with presence, with honesty, with heart.
Here’s to becoming visible.
Here’s to 2026.

12/30/2025

Fact!

Chatbots are exploding among teens, promising instant companionship!!!

In my clinical experience, they're worsening the loneliness epidemic that's silently killing young people through isolation and emotional disconnection.

As AI gets smarter in 2026, this misconception of "connection" without real empathy could skyrocket, leaving adolescents craving true bonds they never learn to build.

Over 50% of teens already report chronic loneliness, screens amplifying it. Chatbots deliver quick dopamine replies but erode messy, vulnerable human skills, mimicking without fulfillment, spiking anxiety when real life falls short.
Advice for Parents
Talk openly: "How does the bot compare to a friend? What do you miss?"
Set boundaries: Limit to tools (homework), not emotional crutches; tie screens to IRL activities like sports or clubs.
Model bonds: Device-free family time; share your loneliness stories to normalize.
Build skills: Role-play social cues, encourage one real hangout weekly.

Parents, start now—2026 demands real connections over algorithms.
What are you seeing?

https://www.bmj.com/content/391/bmj.r2509

12/29/2025

I need my GLP-1 NOW!!

“I just had my fourth consult this month about the new weight‑loss injections and ‘addiction.’"

Patients are telling me things like:

‘I keep trying to stop but I can’t.’

‘If I gain weight again, people will stop being my friend.’

‘When I don’t have the injection, I feel withdrawal – fear, anxiety, physical symptoms.’

‘I can’t see my life after stopping it.’

Clinically, these medications (GLP‑1 agonists like semaglutide and others) are not showing the classic pattern of a chemically addictive drug; in fact, early research is exploring whether they might reduce cravings for alcohol, ni****ne, and other substances by acting on dopamine and reward pathways in the brain.

So, what are we seeing?

Powerful societal pressure to be thin, including “Ozempic shaming” and stigma around both having a larger body and using medication.

Real changes in appetite and reward circuits that make life with the medication feel completely different from life without it.

Identity, self‑worth, and relationships getting tied to a number on the scale or to staying on the injection at all costs.

To be clear:

Obesity is a medical condition, and these medications can be life‑changing and lifesaving for many people.

At the same time, the emotional dependence, fear of stopping, and intense anxiety between doses that some people describe deserve to be taken seriously, not minimized as “vanity.”

Is this a new kind of “silent epidemic” not of the drug itself, but of untreated body image distress, weight stigma, and mental health symptoms wrapped around a powerful medication?

I am curious as we are entering a new year. New trends.

Have you seen people feeling ‘hooked’ on these injections?

Does it feel more like addiction, anxiety, body image, or a mix of everything?

12/25/2025

Big dreams or realistic goals for 2026?

I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately.

On my clinical and personal work.

As a parent, husband, brother, friend, son...

The most significant risk for humans is taking no risks.

As I look toward 2026, I see my projects, such as my next book, "Being Visible, "and other creative and clinical work. I’m asking myself:

Am I choosing what’s safe, or what’s true?

Maybe the real risk isn’t dreaming too big.

It’s staying invisible.

12/17/2025

¡Exciting news! Crear con Salud, Inc. acaba de lanzar su nuevo sitio web: www.crearconsalud.org.

Sobre
Crear con Salud, Inc. es una organización sin fines de lucro 501(c)(3) en Puerto Rico dedicada a promover la salud mental en comunidades puertorriqueñas y latinas. Impulsamos la educación, las alianzas y las capacitaciones para líderes comunitarios y profesionales de la salud mental.

Únete a nuestra misión
Tu apoyo hace la diferencia. Haz un donativo hoy para fortalecer nuestra labor en salud mental comunitaria. Dona ahora en el sitio web o contacta directamente. ¡Juntos, creamos bienestar!

Salud Mental Mental Health Crisis Suicidio Servicios Educacion

12/11/2025

A teen told me recently: “If my post doesn’t get likes in a few minutes, I feel… off.”

Not dramatic. Not joking. Her mood, confidence, and even identity were tied to digital approval.

This is how addiction starts now, not with a drink or a pill, but with the need to be seen.

Before alcohol or ma*****na, many teens are already hooked on validation.
We call it connection, but for some, it’s dependency.

FOMO hits. Comparison spikes. The brain’s reward system lights up, demanding another hit:
Another like, another follower, another “you matter.”

This isn’t about blaming tech. It’s about recognizing that behavioral addictions grow in the same neural soil as substance use.

If we ignore the addiction to approval, we risk losing a generation to emotional withdrawal, not chemical highs.

Let’s talk about it, seriously.
The craving for recognition might be today’s most dangerous high.