Community, Co-­Occurring Disorders & New Models of Treatment

Guest Bio: Ross Ellenhorn, PhD

​Trained as a social worker, sociologist and psychotherapist, Dr. Ross Ellenhorn has spent the last two decades dedicated to the work of helping individuals suffering psychiatric symptoms find the psychological and social means for remaining outside the hospital. He created the first fully operating intensive hospital diversion program in Massachusetts, and created and led one of the first Assertive Community Treatment teams in the commonwealth. Along with his partner, Dr. Madhavi Prakash, he created Prakash Ellenhorn, an intensive, and holistic outreach program, serving clients in the Boston area. 

Prakash Ellenhorn aims to serve clients, who are typically perceived by mental health professionals as appropriate for hospital care, outside the hospital, in their own communities. Dr. Ellenhorn has given talks and seminars throughout the country, and has provided consultation to numerous mental health agencies and psychiatric hospitals on the subjects of hospital diversion, psychosocial rehabilitation, patient careerism and the PACT model. His book, which addresses parasuicidality, psychiatric hospital recidivism and techniques for diverting hospital use, was published by Springer Publishing in 2007. 

He is a graduate of the UCLA School of Social Welfare and the first person to receive a joint Ph.D. from the prestigious Florence Heller School for Social Welfare Policy and Management and the Department of Sociology at Brandeis University.