Gotham Gazette

The Place for New York Policy and politics

Mental Health

Mental Health

  • Mayor, City Council Negotiate Priorities for Mental Health Care Workforce Funding

    Mental health plans (photo: Ed Reed/Mayoral Photography Office)


    The New York City Council is seeking greater investment in the behavioral health workforce as leaders at all levels of government grapple with the longstanding crisis of untreated severe mental illness.

    The Council and Mayor Eric Adams are negotiating the mayor's $106.7 billion executive budget for the next fiscal year, which begins July 1. On the table is tens of millions of dollars to help boost staffing levels for a range of needed services – some new and some depleted by the pandemic — both in and out of city

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  • Max Politics Podcast: Addressing the Crisis of Untreated Severe Mental Illness

    Ed Reed/Mayoral Photography Office

    Mental health first aid training (photo: Ed Reed/Mayor's Office)


    February 8, 2022 - Max Politics Podcast: Addressing the Crisis of Untreated Severe Mental Illness

    Harvey Rosenthal, CEO of the New York Association of Psychiatric Rehabilitation Services (NYAPRS), joined the show to discuss how New York City and State should address the crisis of untreated severe mental illness among New Yorkers.

    Listen to the conversation and let us know what you think, on Twitter ...

  • Max Politics Podcast: The New City Council Chairs for Public Health and Hospitals

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    (l-r) City Council Members Linda Lee, Mercedes Narcisse, & Lynn Schulman


    February 1, 2022 - Max Politics Podcast: The New City Council Chairs for Public Health and Hospitals

    Newly-elected New York City Council Members Linda Lee, Mercedes Narcisse, and Lynn Schulman are, respectively, the new chairs of the Council's Committees on Mental Health; Hospitals; and Health. The three lawmakers joined the show to discuss their backgrounds, vision, and plans for chairing these interdependent and overlapping committees that are charged

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  • Exercising Mental Fitness as We Move Forward with Our Covid Recovery

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    New York City (photo: Michael Appleton/Mayoral Photography Office)


    In Southern California, three generations of a family gathered their separate households under one roof to weather the pandemic -- and liked it so much they decided to make it permanent. On the Upper West Side of Manhattan, students organized to buy groceries and essentials for the housebound. And as the virus surged, a nationwide ...

  • Preventing Student Suicide in New York State

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    High school students (photo: Benjamin Kanter/Mayoral Photo Office)


    This month, as our children return for another pandemic school year, there has never been a more important time to have an honest conversation about mental health. 

    As a member of the New York Assembly Committee on Education, I have heard from countless parents and young people about how the pandemic has exacerbated the pre-existing psychological strains of depression and anxiety. These come on top of the pressures youth have faced for years, from navigating identity issues

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  • Addressing the Rise in Mental Health Challenges Among Hispanic Youth

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    Students at school (photo: Michael Appleton/Mayoral Photography Office)


    Young people are often uncomfortable asking for help. Now imagine there is a language barrier as well. Children, teens, and young adults are currently battling social isolation, loneliness, and mental illness in increasing numbers, and the language barrier greatly exacerbates this for Spanish-speaking youth and their families. 

    Access to mental health services has traditionally been lower for this community. More than half of Hispanic young

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  • For CUNY Students to Thrive, Mental Health Services Must Be Expanded

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    The CUNY Chancellor and students (photo: @CUNY)


    Graduating when the pandemic first hit New York City was hard for many students. To say that having access to a counselor during a time of increasing uncertainty and hopelessness was beneficial is an understatement - it was many students' lifeline. However, for countless students and peers, they are not so fortunate.

    The effect of the last year on CUNY students can not be overstated. In a recent ...

  • Pushed by City Council, CUNY Announces Additional Student Mental Health Services

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    CUNY counseling services (photo: City University of New York (CUNY))


    When Anna Compton transferred to CUNY Hunter College, she often felt extremely anxious during her first semester. As a student with a disability who receives personalized accommodations, known as an Individualized Education Program, and with a history of depression and anxiety, Compton decided to reach out to the college’s Counseling and Wellness Services office, but like many other CUNY students, she was placed on a four-to-six-week waitlist to meet with a mental health professional.

    Compton’s story

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  • De Blasio’s Promised ‘Comprehensive Strategy’ for City Response to People in Mental Health Crisis is Well Behind Schedule

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    Community Access members rally at City Hall (photo: @ca_nyc)


    A task force empaneled by Mayor Bill de Blasio to recommend how city government, particularly the police department, can better respond to emotionally disturbed people in crisis has yet to release its report, about 10 months after its work was to be concluded.

    Calls from community leaders and activists have grown, but the “NYC Crisis Prevention and Response Task Force” remains largely silent, leading advocates and elected officials to wonder why the issue isn’t a higher priority for a city that has

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  • Help People with Mental Illness: Make Kendra’s Law Permanent

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    (photo: Benjamin Kanter/Mayoral Photo Office)


    As the state legislative session comes to a close, Governor Andrew Cuomo, Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie, and Assembly Mental Health Committee chair Aileen Gunther have still not made New York’s most effective mental illness law permanent or closed loopholes in it. Their inaction is cruel to people suffering from mental illness and unsafe for the public.

    Kendra’s Law allows judges to order a subset of those with the most

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  • Bills Seek to Examine NYPD Interactions with ‘Emotionally Disturbed Persons,’ Prevent Tragedies

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    photo via The Mayor's Office


    In September, the City Council called a hearing to scrutinize the New York Police Department’s response in cases involving “emotionally disturbed persons” (EDPs). There had been six instances in the previous 11 months where a mentally ill New Yorker had been killed by police officers. Council Members demanded to know why, and sought ways to prevent those deaths in the future, and NYPD officials gave

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  • As Deaths Mount, Scrutiny of NYPD Response to ‘Emotionally Disturbed Persons’

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    Mayor de Blasio & law enforcement officials (photo: Edwin J. Torres/ Mayor’s Office)


    At a recent hearing, New York City Council members discussed the effectiveness of NYPD responses to “emotionally disturbed person” (EDP) calls, the slow pace of implementation for new NYPD crisis intervention training, and the tragic outcomes of several recent interactions between NYPD officers and emotionally disturbed individuals.

    At the hearing, held Sept. 6 jointly by the Council’s Committee on Public Safety and Committee on Mental Health, Developmental

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  • Ending the Revolving Door of Homelessness

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    Patricia Swann, the author


    While Mayor Bill de Blasio works on the details of a 15-year, $2.6 billion supportive housing program to address homelessness, Gov. Andrew Cuomo is creating a statewide plan to reduce homelessness. New York should draw on approaches that have helped in the past as well as those that seem promising, especially supportive housing, which offers job training, debt counseling, mental health care, and other crucial services to residents in an effort to stop the revolving door of homelessness.

    We

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  • McCray Set to Unveil ‘Mental Health Roadmap,' Signature De Blasio Plan

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    Chirlane McCray hosts a mental health roundtable (all photos: the Mayor's Office via flickr


    Over the past several months, New York City First Lady Chirlane McCray has had conversations with many of the city’s service providers, non-profit organizations, and long-time advocates for mental health care provision. In preparation to unveil a “roadmap” addressing the “mental health crisis in New York City,” McCray has spoken with a

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  • The Week That Was in New York Politics, August 3-7

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    photo: Stanley Kubrick via Museum of the City of New York


    Gotham Gazette's Week in Review, Friday August 7

    PHOTOS OF THE WEEK: Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams and others carry a symbolic casket as part of an anti-violence campaign, via Ross Barkan; Mayor Bill de Blasio

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  • The Week That Was in New York Politics, July 27-31

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    photo: Stanley Kubrick via Museum of the City of New York


    Gotham Gazette's Week in Review, Friday July 31

    PHOTO OF THE WEEK: rendering of the next LaGaurdia Airport, via the Governor's Office on flickr

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  • License to Carry: New York's Gun Permit Laws

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    Gov. Cuomo signs the SAFE Act, Jan. 2013 (photo: Governor's Office via flickr)


    Riders on a Brooklyn-bound 4 train fled in terror when a man responded to taunts from two younger men by pulling a gun and loading a clip. As the confrontation escalated and the train stopped, the melee spilled into the Borough Hall station, with threats and shoving until Gilbert Drogheo, one of the younger men, was lying dead of a

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  • With Focus on Mental Health, Push for New City Veterans Agency Continues

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    Veterans at Wednesday's City Council hearing (photo: William Alatriste) 


    The City Council’s Committee on Veterans held an oversight hearing Wednesday to gauge the effectiveness of the Mayor’s Office of Veteran Affairs (MOVA).

    The hearing seemed the latest chapter in a renewed push for a separate Department of Veterans Affairs by Council Member Eric Ulrich, who chairs

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  • Reforming Solitary Confinement At The City's Biggest Psych Ward — Rikers Island

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    NEW YORK — After about three days of being isolated in “the Box” away from his fellow detainees at Rikers Island, Ismael Nazario was beginning to break.

    "That's when it started to take it's toll,” he said, conjuring memories of his time in punitive segregation — solitary confinement — in

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