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Mental Health Road Map

New York City is in a mental health crisis. The COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated this crisis both in our city and in communities across the nation. Yet, the crisis predates the pandemic, created by decades of inadequate public investments and ineffective policies. Decades of neglect and disinvestment have left too many New Yorkers without appropriate, holistic mental healthcare and our systems overburdened and ill-equipped to respond to the current crisis.

Addressing and correcting this deeply-rooted challenge requires investments in comprehensive, proven, solutions, particularly within communities that have often lacked adequate resources. Success will also require all levels of government – city, state, and federal – to coordinate solutions to increase access and remove barriers to mental health care and services.

The Council’s Mental Health Roadmap is a continuously evolving plan that recognizes these priorities and incorporates evidence-based solutions, shaped by New Yorkers’ experiences, to improve mental health outcomes. It starts with a focus on increased prevention services, especially at the community level, addressing the mental health workforce shortage, confronting the harmful intersections between mental health and the criminal justice system, and increasing public awareness about available programs while improving interagency coordination to enhance the continuity of care.

The Council’s top priority is to advance the dignity, health, and safety of our communities and of all New Yorkers. The Mental Health Roadmap provides a path toward improving our health and ultimately bringing us out of this crisis.

Stop 4: Youth Mental Health

November 2024

With youth mental health challenges on the rise, the Council held a series of listening sessions with stakeholders to better understand the struggles of young New Yorkers and possible solutions. Together, the bills being heard are the result of the listening sessions with advocates, providers and youth to best understand how to provide students with the tools to deal with mental health challenges. This focus was first outlined in Speaker Adrienne Adams’ 2024 State of the City Address, where she called for solutions to tackle rising youth mental health concerns. These legislative efforts would empower students to understand and navigate mental health issues alongside their peers through student wellness clubs, peer-to peer-training, and access to additional mental health professionals.

1. Establishing Pilot Program to Add Mental Health Professionals to Support Student Wellness Clubs.

A Local Law (Introduction 986), sponsored by Council Member Rita Joseph, would require the Commissioner of Health and Mental Hygiene to develop a two-year pilot program to involve mental health professionals and professional candidates in student wellness clubs in public middle and high schools.


This bill would require the Commissioner of Health and Mental Hygiene to develop a two-year pilot program to involve mental health professionals and professional candidates in student wellness clubs in public middle and high schools. The Commissioner would have to make best efforts to recruit mental health professionals for voluntary program participation and to develop partnerships with universities to recruit mental health professional candidates for voluntary program participation. These professionals and candidates would facilitate student discussions and workshops on various mental health topics. The bill would require the Commissioner to make best efforts to coordinate with the Chancellor of New York City Public Schools to establish this program within the clubs. Additionally, the bill would require the Commissioner, in coordination with the Chancellor, to submit to the Mayor and Speaker of the Council and post online a report on the program.

2. Providing Support for Students to Create Student Wellness Clubs at Their Schools.

A Local Law (Introduction 989), sponsored by Council Member Linda Lee, would require the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene to create student wellness club toolkits, informational materials to guide students about how to create student wellness clubs, peer-led student spaces focused on student wellbeing and mental health.


This bill would require the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DOHMH) to create student wellness club toolkits, informational materials to guide students about how to create student wellness clubs, peer-led student spaces focused on student wellbeing and mental health. Additionally, it would require the Department of Education (DOE) to make such toolkits available to all middle school and high school students. Finally, it would require DOE to issue an annual report including information regarding the dissemination of such toolkits and relevant information regarding all student wellness clubs in the city.

3. Establishing a Peer-to-Peer Mental Health Training Program for Middle and High School Students.

A Local Law (Introduction 996), sponsored by Council Member Althea Stevens, would require the Commissioner of Health and Mental Hygiene to develop and offer public middle and high school students a peer-to-peer mental health training program. The program would teach students how to identify and assist peers who are experiencing mental health issues, basic mental health concepts and how to maintain personal mental wellbeing, and about opportunities to access mental health resources.


This bill would require the Commissioner of Health and Mental Hygiene to develop and offer to public middle and high school students a peer-to-peer mental health training program. The program would teach students how to identify and assist peers who are experiencing mental health issues, basic mental health concepts and how to maintain personal mental wellbeing, and about opportunities to access mental health resources. Additionally, the bill would require the Commissioner, in coordination with the Chancellor of New York City Public Schools, to submit an annual report on this program to the Mayor and Speaker of the Council and post this report online. Finally, the Department of Education would have to distribute informational materials concerning this program to public middle and high schools each academic year for distribution to students.

4. Requiring Coordination between NYPD and DOHMH in Responses to Violent or Traumatic Incidents.

A Local Law (Introduction 1103), sponsored by Deputy Speaker Diana Ayala, would require the Police Department, within 24 hours of a determination that a violent or traumatic incident has occurred, to notify the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene of such incident. Upon receiving notice of a violent or traumatic incident, DOHMH would be required to conduct outreach to affected community members regarding the availability of mental health counseling and other social services from City agencies and City-funded non-governmental organizations.


The proposed legislation would require the Police Department, within 24 hours of a determination that a violent or traumatic incident has occurred, to notify the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (“DOHMH”) of such incident. A violent or traumatic incident means an act or series of acts causing serious physical injury or death, including but not limited to gun violence or suicide. Upon receiving notice of a violent or traumatic incident, DOHMH would be required to conduct outreach to affected community members regarding the availability of mental health counseling and other social services from City agencies and City-funded non-governmental organizations.

Stop 3: Maternal Mental Health

September 2024

The women-majority City Council has prioritized confronting disparities in maternal health that severely impact Black communities and other communities of color. In 2022, the Council passed a historic legislative package on maternal health and these bills continue those efforts. In 2021, the leading cause of pregnancy-associated deaths in New York City was attributed to mental health conditions, and two-thirds of the total 58 deaths occurred within a year of postpartum, according to the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DOHMH). Black New Yorkers are six times more likely than their white counterparts to die from a pregnancy-related cause, and nearly three times more likely to experience severe maternal morbidity. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, suicides and overdoses account for about a quarter of pregnancy-related deaths associated with mental health conditions.

The Council passed a package of bills, which stems from proposals first outlined in Speaker Adrienne Adams’ 2024 State of the City, aimed at improving maternal mental health on September 26, 2024. The legislation expands access to mental health services during and after pregnancy.

1. Establishing Pilot Program of Postpartum Support Groups

A Local Law (Introduction 890-A), sponsored by Council Member Linda Lee, to implement a pilot program that establishes postpartum support groups.


This law requires the Commissioner of DOHMH to implement a three-year pilot program to establish postpartum support groups focused on the mental health of individuals who are up to 1 year postpartum. There must be at least one group established in each borough, at least one group established in each of the three community districts with the highest rates of postpartum mental health issues, and at least one group established in each of the three community districts with the highest risk factors for social determinants of poor mental health. The Commissioner is required to submit to the Mayor and Speaker of the Council, and post online, a report on the program, in part including recommendations on whether to establish a permanent postpartum support group program.

2. Public Education on Resources Available for Parents Facing Mental Health Challenges

A Local Law (Introduction 869-A), sponsored by Council Member Jennifer Gutiérrez, to implement outreach and education efforts regarding mental health resources for parents.


This law requires the Mayor’s Office of Community Mental Health to conduct a public outreach and education campaign to raise awareness about resources available at the city, state, and federal levels that address mental health challenges faced by parents, including perinatal mood disorders. The campaign is required to be available in the designated citywide languages.

3. Supporting Individuals Who Have Experienced Pregnancy Loss

A Local Law (Introduction 651-A) sponsored by Council Member Kevin C. Riley, to require the creation and distribution of materials identifying mental health resources available to individuals who have experienced pregnancy loss.


This law requires the Commissioner of DOHMH to create materials that provide information about the effects of pregnancy loss on mental health, and identify mental health resources available to individuals who have experienced pregnancy loss. The Commissioner is required to distribute physical copies of these materials to all facilities operated by the agency that provide reproductive healthcare, and to post electronic copies on the department’s website. Additionally, the Commissioner must, to the extent practicable, inform family planning clinics within the city and hospital departments primarily providing reproductive healthcare about the availability of these materials and make physical copies available upon request.

4. Calling For Insurance Plans to Implement Maternal Mental Health Quality Management Program

Resolution 402, sponsored by Council Member Linda Lee, calls on the New York State Legislature to pass, and the Governor to sign, legislation to require health insurance plans to develop and implement a maternal mental health quality management program to promote access to affordable and comprehensive maternal mental health services.

5. Calling for Fellowship Program Focused on Perinatal Mental Health

Resolution 403, sponsored by Council Member Linda Lee, calls upon the New York State legislature to pass, and the Governor to sign, legislation mandating all accredited psychiatry residency programs to offer a one-year, post-residency fellowship program specifically focused on Perinatal Mental Health.

6. Calling for Required Maternal Mental Health Screenings

Resolution 404, sponsored by Council Member Linda Lee, calls on the New York State Legislature to pass, and the Governor to sign, legislation to require obstetricians and gynecologists (OBGYNs) to conduct maternal mental health screening during pregnancy and postpartum, and to require Medicaid to cover such services.

7. Calling for Reporting on Prenatal and Postpartum Depression Screenings

Resolution 405, sponsored by Council Member Linda Lee, calls upon the New York State legislature to pass, and the Governor to sign, legislation mandating Medicaid Managed Care Organizations to collect and report prenatal and postpartum depression screenings and follow-up data using Healthcare Effectiveness Data and Information Set measures.

8. Designating May as Maternal Mental Health Awareness Month

Resolution 406, sponsored by Council Member Linda Lee, designates May annually as Maternal Mental Health Awareness Month in the City of New York, and calls on the New York State Legislature to pass, and the Governor to sign, S.156/A.6603, which would make the same designation Statewide.

Stop 2: Veteran Mental Health

November 2023

In April 2023, the Council announced the ongoing roadmap with an initial focus on increasing access to community-based preventative services and addressing the mental health workforce shortage. To kick off the November 2023 National Veterans and Military Families Month, the elected officials and advocates unveiled new legislation aimed at meeting the mental health needs of veterans in the city. The Council passed this package of bills on December 20, 2023.

1. Community Outreach and Public Education on Mental Health Resources for Veterans

Local Law 40 of 2024 (Introduction 1244), sponsored by Public Advocate Jumaane Williams, requires the development and distribution of informational pamphlets on Department of Veterans services.


This law was enacted on January 20, 2024 and requires the Department of Veterans Services to develop an informational pamphlet on resources and services available to veterans through the department. The department must distribute such informational pamphlet to all social services agencies, Council Member district offices, community board offices, and any other locations deemed relevant by the department. This bill also requires that the department ensure that a link the department’s website and the veterans resource guide is included on any city website where information on social services and benefits in the city are provided.

2. Collection of Demographic Data on Veterans

Local Law 37 of 2024 (Introduction 1237), sponsored by Council Member Eric Dinowitz, requires the collection of demographic data on veterans.


This law was enacted on January 20, 2024 and requires any city agency that directly, or by contract, collects demographic information through form documents from individuals seeking social services in the city to offer all such individuals a standardized and voluntary survey form that contains a demographic question on whether such person or any member of their household has served in the armed forces, national guard, or reserves of the United States and an option for any person who responds affirmatively to such question to consent to being contacted by the Department of Veterans Services (DVS) regarding services and resources for veterans. The law also requires DVS to compile all survey data collected and submit a report to the speaker on the total number of veterans who have responded affirmatively to the veteran status question disaggregated by the agency to which such person applied for services, the type of service sought, and the council district in which such person resides.

3. Distributing Veterans Resource Guides

Local Law 38 of 2024 (Introduction 1239), sponsored by Council Member Linda Lee, requires community outreach and public education on mental health resources for veterans.


This law was enacted on January 20, 2024 and requires the Department of Veterans’ Services (DVS), in coordination with agencies such as the Mayor’s Community Affairs Unit and the Mayor’s Public Engagement Unit, to conduct outreach and public education regarding the mental health resources and services available to veterans in the city. The law requires DVS to use, at a minimum, the internet, radio, print media, digital kiosks, subway and other citywide public advertisements, to provide information on such resources and to encourage veterans to contact DVS if in need of further assistance. The law also require DVS to include a link on its website that allows community-based organizations to submit information about their mental health services and to be included in DVS’s outreach and public education campaign.

4. Reporting on Mental Health Services Provided by City Agencies

Local Law 39 of 2024 (Introduction 1241), sponsored by Council Member Mercedes Narcisse, requires the commissioner of veterans’ services to submit an annual report on the provision of mental health services by city agencies to veterans


This law was enacted on January 20, 2024 and requires the Department of Veterans Services (DVS) to submit to the speaker of the council, the mayor, and post on its website a report on mental health services provided by city agencies to veterans. The report must identify each agency that provides, directly or by contract, mental health services to veterans and include information on the number of veterans who requested mental health services from such agency, disaggregated by type of mental health service sought; the number of veterans who received mental health services from such agency; a summary of the methods of communication used by the agency to provide information on those mental health services; and a description of the mental health services provided by such agency to veterans.

5. Calling for State Legislation to Provide Eligible Veterans with Emotional Support Dogs

Resolution 837, sponsored by Council Member Robert Holden, was adopted on December 20, 2023 and calls on the New York State Legislature to pass, and the Governor to sign, S.4717/A.3149, to authorize the New York State Department of Veterans’
Services to provide eligible veterans with financial assistance for purchasing,
training, and the upkeep of service dogs and emotional support dogs.

Stop 1: Preventive Services, Workforce, Awareness and Coordination

April 2023

1. Prevention and Supportive Services

Access to holistic supportive services is essential to treating mental illness and helping individuals maintain mental health, preventing people from entering crisis. This includes supports such as healthcare and medication, housing, food access, technology and internet access, economic and job stability, and supportive community infrastructure. Economic strain and stressful living environments, by contrast, result in poorer mental health outcomes and a higher prevalence of serious psychological distress. The lack of stable housing and lack of access to in-community healthcare, in particular, present challenges to providers in their treatment of patients and those in need of care and support. Under New York State law, hospitals are required to produce discharge plans upon discharging patients. These plans become increasingly complicated when a patient lacks stable housing, access to food, or a supportive community to return to upon discharge. Patients who are discharged from hospitals into unstable, unsupportive conditions in their communities are much more likely to be readmitted to hospitals, to linger in hospitals for longer than necessary, and to fall into an endless cycle of hospital admission, discharge, and possible eventual interaction with the criminal justice system. This puts a strain on hospitals, who must accordingly provide repeated care for patients that could be served within their communities if there were adequate resources and infrastructure. Adequate in-community mental health care and support would benefit both people with serious mental illness.


1. The Council will consider legislation (Majority Leader Powers) that expands the number of Crisis Respite Centers throughout the five boroughs by at least two per borough, prioritizing areas with high need and open by appointment, walk-in, or referral. They provide a community-based alternative to hospitalization for people experiencing emotional crisis by providing safe and supportive home-like places to recover when more support is needed than can be provided at home. The open-door settings, staffed by trained peers and non-peers, allow stays for up to one week that help people overcome emotional crisis.

2. The Council will consider legislation (Council Member Riley) that establishes the City’s commitment to expand “clubhouse”-style community centers for individuals with serious mental illness (SMI), like those already successfully operating. The legislation will ensure such centers are located in at least five of the highest-need areas. Clubhouses are evidence-based models of psychiatric rehabilitation as one-stop places that help people with serious mental illness by providing peer support, access to services, employment and educational opportunities, and socialization and recreation in a safe, restorative and structured setting. Research shows they reduce hospitalization and justice involvement, while improving health and wellness.

3. The Council will ensure that Local Law 35/2023, sponsored by Council Member Bottcher, which requires mental health professionals to be available in the 30 largest families with children shelters to provide on-site or telehealth mental health service—is fully funded and implemented. The Council will work to ensure the City fulfills the law’s requirement for mental health professionals to be available in all shelters for families with children by July 2025.

4. The Council will continue advocating to include adequate funding in the city’s FY24 budget for expanding school-based mental health services, including the additional investment of $28 million to strengthen existing school-based mental health clinics and establish additional sites across all five boroughs. This commitment of funding should be the foundation for the City moving towards the ratio of 1 social worker per 250 students, as recommended by the National Center for School Mental Health and the National Association of School Psychologists.

5. The Council will advocate for the Administration to reevaluate its production goals in the NYC 15/15 supportive housing plan, towards building two-thirds as congregate units and only one-third as scatter-site units, while continuing to advocate for an additional $45 million to meet the funding need for the plan’s remaining supportive housing units.

6. The Council will urge the Administration to baseline $5 million in funding for the Mental Health Continuum, a cross-agency partnership between the Department of Education (DOE), NYC Health + Hospitals (H+H), and the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DOHMH) to provide mental health support to all students, as outlined in its FY24 Preliminary Budget Response. This provides wrap-around support through various approaches, including mental health clinics run by H+H, equipping school staff with the knowledge to address mental health issues in the school environment through the NYC Well hotline, providing crisis intervention for students 20 years old and younger through the Children’s Mobile Crisis Teams, and training school staff to manage behavioral challenges through Collaborative Problem Solving.

7. The Council will advocate for adequate funding in the city’s FY24 budget through its $1.7 million Children Under Five Initiative that provides mental health services for children five years old and younger.

8. The Council will advocate for adequate funding in the city’s FY24 budget for the Mental Health Youth Council Initiative to provide flexible mental health services for youth programs run by community-based organizations. It would help to meet youth mental health needs and support youth workers to proactively advance mental health wellness and effectively respond to mental health crises.

9. The Council will advocate to include adequate funding in the city’s FY24 budget for family support and educational programs that help families learn to navigate relationships with loved ones experiencing a mental health disorder, which would include funding peer-led and family support groups, as well as family therapy and counseling programs.

10. The Council will develop a plan to provide Mental Health First Aid training for Council staff that teaches the skills to provide initial help and support to someone who may be developing a mental health problem or experiencing a crisis. This would help equip staff to be Mental Health First Aiders, who are vital links between people experiencing a mental health challenge and appropriate support.


1. The Council will call on the Federal Government to pass legislation that fully repeals the Institutions for Mental Diseases Exclusion from the Social Security Act, to allow states to use federal Medicaid funding to provide mental health and substance use disorder treatment services to adult Medicaid beneficiaries at Institutions for Mental Diseases (Resolution 88 – Council Member Holden).

2. The Council will continue advocating that the State compel state-licensed hospitals in the city to fully reopen closed and/or repurposed inpatient psychiatric beds, and that the State build 150 new beds in state-run hospitals located in the city. The Council will also advocate that the State pass legislation that would increase fines to up to $2,000 per day for hospitals that fail to reopen such beds, as outlined by the Governor.

3. The Council will advocate for the State to follow through on its commitment to continue prioritizing the Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinics (CCBHC) model after the federal Demonstration Program ends on September 23, 2023, and to add additional such programs.

4. The Council will call on the State and City to reinitiate a NY/NY Supportive Housing program to ensure city and state coordination to increase supportive housing development and contracting (Resolution – Majority Leader Powers).

5. The Council will advocate for the State to: (i) increase NYS Supportive Housing Program (NYSSHP) rates to the same level as the Empire State Supportive Housing Initiative (ESSHI) service rates; (ii) create a flexible preservation fund to allow the modernization and preservation of decades-old units; and (iii) increase ESSHI rates to $35,000 per unit.

2. Mental Health Workforce Shortage

The deepening workforce shortage of mental health providers over the past several years has compounded the City’s current mental health emergency. The lack of recruitment and retention of mental health providers has reached a crisis level, with some sectors claiming 30 to 40 percent vacancy rates post-COVID. This workforce shortage is a direct result of decades of disinvestment in the mental healthcare system, which caused salaries that are non-competitive, insurance policies that do not adequately cover services, educational and training programs that fail to recruit and retain sufficient talent, and bureaucracies that prevent ease of practice for clinicians. An investment in the mental healthcare workforce is an essential component to the provision of culturally competent, high quality behavioral health services for all New Yorkers.


1. The Council will advocate that the City’s FY24 budget include adequate funding allocations to nonprofit and community-based organizations, with a focus on organizations that provide culturally competent and linguistically diverse mental health supports and services.

2. The Council will fund and help establish a Social Work Fellows Program at one or more CUNY schools, which would subsidize the cost of mental health education, degrees, and licensing, particularly for students who commit to working in public interest mental health professions, which historically experience high turnover rates and staffing shortages. The Council will also consider a resolution (Council Member Joseph) that urges CUNY and the State to support such programming.

3. The Council will continue to advocate for adequate funding and in contracts to achieve pay parity for workers across the mental health workforce within city government and the non-profit sector providing similar services.


1. The Council will call on the Federal and State governments to increase Medicaid reimbursements for mental health services to incentivize more professionals to accept Medicaid and, therefore, expand access for moderate income individuals and families (Resolution – Council Member Schulman).

2. The Council will call on Federal and State agencies to increase enforcement and penalties against practices that are contrary to insurance coverage parity laws, so insurance discrimination does not impede access to mental health care (Resolutions – Speaker Adams and Majority Leader Powers).

3. The Council will work to ensure that the State funds retention bonuses for mental health providers and adequate COLA increases for programs and services licensed, funded, and certified by the NYS Office of Mental Health, Office of People with Developmental Disabilities, Office of Addiction Services and Supports, among others. It will also remain a priority of the Council’s to advocate for State and Federal support of our goals to achieve pay parity across different parts of the mental health workforce.

4. The Council will work to ensure that the State follows through on the Executive Budget proposal to increase Medicaid payment and reimbursement rates for school-based clinics and services.

5. The Council will also call on the State to enter the Interstate Medical Licensure Compact, the Nurse Licensure Compact and the Psychology Interjurisdictional Compact (PSYPACT) to enhance the portability of mental health providers to become licensed in multiple participating states (Resolution – Council Member Lee).

3. Intersection with the Criminal Justice System

Over the last 50 years, New York State has sought to deinstitutionalize individuals with mental illness, aiming to provide community-based services to individuals in need of mental health treatment in clinically-supported community environments, in lieu of traditional inpatient hospital settings. The implementation of this approach, however, has never been successful; deinstitutionalization has instead resulted in the criminalization of mental illness. Individuals with mental illness are far more likely to be incarcerated or arrested than they are to receive treatment. In fact, Rikers Island is now counted as one of the three largest providers of psychiatric care in the United States, with approximately half of those detained diagnosed with a mental health issue. The other two facilities are also jails – the LA County Jail in Los Angeles and the Cook County Jail in Chicago. An estimated 12% of New York State’s prison population has a serious mental illness – about five times as many people as there are beds in the correctional hospital system. The criminal justice system and incarceration are evidenced to worsen health outcomes, with dangerous and devastating impacts on those with mental health challenges. Our current crisis has demonstrated how this approach undermines public health and safety. Without adequate capacity of more intensive psychiatric care at hospitals and access to in-community holistic care, individuals with mental illness are unlikely to break free of the hospitalization-discharge-arrest-incarceration cycle.


1. The Council will consider legislation (Council Member Lee) to require the Mayor’s Office of Community Mental Health (OCMH) to report on implementation of the Mayor’s Involuntary Transport directive, released on November 29, 2022.

2. The Council will advocate for the City’s FY24 budget to include adequate funding for street outreach teams that utilize the Center for the Justice Innovation’s “Community First” model currently operating in Times Square. The non-law enforcement model focuses on building trusting relationships with people living in public spaces by meeting them “where they’re at” through community navigators providing essential resources (i.e. clothing, food, etc.) while engaging in conversations about help and needs, as defined by the individual. By providing access to services that would be difficult for people to access without a navigator’s support, trust is built to help facilitate connections to health and social services. The holistic community response that does not employ or rely upon policing facilitates long-term success and prevents people from ending up in the justice system.

3. The Council will advocate for the City’s FY24 budget to include adequate funding for the expansion of DOHMH’s Intensive Mobile Treatment teams, which provide intensive and continuous support and treatment to individuals within their communities where and when they need it. The Council will also advocate for additional investments to expand city-funded Assertive Community Treatment (ACT) and Forensic Assertive Community Treatment teams to provide mobile, intensive case management to people with serious mental illness, including those with involvement in the justice system, through treatment, rehabilitation, and community integration services.

4. The Council will advocate for the City’s FY24 budget to include $12.8 million more to meet the funding need for 380 units of Justice Involved Supportive Housing targeted at the small group of people with the highest level of need, who cycle between jail, prison, hospitalization and shelter the most. These units were committed as part of the Close Rikers points of agreement.

5. The Council will advocate for the City to create education and training programs targeted at attorneys and judges regarding available mental health diversion options, while also strengthening their connections to the City’s mental health providers in support of coordinated care and responses for clients who may end up in the courts and justice system.

6. The Council will also support expansion of Support and Connection Centers, which offer short-term clinical and non-clinical services to people with mental health and substance use needs, and promotes community-based and person-centered engagement, stabilization and connection to services. They are an alternative to avoidable emergency room visits and criminal justice interventions for first responders.

7. The Council will hold an oversight hearing on the B-Heard program to address the significant challenges and concerns with the ways the program is currently being implemented.


1. The Council will reinforce its 2023 State Budget Priorities request to call on the State to pass the Treatment Not Jail Act (Resolution 156 – Council Member Rivera) with accompanying funding to expand Mental Health Courts for increased diversion from the criminal justice system by removing barriers to utilization of the specialized courts and their treatment programs.

2. The Council will advocate for the State to increase funding for and to expand the number of Assertive Community Treatment (ACT) teams operating in the five boroughs.

3. The Council will advocate that the State strengthen the connection between mental health care teams and defense teams regarding justice-involved individuals living with mental illness, and advocate for the State to provide enhanced education to judges, district attorneys, and other court personnel on the importance of and opportunities for diversion, such as the use of Mental Health Courts and “release on reconsideration.”

4. Public Awareness & Interagency Communication/Coordination

The provision of mental health services occurs through a complicated web of public and private providers and insurers, intersecting with Federal, State, and local regulations and funding. While New York is resource-rich compared to many other states and cities, this intersection of governmental entities and regulations can create bureaucratic and logistical barriers in the access and provision of mental health services. Community-based mental healthcare is only accessible when there is public awareness of the resources available. Additionally, the large size of New York’s governmental, community nonprofit, and healthcare sectors make it especially difficult to coordinate care and services for individuals in need of mental healthcare. Achieving a comprehensive, efficient, and culturally-competent mental healthcare infrastructure requires the coordination of private, nonprofit, and public actors in the provision of mental healthcare and services, and public awareness.


1. The Council will consider legislation (Council Member Bottcher) that requires the Administration to conduct public outreach, as well as educational and enrollment campaigns, on mental health services available through NYC Care.

2. The Council will consider legislation (Council Member Lee) that requires the creation of a user-friendly comprehensive data set of the locations of all outpatient mental health services in the city.


1. The Council will call on the Federal government to ensure that calls to the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline program are routed based on geolocation, rather than area code, to improve coordination and access to resources (Resolution – Majority Leader Powers).

2. The Council will advocate that the State facilitate access at the city-level to hospitalization records for individuals involved in Assisted Outpatient Treatment (AOT) pursuant to Kendra’s Law to help improve continuity of care.

3. The Council will advocate that the State allow broader access at the City level to the PSYCKES database to help improve continuity of care.