PUBLIC TESTIMONY
Testimony by Helen Skipper, Executive Director of NYC Justice Peer Initiative, on B-HEARD Program and Peer Support in Crisis Response
5:11:17
·
3 min
Helen Skipper, Executive Director of NYC Justice Peer Initiative, provides passionate testimony on the importance of incorporating peer support and lived experience into mental health crisis response programs like B-HEARD. She criticizes the current hearing format and advocates for expanding crisis response services citywide.
- Emphasizes the value of peer support in training and crisis response, drawing from her own experiences
- Calls for B-HEARD program expansion to 24/7 coverage and all areas of the city, not just marginalized communities
- Expresses frustration with the lack of recognition for peer support despite its effectiveness in other locations
Helen Skipper
5:11:17
Good afternoon.
5:11:19
My name is Helen Skipskipper.
5:11:21
I'm the executive director of the New York City Justice Pierre Initiative.
5:11:25
Once again, I find myself sitting in the council chambers, which is empty.
5:11:31
I don't have a lot of council members.
5:11:33
I definitely don't have the senior uniforms that was sitting here because we had DOH and H.
5:11:38
We had the NYPD.
5:11:39
We had the fire department.
5:11:41
No one is here.
5:11:44
I would officially like to take this time to protest how we do these hearings.
5:11:49
Because the people that sat here need to hear what we have to say, and we've been here since 9 o'clock.
5:11:55
I sit here in all of my intersectionality and identities.
5:12:00
I spent 25 years cycling through the criminal justice system, through the behavioral health system, through crises.
5:12:08
But I also sit here as a peer, move in lived experience to lived expertise.
5:12:14
Also, sitting here my other identity as the vice chair of the New York City border correction.
5:12:19
What are we doing?
5:12:21
Piers can train CIT.
5:12:26
They can train, be heard.
5:12:28
And, yes, I know because I'm one of them.
5:12:30
I'm one of the trainers.
5:12:32
Yet, we're not good enough to work in this program.
5:12:36
This program is only available in communities that are marginalized and oppressed.
5:12:43
So what does that mean?
5:12:44
The more affluent areas of New York City do not suffer from mental health crises?
5:12:50
I think not.
5:12:52
There was a lot being said today, a lot.
5:12:55
And you guys know me and you know I'm unapologetically peer.
5:12:59
I train justice peers who have lived experiences and behavioral health concerns and also the criminal justice system.
5:13:07
I did not get to where I am without being unapologetic and without using my lived experience.
5:13:14
When will the city buy in to the fact that the lived experience that we have?
5:13:20
We're not begging for a seat at the table.
5:13:22
We are at the table.
5:13:23
These programs will not run effectively and efficiently without incorporating lived experiences.
5:13:30
You heard from people from other locations across the United States.
5:13:35
They all talked about, yes, we have fears.
5:13:38
Peer support isn't empirical based.
5:13:41
And I speak of that because as a criminologist, as someone who is entering into a PhD program, in the full empirical research means that it has been studied, looked at, dissected, from rooted to to to to z.
5:13:58
What is the problem with incorporating this into our crisis response?
5:14:03
What is the problem with incorporating lived experiences into the criminal legal system transformation.
5:14:11
I asked that be heard be expanded 247 because as my sister said, you don't have a crisis at 4 o'clock on a Thursday.
5:14:22
They often come like thieves in the night.
5:14:24
We need to expand this program.
5:14:26
We need to expand this program into all areas of the city because in the South Bronx, we have crises.
5:14:34
Guess what?
5:14:34
They have them on Fifth Avenue too.
5:14:37
I don't understand what the problem is, but I wanna thank you chair.
5:14:41
And thank you for letting me just go off topic and just talk.
5:14:45
But please, can we can we switch this around?
5:14:48
When there's a big human like this, can the public speak?
5:14:52
While the officials are here to hear what we say, they run the programs that we can soon.
Linda Lee
5:14:59
Right.
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Testimony by Leah Faria, Director of Community Engagement at Women's Community Justice Association, on B-HEARD Program and Mental Health Crisis Response
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Testimony by Alexandra Nyman, Founder of Break Free Foundation, on Mental Health Crisis Response and Peer Support
