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Council Member Bottcher questions DOHMH on youth suicide prevention efforts
3:05:23
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173 sec
Council Member Erik D. Bottcher raises concerns about the high rate of suicide attempts among New York City high school students and questions the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DOHMH) about their efforts to address this crisis. Acting Commissioner Michelle Morse responds by outlining various initiatives and programs aimed at youth mental health and suicide prevention.
- DOHMH aims to decrease suicide rates by 20% by 2030 through Healthy NYC initiative
- The department's youth mental health budget for FY 2025 is $75,800,000
- Teen Space program has engaged over 20,000 NYC teens, with a FY 2026 budget of $10,800,000
Erik D. Bottcher
3:05:23
Hi.
3:05:25
According to CDC data, thirteen point six percent of New York City High School Students have attempted suicide.
3:05:36
Not contemplated suicide, attempted suicide.
3:05:40
That's an increase of fifty six percent since 2021.
3:05:46
And it's more than fifty percent higher than the national average.
3:05:52
One of my proudest accomplishments as a council member was passing legislation requiring the Department of Education to distribute suicide prevention resources to all New York City Students.
3:06:10
As a survivor of teen suicide, it's incredibly moving to me to see how many resources are out there that exist now, that didn't exist when I was 15.
3:06:26
But what is being done to get those resources out to our teens when more than one in ten New York City high school students report having attempted suicide.
3:06:40
That's a statistic that should terrify all of us.
3:06:43
What is the New York City Department of Health doing to address this crisis?
3:06:48
To what factors do you attribute this crisis, and what's your action plan?
Michelle Morse
3:06:54
Thank you so much for raising awareness about the concerning trends in suicide.
3:06:59
It is certainly top of mind for us as well.
3:07:02
We have a number of initiatives that are focused on youth mental health.
3:07:07
And overall, where are we going on this issue?
3:07:09
Our goal within Healthy NYC is to decrease suicide rates by twenty percent by 2030.
3:07:15
So that's our North Star, and that's what we're working towards with the many programs that I'll share.
3:07:20
In FY '20 '5, our youth mental health budget was $75,800,000, and that includes a number of different programs, including peer support, work that we've done around social media and youth mental health, as well as youth suicide prevention work.
3:07:36
In addition to that, I do want to highlight our program called Teen Space.
3:07:40
Teen Space is a program that many New York City Teens with mental health concerns have addressed excuse me, have engaged.
3:07:48
Since the launch of Teen Space, over 20,000 New York City teens have engaged in services through Teen Space, and our f y twenty six budget for Teen Space is $10,800,000.
3:08:00
And 80% of the users of teen space identify as people of color and almost 60% live in tree neighborhoods.
3:08:09
So we do believe that our teen space program is another way to improve access to mental health care and prevent suicide.