Your guide to NYC's public proceedings.
AGENCY TESTIMONY
DOHMH mental health initiatives and approach
0:11:58
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166 sec
Dr. Morse details the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene's comprehensive approach to mental health care, emphasizing community-driven interventions, peer support, and addressing underlying causes of mental health issues.
- Mental hygiene division employs about 600 people with a $775 million operating budget for FY 2026
- Collaboration with over 200 community providers supporting more than 800 programs
- Employment of over 600 peers across mental health programs
- Initiatives addressing substance use, postpartum depression, and housing insecurity
- Expansion of supportive housing as part of the 15/15 initiative, overseeing more than 12,000 units
Michelle Morse
0:11:58
At the New York City Health Department, mental health care is integral to our vision to achieve longer, healthier lives for all New Yorkers.
0:12:05
Our division of mental hygiene employs about 600 people and has an operating budget of $775,000,000 for fiscal year twenty six as of the executive budget.
0:12:15
Our existing and forthcoming work on mental health is detailed in care community action, a mental health plan for New York City.
0:12:23
That work begins with the acknowledgement that there is an acute need for sustained evidence based and community driven mental health interventions in New York City and a strong and adequate workforce to implement them.
0:12:35
Nearly one in four adult New Yorkers experience a mental health disorder in any given year.
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It's our responsibility to help care for New Yorkers when they need it the most.
0:12:44
We all bear witness to intersecting crises of mental health, homelessness and housing insecurity, food insecurity, and more.
0:12:52
But we cannot forget that at the heart of these crises and our efforts to address them are people.
0:12:57
In every part of our mental health work, we're meeting people where they're at.
0:13:01
Giving them the tools to manage their mental health and be in community.
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These are not solutions that happen overnight but it is lifesaving work.
0:13:09
Our mental hygiene teams work with more than 200 community providers and support more than 800 programs to provide housing, clinical support, and mental health program to New Yorkers.
0:13:20
Many of those programs rely on employing peers, people who have experienced the same mental illness or substance use issues as the person they're supporting.
0:13:29
These models are built on an innate sense of understanding and trust that comes from shared lived experience.
0:13:36
We're proud to have over 600 peers working across our mental health programs as either health department employees or in contracted programs.
0:13:44
In addition, we're working to support New Yorkers by addressing underlying causes of adverse mental health including substance use, postpartum depression, and housing insecurity.
0:13:54
Among those initiatives is our recent RFP for expanded access to substance use disorder treatment services, the perinatal mental health initiative which adds practitioners to five mental health clinics to care for an additional one hundred and fifty pregnant and postpartum people per year, and the health department's work in expanding supportive housing as part of the fifteen fifteen initiative.
0:14:15
We oversee more than 12,000 units and added more than 600 units of supportive housing last fiscal year.
0:14:22
We're grateful to see more funding dedicated to this work in the executive budget and we appreciate the shift in fifteen fifteen criteria that allows for more congregate units.
0:14:32
Mental health is a vital part of public health.
0:14:35
It's a top priority for our agency and we're proud of the work we've done to get New Yorkers help when they need it most while we're also committed to the continued expansion of this work.