About Mental Health Continuum, Continued
The MHC is an advocate initiated project recommended by over 200 organizations, the City Council, and the City Comptroller that seeks to build a stronger continuum of mental health care within schools and to create more effective linkages between school- and community-based mental health support structures. The funding for this initiative is $5 million for FY 2022 and $5 million FY 2023, and agencies are currently advocating for baseline funding to make this a multi-year program.
Participating schools receive funding to develop the capacity of their staff to leverage a whole school collaborative problem-solving approach to address the behavioral, social, emotional, and mental health needs of their students. MHC partner schools will also receive funding to support the establishment or enhancement of school-based mental health facilities. These funds are intended to ensure that each school can offer students and families a welcoming, affirming, and culturally responsive environment during the provision of mental health services.
The School Mental Health unit in the Office of School Health will collaborate in partnership with NYC Health + Hospitals regarding the implementation of clinical mental health supports for participating schools. School Mental Health is responsible for the facilitation and oversight of all CBO/School Mental Health partnerships and ensures quality school-based access to mental health services that meet the needs of general education school communities across the NYC Department of Education as they are agreed upon and intended.
Five NYC Health + Hospitals Child and Adolescent Clinics are participating. Enhanced dedicated staffing at these clinics will allow for timely access to mental health supports with a range of services, including onsite school-based services, expedited clinic appointments, urgent care, and tele-video visits to the students while in school or at home. Students and their families will also have access to the full range of mental health services available in the clinic sites. The goal is to provide meaningful and stable connections between school staff, who know their students and families’ best, and mental health service providers committed to serving their local communities.
The NYC Well call line is available to support school leaders, staff, and students with mental health inquiries, including crisis counseling, suicide prevention, information and referrals to behavioral health services, and access to mobile crisis teams. A Children’s Mobile Crisis Team (CMCT) is made up of behavioral health professionals, such as social workers and peer advocates, and is designed to reduce 911 calls, the number of children referred to psychiatric emergency rooms, and hospitalizations. The CMCT provides short-term therapeutic crisis response to children while connecting them to long-term mental health supports such as psychiatry, therapy, and case management services. The services are provided where the child is experiencing a crisis, such as the child’s school or the family’s home.
