NEW YORK: Street Teams and Clubhouses: A New Plan to Help Mentally Ill New Yorkers

The New York Times

New York City Mayor Eric Adams recently announced a plan to increase services for people with severe mental illness. Officials say about 100,000 adults in the city are not receiving treatment for severe mental health conditions and many more receive inadequate care. The new plan calls for more mobile treatment teams, the expansion of a program that sends medical professionals to respond to mental health 911 calls instead of police, and investment in community “clubhouses” that provide education and job opportunities to people with mental illness. “This is the next phase of how we are going to help people in need before they fall into crisis, by ensuring everyone has access to health care, community, and a home,” Adams said. The plan is part of a broader mental health agenda that includes measures to address addiction, children’s mental health, and racial inequities in access to care. These efforts are taking place alongside New York Governor Kathy Hochul’s recent plan to reopen psychiatric hospital beds that closed during the pandemic, coordinate care transitions with community providers, and create mobile treatment teams in New York City.

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