Health and Mental Health Policy Plan

Vision:

Michael Blake believes that mental health is public health, and that a city rooted in justice, equity, and wellness must ensure every New Yorker, regardless of zip code, has access to comprehensive mental health care and wellness support. For too long, communities of color have been over-policed, under-protected, and underserved when it comes to mental health care. Blake’s vision for mental health equity centers dignity, healing, and access, while recognizing that affordable housing, safe neighborhoods, and trusted community relationships are essential for mental well-being. This plan is about putting care before the crisis and investing in the people and places that keep our city whole.

GROUNDING THE CRISIS IN DATA

While crime has decreased by 8% across the city, 64% of New Yorkers still report feeling less safe. This gap between perception and reality is most stark in communities of color. In neighborhoods like the South Bronx, East New York, and Central Harlem, nearly 40% of all violent crimes citywide are concentrated, highlighting where investments must be focused. Meanwhile, mental health and health concerns have risen by over 20%, with the sharpest increases occurring in these same neighborhoods, underscoring the need for prevention, care, and trust, not just response. New York’s recovery depends on treating both trauma and mistrust as urgent public health threats. Our plan focuses where the need is greatest, but the benefit will be felt citywide.

Key Policy Actions:

Center mental health as a cornerstone of public safety and community trust.
Expand access to culturally competent, community-based mental health services.
Eliminate systemic barriers to mental health care in communities of color, immigrant communities, and underserved neighborhoods.
Address the intersection of housing instability, trauma, and health disparities.
Ensure mental wellness is not a luxury for the few, but a guaranteed right for all New Yorkers.

1) Embed Mental Health in Housing Justice

Blake’s plan acknowledges that housing is health care. Mental health outcomes are deeply tied to stable, secure housing. As we pass a Middle-Class Housing Tax Break to support middle-income homeowners, we must also ensure that tenants in public housing and vulnerable populations have mental health resources embedded where they live.

Key Policy Actions:

Establish on-site mental health and wellness teams in NYCHA developments and supportive housing units to offer counseling, trauma support, and crisis response. These teams will be composed of licensed clinicians, peer navigators, and social workers recruited from local communities. Their presence will reduce ER visits, police calls, and untreated trauma among NYCHA residents.
Create mobile wellness units to reach unhoused New Yorkers with trauma-informed care, addiction services, and housing referrals. These units will also serve as proactive crisis responders during heatwaves, winter storms, or shelter relocations. A consistent citywide deployment model will ensure that no community is overlooked.

2) Community-Based Mental Health Crisis Response

To build trust and prevent tragedies, Blake’s public safety plan replaces punitive approaches with compassionate, community-centered solutions.

Key Policy Actions:

Deploy mental health professionals as first responders in non-violent crisis situations, diverting calls from NYPD. These professionals will be embedded in 911 dispatch systems and trained to de-escalate emergencies without law enforcement presence. This shift not only saves lives but also restores community confidence in emergency response.
Scale up partnerships with nonprofits and peer-support networks that reflect the communities they serve, and offer long-term, stable city contracts. These organizations will be funded to expand hiring, training, and trauma-informed outreach. Local providers know their neighborhoods best, government must fund them accordingly.

3) Prioritize Prevention and Early Intervention

Prevention is more powerful than punishment. New York City must focus on early intervention, especially for youth.

Key Policy Actions:

Expand access to school-based mental health professionals in every public school. Services will include individual therapy, group support sessions, and family engagement to address mental health holistically. Schools will be trauma-informed spaces where mental well-being is normalized and protected.
Establish wellness centers at community schools for trauma intervention, family therapy, and youth support. These centers will also provide weekend programming for caregivers and after-school support groups for high-risk teens. Early access to care means fewer crises later in life.
Increase funding for afterschool and summer programs that support emotional development and mental resilience. Programs will include mindfulness training, conflict resolution, and expressive arts therapies. Every young person deserves access to safe spaces that build confidence and emotional strength.

4) Build Trust Through Culturally Competent Care

New Yorkers deserve care that meets them where they are linguistically, culturally, and emotionally.

Key Policy Actions:

Require all city-funded providers to complete racial trauma, LGBTQ+, and immigrant-centered care training. Training will be recurring, peer-reviewed, and co-led by community leaders and lived-experience advocates. This is not a box-checking exercise, it’s a redefinition of public service delivery.
Empower the Office of Immigrant Services to partner with mental health providers and legal aid groups to support families facing immigration-related trauma. Wraparound mental health support will be offered alongside Know Your Rights workshops and emergency legal interventions. The goal is to provide protection, not punishment.
Recruit and retain more mental health professionals of color, along with doctors and nurses of color. These professionals will receive loan forgiveness, housing incentives, and leadership pathways to remain in underserved areas. Representation within the care system helps break stigma and build trust.
Increase the hiring of doctors, nurses, and medical staff of color who speak multiple languages, to boost cultural sensitivity and linguistic accessibility across clinical settings. Culturally competent engagement will improve trust, diagnosis accuracy, and treatment outcomes, particularly for immigrant and multilingual communities.
Expand on statewide efforts to promote Diversity in Medicine by investing in academic and vocational training for the next generation of healthcare professionals. This includes targeted outreach, scholarships, and mentorship programs for underrepresented students pursuing careers in healthcare, helping address longstanding disparities in medical workforce representation.

5) Invest in Mental Health Infrastructure and Technology

Modern care requires modern systems. To make access equitable and efficient, New York City must invest in the tools, platforms, and networks that connect people to care when and where they need it.

Key Policy Actions:

Modernize NYC Well and related digital platforms to provide 24/7 multilingual support and telehealth access. We will also integrate AI chat and text capabilities to ensure quicker intake and triage. Residents should never face a wall of bureaucracy when seeking help in a moment of crisis.
Create a real-time Mental Health Resource Map to help residents navigate services by zip code, insurance, and need. It will be user-tested, mobile-friendly, and updated weekly by provider partners. Knowledge is power and we will put that power in the hands of every New Yorker.

6) Reimagine Public Spaces for Healing and Wellness

The environment around us directly impacts our state of mind. We must design a city where public spaces don’t just serve function but promote peace, reflection, and emotional restoration.

Key Policy Actions:

Improve lighting and infrastructure in NYCHA campuses, parks, and transit hubs to enhance physical and mental safety. Better lighting not only reduces crime but decreases cortisol levels and enhances perceptions of safety. Design matters and equity in design is mental health policy.
Designate “healing zones” across the city: quiet green spaces co-located with mental health resources, art, and peer support programming. These zones will also host grief circles, youth storytelling workshops, and elder meditation groups. Healing must be communal, visible, and intergenerational.

7) Structural Reforms to Improve Access

To truly treat mental health as essential care, systemic access barriers must be dismantled.

Key Policy Actions:

Raise Medicaid reimbursement rates for behavioral health therapists. We will advocate with the state and create city supplements where possible to retain providers. Equity must extend to the economic realities of care delivery.
Fix licensing and credentialing delays that keep clinicians from practicing. We will launch a city-state task force to streamline credentialing for LMHCs, LCSWs, and psychologists. Getting providers to patients faster saves lives and prevents burnout.
Reform procurement to allow nonprofits and service providers to be funded up front, reimbursed quickly, and evaluated for impact. Funding delays force layoffs and reduce service quality. We will reward outcomes, not red tape.

8) Addiction Services and Crisis Stabilization

Addiction is a public health issue, not a criminal one. We must expand life-saving interventions and stabilize people in crisis with dignity, compassion, and long-term support.

Key Policy Actions:

Prioritize Overdose Prevention Centers (OPCs) and harm-reduction strategies. OPCs are proven to reduce death, disease, and emergency room visits, and we will expand them in high-risk zip codes. Compassion will replace criminalization in our response to addiction.
Draw down all available Opioid Settlement Funds to expand services that prevent addiction and save lives. These funds must be directed to community-based treatment, housing supports, and family recovery models.
Where clinically appropriate, implement involuntary commitment protocols paired with robust supportive services. These measures must be tightly regulated and trauma-informed, used only when all voluntary options have failed and the individual is in danger. The goal is not confinement but stabilization, recovery, and dignity-centered care.

9) Guarantee Mental Health Access for Every Student

Children are experiencing unprecedented levels of anxiety, trauma, and stress. Mental health must be treated as core to their education and development, not just a supplement or response to crisis.

Key Policy Actions:

Make mental health education a graduation requirement alongside civics and financial literacy. Students will receive age-appropriate instruction on emotional regulation, stress, consent, and healthy relationships. Empowering young people to understand and manage their mental health lays the foundation for lifelong resilience.
Equip schools with trauma-informed educators and culturally relevant materials developed in partnership with youth and families. These lessons will be reinforced through peer mentorship and community-based partnerships. Mental health literacy must be seen as essential as reading and math.

10) Health Equity Infrastructure

Health equity cannot exist without coordination, integration, and investment. Following the leadership of local experts, we will build a mental health infrastructure that reflects urgency, transparency, and shared responsibility.

Key Policy Actions:

Establish a Regional Planning Alliance to coordinate care across hospitals, community clinics, nonprofits, and city agencies. This coalition will use data-sharing agreements to prevent redundancy and ensure real-time interventions in mental health deserts. A city this large needs systems that speak to each other. We must protect against Medicaid and Medicare cuts at all costs, while generating revenue through reallocation of excessive and unnecessary spending, implementation of a Vacant Apartment and Commercial Tax, reclaiming unclaimed Fines and Fees, and comprehensive Property Tax Reform.
Substantially improve coordination between the NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene and NYC Health + Hospitals, ensuring integrated planning, service delivery, and shared data systems to avoid redundancy and better serve patients citywide.
Pursue greater use of generic prescription drugs, especially in city-funded health services and senior care programs, to reduce healthcare costs and expand medication access for vulnerable New Yorkers.
Expand bed-sharing agreements for real-time crisis bed availability across public and private hospitals. These agreements will streamline transfers and reduce emergency wait times, ensuring patients in psychiatric crises are never left in limbo. We will create a central dashboard overseen by the Deputy Mayor for Mental Health.
Protect and expand Medicaid funding at the city level. With looming fiscal challenges, we will push for carve-outs and matching funds that keep behavioral health services fully funded, especially for undocumented New Yorkers, gig workers, and those falling through traditional coverage gaps. No one should be denied care based on paperwork.

How We Move Forward

Michael Blake will appoint a Deputy Mayor for Mental Health and Community Wellness to lead this work across all agencies, from schools to housing, from public safety to public spaces. Just as we cannot police our way to safety, we cannot ignore our way to wellness. Mental health is foundational to our city’s recovery, and requires executive leadership, budgetary commitment, and daily urgency. This plan is not just a response to crisis, it is a blueprint for healing, equity, and transformation. With targeted investments, structural reform, and community-rooted care, we can create a New York City where every person, regardless of zip code, race, gender, income, or immigration status, feels seen, heard, and supported. Together, we will ensure that mental health is no longer an afterthought, but the starting point of a just city.

SOURCES:

-Vital City NYC. “Vital Signs: State of the City on Crime.”

https://www.vitalcitynyc.org/articles/vital-signs-state-of-the-city-on-crime-2024

-NYC Council. “Committee on Mental Health: Trends in Mental Health Emergency Calls.”

https://citymeetings.nyc/meetings/new-york-city-council/2024-09-23-1000-am-committee-on-mental-health-disabilities-and-addiction/chapter/trends-in-mental-health-emergency-calls

-NYS Office of Mental Health. “Medicaid Reimbursement Information.”

https://omh.ny.gov/omhweb/medicaid_reimbursement/

-NYSED Office of Professions. “Mental Health Counselor License Requirements.”

https://www.op.nysed.gov/professions/mental-health-counselors/license-requirements

-NYC Council. “90% of Contracts Registered Late in FY24.”

https://council.nyc.gov/press/2025/04/30/2856/

-Columbia News Service. “Overdose Prevention Centers Inch Toward Midtown.”