NYC Mental Health Roadmap Unveiled

On Monday, November 23, 2015, Mayor Bill de Blasio flanked by his wife, Chirlane McCray, children, Chiara and Dante, key members of the administration, elected officials and leadership of non-profit organizations, announced the rollout of the eagerly-awaited NYC Mental Health Roadmap, dubbed “ThriveNYC.”

Highlights include:

• Public awareness campaign: A city-wide public awareness campaign will attempt to reshape the conversation around mental health, promoting mental wellness and early intervention and educating New Yorkers about how to get services.
• NYC Mental Health Corps: The city will hire 400 clinicians and recently graduated Masters and Doctoral-level clinicians to work in substance abuse programs, mental health clinics and primary care practices in high-need communities throughout the city. When fully staffed, this Corp can provide 400,000 additional hours of service.
• Mayor’s Conference for Mental Health: In 2016, the City of New York will host the first Mayor’s Conference for Mental Health. The conference will bring cities together to share new ideas and promising initiatives and send a strong message that mental wellness must play a central role in ongoing policy development.
• Mental Health in Schools: Building on the expansion of mental health services in Community Schools, the City will hire 100 School Mental Health Consultants who will work with every school citywide. This program is designed to provide staff and administrators with a means to connect students with immediate needs to care.

In the press release accompanying the announcement, Phillip Saperia, The Coalition’s CEO was quoted as saying, “Many congratulations to the City Administration, the Mayor and the First Lady for spotlighting the mental health and substance use services in the city. We agree that the children, families and adults who live with these disorders need assessment and help. ThriveNYC is a significant investment in giving major attention to the problems and the populations it is designed to address. The Roadmap to Mental Health for All is a momentous and valued supplement to the under-funded and very stretched array of community-based services currently supported by the State and City. The Coalition and its members in every neighborhood are eager to be supportive to our City leadership as the new initiative rolls out.”

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Mayor de Blasio Announces Commitment to Build 15,000 Units of Supportive Housing

Hearing the appeals of the NY/NY 4 campaign of which The Coalition is an active member, on November 18, 2015, Mayor de Blasio announced a new plan to create 15,000 units of supportive housing over the next 15 years. The sweeping plan will target many more New Yorkers in need than previous plans, including homeless veterans, survivors of domestic violence and street homeless individuals.

The City’s 15,000 unit plan is comprised of roughly 7,500 newly-constructed, congregate units and 7,500 scattered site units. The plan will cost $2.6 billion in capital funds over the next 15 years to develop the 7,500 congregate units. Of the total capital costs, approximately $1 billion will be a City cost – and all but $380 million has already been budgeted through Housing New York. The remaining capital costs – approximately $1.6 billion – will be offset with low-income tax credits, and other private sources. There are also approximately $96 million in net operating costs over the Financial Plan (through Fiscal Year 2019) – starting at $8.8 million annually in the first year and ramping up.

Supportive housing has a proven track record of cost savings. A Department of Health and Mental Hygiene study showed that NY/NY3 clients who found supportive housing use fewer public benefits (e.g., Medicaid, psychiatric institutions, jail, and shelters), resulting in cost savings.

The Coalition is extremely pleased with this commitment and calls upon the Governor to similarly pledge funding for 15,000 units of supportive housing in NYC and 5,000 units throughout the rest of the state.

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Bradley L. Jacobs to Become New Center Director

The Coalition is very pleased to announce the appointment of Bradley L. Jacobs as the Director of The Coalition’s Center for Rehabilitation and Recovery.

For over 10 years, Bradley has held successively more challenging positions at CASES, a valued Coalition member. He has managed its forensic ACT Team and is now Co-Director of Adult Behavioral Health Programs.

In previous jobs, he has worked at agencies that incorporate a culture of recovery and person centered care, and has been personally and professionally influenced by those principles and practices. His challenging work at CASES has focused on helping the organization and staff focus on recovery at the same time they were partnering with the criminal justice system—a delicate balance that underlies his achievements in helping consumers achieve recovery in the context of “mandated services.”

Bradley also will bring to The Center his considerable accomplishments as a trainer and teacher. We are delighted to welcome him to The Coalition staff and family and look forward to introducing him to all of you, after the 1st of the year, when he arrives on The Center scene full time.

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The Coalition Signs onto Op-Ed Calling for Expansion of Excellence in Mental Health Act

In an Op-Ed published in The Hill, November 23, 2015 The Coalition, National Council and more than 20 state mental health and addictions associations – asked Congress to expand funding to all 24 states who received Excellence Act planning grants, including New York State.

When Congress enacted the Excellence in Mental Health Act demonstration last year, it was the largest federal investment in mental health and addiction care in generations. The Act's $1.1 billion will bolster our overburdened, underfunded safety net - but only in 8 selected states.

The Excellence Act is game changing, not only because it will transform the quality of care delivered, but because it is sustainable. For the first time, organizations that provide these services will be able to deliver quality care at a rate that covers their costs of doing businesses through the creation of Certified Community-based Behavioral Health Clinics (FQHC look-likes).

Please join the effort to pass this legislation, by using the link found here.

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Friend of Coalition, LaRay Brown, Appointed as President & CEO of Interfaith Medical Center

LaRay Brown, a highly-respected hospital executive with strong ties to city and state government, will become President and Chief Executive of Interfaith Medical Center in February. She will be the first female African-American president of a private hospital in New York City. She also joins the ranks of the handful of women who lead local hospitals. LaRay has spent nearly 30 years at NYC Health + Hospitals (formerly known as HHC). She is currently the senior vice president for corporate planning, community health and intergovernmental relations. We applaud Interfaith’s board for appointing LaRay and wish her good luck!

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NYC Health + Hospitals Chooses Anantharam as CFO

NYC Health + Hospitals named Plachikkat Anantharam its chief financial officer. Anantharam, who is known by his nickname, "P.V.," had served as deputy director for health and social services at the city's Office of Management and Budget since 1998. He replaces Marlene Zurack, who will retire at the end of November after serving as the system's CFO for 15 years. The Coalition has had a long and productive relationship with P.V. and wishes him good fortune in his new professional incarnation.

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Around the Water Cooler

Affiliate member, Heath Management Associates (HMA), welcomed Annalisa Baker as a new Senior Consultant to its national consulting team. She most recently served in the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene as director of Administration and Operations in the Bureau of Mental Health. Annalisa also served as director of Health Integration in the Office of Treatment Services for the bureau. Prior to her service with New York City, Annalisa was a clinical supervisor with children and adolescents at Coalition member Astor Services for Children and Families. She received her Master of Public Health from Columbia University and her Master of Social Work from New York University.

Long-time Coalition friend and supporter, Beverly Sue Bostdorf Brooks, passed away on October 29, 2015 at Sarasota Memorial Hospital in Sarasota, Florida. As a young social worker passionate about human rights and social justice, Bev devoted her early career to implementing NYC's Model Cities Program. She served as administrator for Kings County Hospital, and later became NYC Commissioner for Special Services for Children under Mayor Ed Koch. For more than 25 years Bev was CEO of Coalition member, SafeSpace. Our hearts go out to her husband of 35 years, Emory X. Brooks, Founder and Executive Director of Community Counseling and Mediation and the rest of her family.

On Friday, October 30th, 380 friends and supporters joined Communife’s 26th Anniversary Breakfast to celebrate Life is Precious™, the agency's ground breaking program of suicide prevention program for Latina teens in New York City. The 2015 honorees included: Josefina Carbonell, former US Assistant Secretary for Aging and current Senior Vice President at Independent Living Systems, NYC Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito, Dr. Ramanathan Raju, President and CEO of the New York City Health and Hospital Corporation, and Mathew Wambua, former commissioner of HPD and current President of Richmac Funding LLC.

Coalition members Good Shepherd Services and Leake & Watts became partners with You Gotta Believe (YGB), an organization that focuses exclusively on finding permanent families for young adults, teens, and preteens in the foster care system. According to New York Nonfprofit Daily, “YGB and partner agencies will work together in a multi-pronged effort to connect more teens and young adults to families, build capacity and create culture change at all levels of their foster care and residential programs, and demonstrate measurable results for the youth and families served.”

Leake & Watts ALSO announced that Nancy D. Hruska has filled the newly created position of Senior Director, Program Development, to help pursue and fund additional program opportunities. Ms. Hruska joins Leake & Watts after a distinguished 14-year career at New York City’s Administration for Children’s Services (ACS), where she most recently served as Executive Director, Data Management & Analysis, Early Care & Education.

Coalition Program Associate, Emily Kingman and Senior Program Associate Amanda Saake presented “PROS Program Participation Promotes Recovery!” and Amanda Saake presented “Building Recovery Oriented Groups” at the 6th annual PROS Academy hosted by NYAPRS on November 19th and 20th in Albany, NY.

Amanda Saake also presented, “Walking the Fine Line: Exploring the Perspective of Behavioral Health Professionals with Lived Experience” at the 2nd Annual Behavioral Health Peer Conference, “Peer Services Have Arrived! Are We Ready?” sponsored by DOHMH at the Silberman School of Social Work on November 13, 2015.

SUS launched a new website and appointed Scott Millimet to its Board of Directors. Mr. Willimet is an Executive Vice President and account manager in PIMCO's New York office, heading insurance company client service.

Affliate member, Amida Care’s Doug Wirth was interviewed by New York Nonprofit Daily regarding providing health care to underserved populations. We are proud to count Doug among The Coalition’s professional alumni.

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Coalition Job Board

Coalition Members advertise staff positions for free on The Coalition’s Job Board!  Here's a sample: