New York Metropolis Comptroller Brad Lander speaks throughout a mayoral city corridor on psychological well being on the First Baptist Church of Crown Heights on Might 1. Lander described solitary confinement as “torture” and stated he would rescind Mayor Eric Adams’ govt order halting town’s ban on the apply.
Photograph by Gabriele Holtermann
Democratic and impartial candidates for New York Metropolis mayor attended a city corridor on Might 1 — the primary day of Psychological Well being Consciousness Month — on the First Baptist Church of Crown Heights to debate how they might enhance and reform psychological well being assets if elected.
The occasion was hosted by the New York Metropolis Psychological Well being Collective, a coalition of greater than 30 psychological well being organizations and advocacy teams, and moderated by actor and psychological well being activist Chad Coleman.
Actor and psychological well being activist Chad Coleman was the city corridor moderator. Photograph by Gabriele Holtermann
Earlier than the candidates shared their plans to deal with New York Metropolis’s psychological well being disaster, New York Metropolis Psychological Well being Collective founder Christina Sparrock underscored the urgency of tackling psychological well being points as they relate to secure housing, schooling, public security, employment and justice.
“It’s a health condition that we can manage with the right support,” Sparrock stated. “Our mental health affects us, how we live, connect, and contribute to society.”
NYCMH founder Christina Sparrock underscored the urgency of addressing psychological well being points. Photograph by Gabriele Holtermann
In 2024, the New York Metropolis Division of Well being and Psychological Hygiene launched its first-ever report on the state of psychological well being amongst New Yorkers. The report discovered that 48% of youngsters and almost one in 4 adults expertise a psychological well being dysfunction, together with despair, nervousness, schizophrenia, temper or persona issues, ADHD and extra.
Nonetheless, attributable to an absence of insurance coverage and enough psychological well being assets — significantly in underserved areas — many people don’t obtain the therapy they should lead productive lives.
Mayoral candidates Zohran Mamdani, Brad Lander, Scott Stringer, Dr. Selma Bartholomew, Michael Blake, Whitney Tilson and Jim Walden mentioned proposals to enhance and reform town’s psychological well being system. Matters included increasing entry to care, addressing Black and Brown maternal psychological well being, creating disaster intervention applications that don’t contain police, implementing complete psychological well being schooling in faculties, destigmatizing psychological sickness and remedy, supporting households, and rescinding Mayor Eric Adams’ govt order that paused town’s ban on solitary confinement.
Analysis has proven that solitary confinement can have devastating psychological well being results — each throughout and after incarceration. Most candidates stated they might elevate Adams’ govt order and abolish solitary confinement altogether; others stated the coverage needs to be overhauled.
Blake, a former Obama aide and state meeting member, stated he wished Rikers Island shut down “full stop,” citing the suicide of Kalief Browder, a 22-year-old Bronx resident who died by suicide in 2015 after spending 1,100 days — 800 of them in solitary confinement — on Rikers with out being convicted of a criminal offense.
“Rikers is actually the second largest mental health institution in America,” stated Blake. “There is no business at all that we have a place that is not about trying to rehabilitate someone. It is effectively trying to keep people locked down, many of which have actually not been convicted of something.”
Michael Blake needs more cash for psychological well being organizations. Photograph by Gabriele Holtermann
Lander and Mamdani each stated they might rescind the mayor’s govt order on their first day in workplace.
Lander described solitary confinement as “torture.”
“I’ve been on Rikers a bunch of times, and I have gone each time to see people in involuntary protective custody or solitary. It is torture,” he stated. “We are doing it right now, and I will end that executive order on day one.”
Dr. Selma Bartholomew needs to implement a “Network of Care.” Photograph by Gabriele Holtermann
Bartholomew stated the tradition of passive violence in prisons — together with overcrowding, poor meals high quality and insufficient medical care — should be addressed.
Tilson acknowledged that solitary confinement has been applied “poorly” and needs to be reformed. Nonetheless, he stated the deliberate borough-based jails set to exchange Rikers ought to embrace some type of solitary confinement.
“I think as part of those jails, there needs to be some area that is segregated for inmates that are very dangerous to themselves, to other inmates, and to corrections officers,” Tilson stated.
Candidates additionally shared proposals to higher combine household engagement and help providers into town’s psychological well being system, together with elevated funding, coaching and care coordination.
Mamdani advised increasing the variety of Fountain Home clubhouses, which supply help for people with extreme psychological sickness.
“What we need to do as a city is to scale up these pilots that have been successful [and] ensure that every neighborhood has a clubhouse, ensure that we have community mental health navigators in every single neighborhood so that families are not the only place that New Yorkers who are struggling can find care,” he stated.
Meeting Member Zohran Mamdani referred to as for extra Fountain Home clubhouses. Photograph by Gabriele Holtermann
Candidates additionally agreed that town’s psychological well being disaster response groups, often called B-HEARD, ought to embrace a staff member with lived expertise of psychological sickness. They famous that NYPD officers aren’t adequately skilled to answer people in psychological well being disaster.
“You want someone who actually has done the journey to be addressing [the mental health crisis] in real time,” Blake stated.
