FOLLOWING THRIVE NYC HEARING, WILLIAMS CALLS FOR FUTHER ACTION TO ADDRESS MENTAL HEALTH ISSUES

OFFICE OF THE PUBLIC ADVOCATE FOR THE CITY OF NEW YORK JUMAANE D. WILLIAMS New York City Public Advocate Jumaane D. Williams today sent the following letter to Mayor Bill de Blasio, First Lady Chirlane McCray and Commissioner James P. O'Neill after the New York City Council's Committee on Finance held a hearing focused on ThriveNYC. March 26, 2019 To Mayor Bill de Blasio, First Lady Chirlane McCray and Commissioner James P. O'Neill, As you may know, mental health issues and access to adequate care and resources are of paramount importance to me, both personally and in my capacity as Public Advocate. I know that you share this commitment, and I have been glad to see investments made toward improving these services- in healthcare, in law enforcement, and in community outreach. However, as has been discussed in reporting and in public hearings over the last several days, there are a number of areas where I believe more clarity and greater prioritization are required. With regards to ThriveNYC, it is clear that the intentions of the program, and its breadth, are positive. I do believe though, as was made clear in the hearing today, there are many unanswered questions and unresolved issues regarding the focus of the various programs and their metrics. In the hearing, it was stated that all of Thrive is focused on serious mental illness. I believe that we have to do a better job of separating out providing services for acute mental illness and general mental health- both are extremely important to address, and I do believe Thrive can and is addressing both, but they cannot be conflated. To do so is harmful to both the issues and the ability to collect meaningful metrics on the program. It was also left unresolved when the final report would be made available regarding the recommendations of the Crisis Prevention and Response Task Force. After the administration denied for so long the need for such a task force, I was glad to see it convened and to weigh in with my own experiences and prescriptions, but it is time for results to be finalized so that policy can be built around those recommendations. Both the creation and the discussions of the task force relate directly to police interactions, and this is an area where the city has profoundly failed many people experiencing mental health crises. It was recently reported that despite the administration's promise to provide all officers with crisis intervention training in 2015, in the years since only about a third of active officers have received this training. The overwhelming majority of officers still lack this critically important and sometimes life-saving training. I was glad to see the administration commit to further and faster training for 16,000 officers, but I believe that not a single officer in the field should go without this training. We are all in agreement that crisis intervention training is invaluable, so we must correct this deficit as quickly as possible. Police officers are real people, with real, difficult jobs. Yet as a city, we often seem to ask officer to have  have superhuman abilities. They are real people, with real, difficult jobs. Yet as a city, we often seem to ask officers to have superhuman abilities, we give them too much to do. I firmly believe that not every emergency calls for a police response, and that we should be developing alternatives that allow officers to focus with greater intention on specific responsibilities. At the same time, as long as our city calls upon the police force to respond to mental health crises, we must at a bare minimum give them the tools to do so safely and effectively- for both the officer and the individual in distress. Mental health is a crucial concern for New York City and the individuals within it who face a broad spectrum of issues with a varying degree of severity. What unites them all is the need for a robust, wholistic response that removes stigma and fear in favor of understanding and treatment. I look forward to moving with resolve toward this common goal and the solutions that enable it. Sincerely,   Jumaane D. Williams Public Advocate for the City of New York