City Council committee to hold hearing on bills to improve mental health support in public schools

November 25, 2024 Brooklyn Eagle Staff

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CITYWIDE — INCREASED MENTAL HEALTH SUPPORT for public school students will be the focus of a City Council hearing set for Monday, Nov. 25. The Council’s Committee on Mental Health, Disabilities, and Addiction will discuss a set of bills that aim to increase mental health support and programs for students in public schools. The legislative package stems from proposals first outlined in Speaker Adrienne Adams’ State of the City Address in 2024, where she called for solutions to tackle rising youth mental health concerns.

The package includes bills on creating wellness clubs and engaging mental health professionals to take part in these organizations, on developing a peer-based mental health training program for students, and on requiring the NYPD to report any violent or traumatic incidents to the Department of Health & Mental Hygiene within 24 hours. Brooklyn Councilmember Rita Joseph (D-40), who serves an area from southern Crown Heights to Flatbush and Ditmas Park, is sponsoring one of the bills, which would require the Commissioner of Health and Mental Hygiene to develop a two-year pilot program to involve mental health professionals and professional candidates in student wellness clubs in public middle and high schools.

Together, the bills being heard represent the Council’s fourth stop in the Mental Health Roadmap, a comprehensive and evolving plan to improve mental health outcomes for New Yorkers.

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