Governor Hochul: “We're announcing that the applications can start today. You don't have to wait till the RFPs go out. It's not once a year. It is a rolling application because to me there is an urgent need to get more schools involved in this. We have over $20 million in our budget to fund this, and I want to add more and more across the State of New York.”
Hochul: “I'm the first Governor to really put a spotlight on mental health. My very first budget had over $1 billion to deal with all aspects of the mental health spectrum, whether it's making sure there's more psychiatric beds available, that there's more supportive housing available, that in the subways and the cities we have teams that are out there bringing people in off the streets and helping them have coping skills to live on their own.”
Earlier today, Governor Kathy Hochul today announced steps to combat the youth mental health crisis, following a convening of students, faculty and mental health professionals at Mohonasen Central School District. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, nearly 1 in 4 teens have considered suicide, a significant increase from a decade ago, and for teenage girls, that number rises to 1 in 3. In response to this crisis, the Governor’s actions announced today will expand mental health support for children across the state, protect them from harmful social media features, and ensure their voice is heard.
B-ROLL of the Governor holding a roundtable discussion at Mohonasen High School is available on YouTube and in TV quality (h.264, mp4) format.
VIDEO of the event is available on YouTube and in TV quality (h.264, mp4) format.
AUDIO of the Governor's remarks is available.
PHOTOS of the event are available on the Governor's Flickr.
A rush transcript of the Governor's remarks is available below:
Great to see my friends here again at Mohonasen High School, and I first want to acknowledge the Superintendent Shannon Shine for inviting me and allowing this forum to take place today. Laurel Logan-King, our Assistant Superintendent, who has been very involved in the effort to talk about mental health in schools. Our principal, Craig Chandler, thank you for welcoming us and for really the work that you've done here with these young people, it's extraordinary.
And all the students and I want to thank them for being so candid and really talking about the challenges that they've faced really since the pandemic and what I take note of is that many adults don't talk about the pandemic anymore. I mean, it's in the rear-view mirror. People have moved on. But what is underneath the surface is that young people – young people who are seniors today who were freshmen when the pandemic started, they're still dealing with the effects of that disconnection from their support system, from their friends, and the classroom, and the activities, and the sports, and it really has had a long term effect on many young people, and they'll talk about it. They're honest about it, and what they're also honest about is that there is a need for more young people to receive mental health services and care, even at a younger age, you know, we're talking now middle school, high school – we just had a conversation about how our elementary schools, a lot of young people are still struggling at that level as well. And I've long believed that every ounce of energy we put into and the resource we put into helping young people deal with these challenges now, whether it's depression or sadness or whatever, self-body image challenges, whatever they're dealing with now, if we can solve it now and help them have the coping skills now, they'll lead a better life later, a healthier life.
So that's why talking about our schools is so important to me. I convened a Youth Mental Health Summit last spring. We had over 1,000 individuals and experts who spoke about this for an entire day to talk about all the aspects of this and also the impact of social media on the mental health of our young people in particular. And it's something they were very candid about, talking about how many of their friends they feel that there's an addiction, a pull because of the algorithms. And one of our enlightened students here even point out that there's a profit motive from the companies to keep you hooked on this and they recognize it, but a lot of other young people don't realize that they're being pulled into this for reasons that are not for their own best interest.
When you think about the mental health crisis, the Center for Disease Control tracks this, and they have said that one in four teenagers have actually considered suicide. That is double what it was just 10 short years ago. And one in three young girls – high school girls in particular – have entertained the thought of suicide. So, we're trying to deal with this at the State level. We're talking about bills that will reel in social media.
Also, we wanted to announce today that we're having rolling applications to fund school based clinics and any school that's interested, you need to come to this school district. You need to ask these individuals, these leaders, who six years ago, established a program that has now seen over 400 students – taking care of them and give them the support they need. And I could say that this is a healthier school environment than many others that have not embraced the opportunity to provide these services right on site for our young people.
Think about a young person who finally recognizes, I need some help, or their parents see it or a peer sees it. And yet they have to now ask their parents to take time off work to make an appointment, pull them out of school, they need to go every week for a long time – it just doesn't work. But if you provide those services right here in a nurturing school setting with professionals and adults who care about them and teachers who are trained to see the signs and students who are trained to see the signs, that's how you build an ecosystem of healthy young people. And I want more schools to do this.
So, we're announcing that the applications can start today. You don't have to wait till the RFPs go out. It's not once a year. It is a rolling application because to me there is an urgent need to get more schools involved in this. We have over $20 million in our budget to fund this, and I want to add more and more across the State of New York.
And also, we're going to be helping low-income New Yorkers on Medicaid access mental health care. I've allocated $15 million to increase the Medicaid rates for providers. We need more providers in this space. I talked to the young people about this profession. I said, if I want some free career advice from your Governor, this is an emerging area. We need more people to be trained in all the elements of mental health services.
Also, I'm going to be I'm having additional funding for the school-based health centers as well. So, we've made major commitments. You've heard me talk about with great pride that I'm the first Governor to really put a spotlight on mental health. My very first budget had over $1 billion to deal with all aspects of the mental health spectrum, whether it's making sure there's more psychiatric beds available, that there's more supportive housing available, that in the subways and the cities we have teams that are out there bringing people in off the streets and helping them have coping skills to live on their own.
But also, I want to make sure that we don't lose focus of the young people. And that's why today I'm also announcing we're forming a youth advisory board, and I think I have some outstanding candidates standing behind me to participate in our statewide youth advisory board because I will learn so much more from a session that I just had than anything I can ever do talking to adult experts. These are the experts. They see what's going on. They are living it. And they have the courage to step forward and talk about it. And I told them, don't underestimate the resiliency that's now part of who you are because you came through this pandemic and you've suffered the slings and arrows and the challenges, but here you are standing and not just worried about your own mental health and what's going on in your world, but you're also want to reach out to other students who you see struggling, you want to help them. And that's how we build a healthy environment for our students.
So, really proud to be here to help end the stigma associated with asking for help, these young people know that that exists, but we can break through together. And also, to the adults, the school administration, the professionals, Northern Rivers, who stepped up and provide services all over the State of New York, this is how we're starting to change people's lives for the better and I could not be prouder.
I also want to recognize that Commissioner Dr. Ann Sullivan is here. The Commissioner of Office of Mental Health who has been on this journey with me a very long time. We've gone all over the state talking about this, convening people, trying to find solutions with the legislature, other actions that we could take at the state level. So, I want to commend her for her extraordinary leadership as well. So, thank you very much.