Mental Health Update

MHANYS Director of the School Mental Health and Training Resource Center, Amy Molloy and I were on Monday with Susan Arbetter on Capital Pressroom, highlighting the work we are doing to mitigate the impact of the mental health crisis in schools through the Resource Center. It gave us an opportunity to highlight the great work Amy, her team and the MHAs across New York State are doing to work with schools to help respond to their mental health needs. The Resource Center has responded to hundreds of calls and on line requests across the State from educators, administrators, families and students.

Advocacy on The School Mental Health and Training Resource Center

Our advocacy this year is to continue to fund a million dollars in the budget for the Resource Center. We are appreciative that the Governor has earmarked $500,000 for the Resource Center. As we know the Center is a great bang for the buck. As MHANYS Public Policy Director, John Richter said, “The average cost to educate a student in public school is $22,000 per year. Adding the support of the Resource Center in terms of the work we are doing to engage with schools, provide lesson plans and curriculums, provide teacher instruction and support community resources adds an additional 33 cents to that total. We strongly believe this is a worthy investment”

To find out more about the Resource Center, you can go to www.mentalhealthednys.org