On June 15th Governor Hochul held the historic Youth Mental Health Summit. It was an unprecedented event in New York State and we are hopeful and supportive of the many reforms put forth by the Governor to help respond to the crisis in services for young people.
Bringing together State and national leaders in the field to come up with solutions to this need will hopefully help to transform this crisis in care. Millions of young people were suffering even before COVID but the pandemic made things even worse. Isolation, depression and anxiety leading to thoughts of suicide and for some sadly deaths of despair through suicide completion or overdose.
The summit was a call for real tangible solutions—many that can be acted on right now and not down the road.
The Office of Mental Health has responded to this need by making New York State the nation’s leader in funding Youth and Teen Mental Health First Aid. MHANYS is working with OMH to implement the most aggressive training campaign for Youth and Teen MHFA.
We will continue to provide 160 Youth Mental Health First Aid Training over a two year period—all at no cost to any participant. In addition, we are working with sites across New York to help implement Teen Mental Health First Aid. We are in the process of a statewide mapping process to identify possible partners.
In concert with the Governor’s Office and the NYS Office of Mental Health, we have developed landing page that lays out how you can find out more about Youth and Teen Mental Health First Aid and you can sign up for a training today. Our training schedule is available through October and will be undated periodically. Sign up today for a free Youth Mental Health First Aid training.
Link is attached
https://www.mentalhealthednys.org/ymhfa-tmhfa/
https://mhanys.org/mhfa/
