The New York State Office of Mental Health has conditionally awarded $6 million to launch behavioral health crisis response pilot programs in three communities across the state, the agency announced Feb. 18, with the goal of shifting crisis calls toward a health-led rather than law enforcement-led response.
The funding provides $2 million each to the city of Rochester, Central Nassau Guidance & Counseling Services and Children’s Home of Jefferson County, according to the Office of Mental Health. The agency said the awards are designed to help urban, suburban and rural communities establish crisis response services for behavioral health emergencies, and that the pilot programs will incorporate trained behavioral health professionals and peers into crisis response.
The money is part of recommendations from the state’s Daniel’s Law Task Force report.
The state framed the effort as a way to ensure that crisis response systems prioritize a health-led response when a New Yorker experiences a behavioral health crisis. The agency said the pilots are intended to provide a safe and compassionate response for people in crisis.
“By establishing a health-led system of response, communities can safely, effectively, and compassionately respond to individuals who experience a behavioral health crisis,” OMH Commissioner Dr. Ann Sullivan said in the announcement. “These pilot programs, in conjunction with our Technical Assistance Center, will provide a roadmap for other communities across the State to develop a health-led behavioral health crisis response system.”
The Office of Mental Health said the awards are conditional and that the pilots, paired with its Technical Assistance Center, are meant to serve as a model other communities can follow. The agency said immediate access to help and support for someone in a behavioral health crisis can save a life, according to the announcement, though the release as distributed did not detail timelines for when the three programs would begin operating.
