FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: December 18, 2025
CONTACT: Pakhi Kane – [email protected], (646) 379-2523

Mayor’s Office of Community Mental Health Celebrates Key Term Accomplishments

December 18, 2025 

NEW YORK – Today the Mayor’s Office of Community Mental Health (OCMH) highlighted key accomplishments achieved during the Adams Administration to expand access to equitable, culturally responsive mental health care and to strengthen the systems New Yorkers rely on during moments of needs and crisis.

As New York City’s first mayoral office solely dedicated to mental health. Codified into the City Charter in December 2021 during the COVID-19 pandemic, OCMH was established to ensure lasting leadership and accountability in addressing the mental health needs of all New Yorkers. As an innovation hub, OCMH bridges policy, practice, and community wisdom to drive forward new approaches to care. The office serves as a catalyst for system change, a trusted convener, and a coordinator across city and state agencies, community-based organizations, and academic institutions.

Through trust-based partnerships and evidence-based strategies, OCMH advances a Community Mental Health approach: one that expands care beyond clinical settings and embeds support in the everyday environments where people live, learn, work, and connect. This model recognizes that mental health exists along a dynamic continuum—encompassing everything from crisis and struggle to coping, resilience, and thriving—and emphasizes that connectedness, belonging, and dignity are essential to healing and well-being throughout that journey.

Between 2022 and 2025, OCMH expanded the footprint of mental health care by strengthening both clinical and non-clinical networks of support. By collaborating with over 30 city agencies, the office expanded mental health capacity across the public sector– equipping staff with the specialized skills and tools to integrate care directly into every point of service for New Yorkers. Collectively, this ongoing work and partnerships have delivered services and critical resources across all five boroughs, impacting tens of thousands through agency-led initiatives and workforce development efforts.

“We took office with a simple promise: to ‘Get Stuff Done,’ and, four years later, our administration can say we delivered that every day for working-class New Yorkers,” said Mayor Adams. “We drove shootings to record lows and pushed jobs and small businesses to record highs. We rewrote the playbook on homelessness and mental health to finally get New Yorkers living on our streets the help they need, and, after decades of half-measures, passed historic housing legislation to turn New York into a ‘City of Yes.’ We overhauled the way our students learn to read and do math, cut the cost of childcare, and forgave medical debt. We eliminated taxes for low-income families, launched free universal after-school programming, and launched the nation’s first community health worker apprenticeship with a behavioral health specialization to meet the growing needs of those suffering with mental health issues while investing in our workforce. We got scaffolding off our buildings, trash bags off our streets, and opened up new public spaces for New Yorkers to enjoy. The haters may have doubted us, but the results are clear. On issue after issue, we brought common-sense leadership to create a safer, more affordable city, and our work has changed our city for the better; it will stand the test of time because we made New York City the best place to live and raise a family.”

“Over the last 4 years, the Adams administration has demonstrated its unwavering commitment to ensuring that all New Yorkers are able to access the mental health care they deserve. OCMH has strengthened the City’s full continuum of care—expanding rapid crisis response while investing in prevention, early intervention, workforce development, and community-based supports that promote everyday mental wellness,” said Executive Director  Eva Wong. “From New Yorkers in acute crisis to families, youth, and workers navigating daily stress, our office’s work ensured every individual and community is seen, supported, and able to access care before challenges escalate. And it’s not only about professional services – it’s also about equipping everyday New Yorkers with the practical tools to manage stress, care for themselves and support those around them. When we build those capacities alongside access to care, we strengthen the fabric of our communities”

Key Term Accomplishments Included:

Launching the Nation’s First Community Health Worker Apprenticeship 

To address the City’s behavioral health workforce shortage, to improve capacity for healthcare and social services, and to create vital living-wage pathways for NYC, OCMH launched the first nationally registered Community Health Worker apprenticeship with a behavioral health specialization. The six-month, paid “earn-while-you-learn” program combines on-the-job training, fully funded continuing education, and nationally recognized certification. Eighty percent of participants were selected for ongoing employment following completion, and 70 percent expressed interest in continuing education or advanced training. This initiative supports Mayor Adams’ moonshot goal of delivering 30,000 apprenticeships by 2030.

Scaling Evidence-Based, Community-Driven Youth Mental Health Supports 

OCMH completed the first-ever U.S. adaptation of the World Health Organization’s Early Adolescent Skills for Emotions (EASE) intervention co-developed by OCMH, the New School Center for Global Mental Health, together with the NYC Department of Youth and Community Development and Brooklyn-based youth, families, and community organizations. More than 50 community-based staff were trained to deliver mental health skills to over 300 youth between the ages of 10-16 and their caregivers, which expanded access to early intervention supports and strengthened community resilience. EASE will expand to 11 afterschool programs in Brooklyn, Queens, and Manhattan.

Pioneering Holistic Mental Health Care for Foster Care Youth 

Through the Soul Care Program, OCMH partnered with the Administration for Children’s Services, the Center for Fair Futures, Foster Youth Impact, and the Public Policy Lab to deliver holistic, youth-informed mental health supports to foster care youth ages 13–26. Piloted across five foster care agencies and serving approximately 200 young people, the program integrates personalized coaching, creative expression, mentorship, and community-based supports to improve long-term mental health outcomes.

Strengthening Mental Health Crisis Response and Transparency 

OCMH continued to expand B-HEARD, the City’s behavioral health emergency response model, now operating across 31 precincts citywide. Since launch, B-HEARD teams have responded to nearly 30,000 mental health-related 911 calls, providing rapid access to care led by mental health professionals.

OCMH also advanced transparency and accountability through the NYC Involuntary Transports Dashboard and published the City’s first-ever annual report detailing clinician- and officer-initiated transports under NYS’s Mental Hygiene Law.

Building Community Capacity Through Training and Psychological First Aid 

Through the Academy for Community Behavioral Health, OCMH delivered 30 training courses in 2025 in English, Spanish, and Chinese, reaching more than 3,000 learners across over 200 organizations. In partnership with The New School Center for Global Mental Health, OCMH trained 845 New Yorkers in Psychological First Aid, including hundreds of frontline staff supporting asylum-seeking families at Humanitarian Emergency Response and Relief Centers.

Advancing a Comprehensive Strategy to Strengthen the Behavioral Health Workforce 

OCMH published and operationalized Bridging the Gap: Challenges and Solutions for a Thriving Behavioral Health Workforce, a first-of-its-kind framework addressing workforce shortages through talent development, educational access, career pathways, and capacity building. Building on extensive listening sessions with Peer Support Workers and Community Health Workers, OCMH convened 17 City and State partners to implement policy enhancements and launch nine strategic initiatives to improve retention, recognition, and career advancement.

Providing Critical Resources to Asylum-Seeking Families 

OCMH released multilingual guides for providers and caregivers supporting asylum-seeking children and expanded free access to training and mental health resources for those serving migrant families. Specifically, OCMH provided Psychological First-Aid training to approximately 500 staff members working directly at City-run Humanitarian Emergency Response and Relief Centers (HERRCs) and associated legal clinics, at the start of the migrant crisis. This equipped frontline personnel with essential skills to offer immediate, basic support to asylum-seeking families during crisis.

Validating Brief Interventions for Families in Transition

OCMH partnered with Ohel Children’s Home and Family Services, Department of Homeless Services, and Adelphi University to pilot bilingual (Spanish/English) resources and parenting workshops for asylum-seeking and families with young children experiencing homelessness. The initiative proved that one-off, brief social-emotional interventions are effective even in unstable environments – increasing parental self-efficacy and emotional resilience for 100 families across six shelter locations in Brooklyn and Queens in the initial phase. This pilot has provided a scalable model for delivering mental health supports to populations in high transition settings.

About the Mayor’s Office of Community Mental Health 

The Mayor’s Office of Community Mental Health is committed to improving mental health outcomes for all New Yorkers so that more people can get the support they need to live healthy, fulfilling lives. OCMH coordinates citywide mental health policy, strengthens crisis response, builds workforce capacity, and partners with communities to address systemic barriers to care. Rooted in equity, racial justice, and cultural responsiveness, OCMH advances a community-centered approach that recognizes lived experience, resilience, and the diverse needs of New York City’s communities.

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