Mission
Who Are We?
Mental Health Association of New York City (MHA-NYC) is a
nonprofit organization that addresses mental health needs in New
York City and across the nation. It is a local organization with
national impact and has a three-part mission of services, advocacy
and education. MHA-NYC identifies unmet needs and develops
culturally sensitive programs to improve the lives of individuals
and families affected by mental illness while promoting the
importance of mental health.
Link2Health
Solutions, a wholly-owned nonprofit subsidiary of MHA-NYC, is a
leading innovator developing technology and communications
infrastructure critical for supporting the emotional well-being of
individuals and communities in need. Through its service networks
and agency partnerships, Link2Health Solutions provides
high-quality, scalable programs that reach over 500,000 people
nationally every year.
What Do We Do?
With statistics reporting that an unprecedented one in
every five people will need mental health care during their lives,
MHA-NYC is a resource to many families and individuals in New York
City and throughout the country, serving as a link to mental health
and wellness.
What Programs and Services Do We
Offer?
The life-changing programs and resources we provide for children,
adolescents and adults focus on restoring hope so that each person
has a better chance of leading a fulfilling and productive life in
their community.
Crisis and Linkage Referral
Services
LifeNet is the leading call center for support,
information, and referrals to treatment for mental health and
substance use issues and is staffed exclusively by trained mental
health professionals. It is New York City's only toll-free,
multilingual, multi-cultural, confidential crisis and referral
service available 24 hours a day, 7 days per week. Lifenet manages
nine different hotline access numbers, and has served over one
million callers since its inception in 1996.
LifeNet's expert ability enabled MHA-NYC to respond quickly and
link people to mental health services immediately after 9/11.
Initially established to serve residents in NYC's five boroughs,
its phenomenal response after 9/11 led to LifeNet being called upon
by the American Red Cross to assist in their Mental Health Recovery
Program post-9/11 and again in 2005 after Hurricane Katrina
devastated the Gulf Coast. LifeNet continues as the point-of-entry
for NYC's 9/11 Mental Health and Substance Abuse Program.
1-800-LIFENET / www.800LifeNet.org.
Link2Health Solutions administers large scale suicide prevention
programs through agreements with the US Department of Health and
Human Services' Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services
Administration and the Veterans Administration. These include the
National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, a network
of 140 crisis centers nationwide, the Veterans Suicide Prevention
Hotline and innovative online resources such as the Veterans Chat.
For more information, view the page about MHA-NYC's Programs & Services.
Direct Care
Services
MHA-NYC provides vitally needed mental health services and support
to help children, adolescents, families and adults with emotional
challenges get their lives back on track.
MHA-NYC's programs are incubators for emerging best practices in
the field and are often replicated by other organizations or
adopted as the gold standard by oversight agencies. The
significance of each program's achievements lies in the pioneering
models they employ, and in the standards of excellence and
imagination they represent.
For more information, view the page about MHA-NYC's Programs & Services.
Advocacy
Through the Center for Policy, Advocacy, and
Education, MHA-NYC takes the long view in its commitment to
advocacy, by tracking changing mental health trends and addressing
unmet mental health needs. The organization is committed to the
development of, and advocacy for a comprehensive, community-based
mental health system that supports high quality practices designed
to meet the mental health needs of a diverse population. Since it
was formed in 2003, the Center has:
- Created population-based alliances and coalitions such as the
4,500 member Geriatric Mental Health Alliance of New York and the
newly formed Veterans Mental Health Coalition;
- Formed task forces including an initiative to preserve the
capacity of New York State to deliver behavioral health services as
the Governor's Commission on Health Care Facilities in the 21st
Century selected hospitals and nursing homes to be closed or
restructured;
- Released numerous reports including a study regarding
co-occurring health, mental health, and substance abuse disorders
for The New York State Health Foundation; and
- Successfully passed the first Geriatric Mental Health
legislation in the country.
For more information, view the page about MHA-NYC's Advocacy
efforts.
Public Information and
Education
MHA-NYC promotes the link between mental health and emotional
well-being. Our message of wellness reaches those burdened by
stress, encourages early detection and intervention contributes to
increasing awareness of mental wellness. MHA-NYC continues to
target at-risk populations through multilingual public education
and outreach programs. MHA-NYC initiatives include:
- An aggressive public education program to reduce the stigma
associated with mental health and promote mental wellness in the
community;
- Training programs for mental health agency and human service
professionals in new technologies and skills to better serve
emerging populations with mental health needs; and
- Public awareness campaigns that educate people about the signs,
symptoms and latest treatments available for mental wellness and
that encourage people to seek help early on.
MHA-NYC is proud to have been selected to participate in the
Outreach Partnership Program of the National Institute of Mental
Health. Visit the NIMH Outreach Partnership Program for more
information.