Transcript: Mayor Adams, NYC Health + Hospital President and CEO Dr. Katz, Public Schools Chancellor Aviles-Ramos Celebrate Opening of 16 New Mental Health Clinics in New York City Public Schools

March 18, 2025

Deputy Mayor Suzanne Miles-Gustave, Health and Human Services: Good morning, everyone. Welcome to PS35. I'm Suzanne Miles-Gustave, New York City's deputy mayor for Health and Human Services. And as you might know, this is my first public appearance as a new D.M., and I couldn't be happier to be with this team and continue to make progress for all New Yorkers.  

So we're here this morning to talk about an important issue that has affected all of us over the past several years, and that is mental health. And in particular, how we're continuing to act to support the mental health needs of our young people. So before I turn things over to the mayor to share some details, I want to acknowledge who's here with us today.  

So along with Mayor Adams, we have New York City Public Schools first deputy chancellor, Dan Weisberg, New York City Health and Hospital president and CEO, Dr. Katz, PS35 principal, Graciela Navarro, and Natalie Scheel, a counselor from the Frances E. Carter School in Brooklyn, Counselor Scheel. So with that, I'll turn the mic over to Mayor Adams. 

Mayor Eric Adams: Thank you so much, deputy mayor. This issue is an important issue, and when we held our youth town halls, I was surprised to see how much this issue came up. The young people talked about finding real places to deal with some of the mental health issues that they were facing, and it's just challenging being a young adult now. They're inundated with so many different stimuli that are negative in nature.  

And we have to be honest about the conversation, not only citywide and in general, but specifically in Black and brown communities. We know in Black and brown communities that it is a well-kept secret that you do not acknowledge mental health disorders. You're silent about it. As a matter of fact, in many cases, you are ashamed. Many parents feel as though when they place their children in the care and needs that they're stigmatized, they're placed on different career paths, and it's a real concern. And this silent suffering of just dealing with the trauma.  

Can you imagine if you're a young person, and the night before there was a shooting and you lost one of your classmates or best friends? Or if you're living in a domestic violence situation, watching your parent being abused in the household. I remember when I was a young police officer, a young girl used to sleep with a coat on every night because she was being abused by some of the male members in her household. And these children carry this, and we ask why academically they're not achieving.  

You can't do multiplication and division when you are divided, when you're struggling, when you're hurting, when you're suffering. And we have to be trauma identifiers. We have to be able to see what are some of the telltale signs that a child is going through some form of trauma. And so I really take my hat off to our teens, what Dr. Katz is doing, what the New York City Public School, what they're doing, and our partners. And the everyday teachers.  

I was speaking with the parent coordinator who talked about what inspired her. She saw a young boy punch his mother in front of her. These children are hurting, and hurt people hurt people. And they're going into environments where there's a lot of pain. And this is not pretty work. This is what we're doing, it’s extremely challenging work. And we have to be willing to do just that.  

And that is what we're doing today, peeling back the layers, dealing with all of the rivers that feed the sea of mental health disorder. And we have to dam each one of them and create new rivers and new streams. And so I just want to personally say how important this is for me, that we get this right and the things we have been doing. And this is why we're kicking off Mental Health Week, where we are uplifting many of the ways we're helping New Yorkers take care of their mental health, not only young people by being in the school, but even older adults.  

Loneliness is the equivalent of having a bad smoking habit. And there are places across the globe that they have loneliness as ours. Many of our older adults are living in environments where they are alone. And that plays on your health. It's one of the social determinants of health. And we're examining all of those areas.  

So the conversation I've been having with our young people is telling, they're saying both verbally and in their actions that they want help. They need help. And we're supposed to supply them that help. And too many people are struggling. It can affect us all, no matter our age. But mental health issues have had devastating impacts on our young people and the city.  

And after COVID, it appears as though it has elevated to a higher level. That's why throughout this administration, we made it a priority to focus on mental health and to gather the resources that our young people and the people of this city need. And since the start of the administration, we have made access to mental health care for young people a priority.  

In 2023, we became the only public school system in the country to bring yoga and mindfulness curriculum to our students from pre-K through 12th grade. And many people did not understand how significant it was, although the science showed how it could regulate one's nervous system by learning how to breathe correctly and mindfulness. It was cutting edge thinking and our desire to think outside the box. And we did it.  

Our administration launched plant-based food focused menus in public schools on Fridays, encouraging students to eat more plant-based foods, taking care of their minds and their bodies. Food matters. And we should not be feeding the healthcare crisis. We should be doing everything that's possible to teach good habits to our young people.  

We issued a health commissioner advisory, declared unfettered access to social media by our young people a public health hazard. And we sued the five media platforms for their roles in fueling the nationwide mental health crisis among young people. The science is clear. The same way we saw the clear science with other things that are dangerous, we monitor our children's access to dangerous things. Social media is a problem. Increasing suicidal ideations, increasing depression, increasing actions and behaviors that are dangerous for young people. And we're going to continue to stay in that place.  

And we're really proud of what we did with Teenspace, New York City Teenspace, a free tela-mental health service available to all teens in New York City between the ages of 13 and 17 to seek mental health support. And there's so much more we have done, but we have not ignored this issue. And we're going to continue to move in the right direction.  

And today, we're proud to announce and celebrate the opening of the 16th school-based mental health clinic. It will bring in-person services to more than 6,000 students in our public schools in the South Bronx and Brooklyn. These clinics will offer individual family and group therapy on a face-to-face level and will enable teachers to get training to ensure students are supported.  

These are places where our children know they have support. We under-appreciate the value of a school building. It's the focal point of a community. By tearing down the barriers and walls that allow the outside institutions to partner with our schools, these are early identifiers of problems. And the partnership with Lincoln Hospital is going to allow us to identify a problem early and give that continued support. And it's a huge win for us all.  

Now, this is something that Dr. Katz has done over and over again. How do we use these locations as early identifiers for housing, for mental health needs, for food needs? He has really utilized the Health and Hospitals as an early identifier to help some of these long systemic problems.  

We opened the clinics in neighborhoods with the highest rates of school intervention and suspension. That's proactive. The goal is prevention and intervention. We created an upstream solution to downstream problems. This initiative also builds on our mental health continuing partnership, which serves over 20,000 students in 50 schools, advances our State of the City commitment to address mental health concerns across all five boroughs, and makes New York City the best place to raise children and families.  

So these clinics open up a clear road ahead for our teens for New York City, giving them a place to learn coping skills and resilience without financial burden. A place to share their problems and concerns, and people to share them with. Because we know our young people cannot suffer in silence, we're not going to allow that to happen in this administration, and we're going to meet the challenges that these young people are facing in the 21st century and give them the tools and skills that they need. They need to be more than academically smart. They must be emotionally intelligent to be ready for the challenges that they are facing.  

And to the parents out there, it is so challenging raising a young person today. We want to be your partner, and this is one of the mechanisms we're doing to make sure that partnership is longstanding and impactful. Thank you. Thank you, our team, for doing this. 

Deputy Mayor Miles-Gustave: Thank you, Mayor Adams, very powerful. And now I'd like to invite our first deputy chancellor, Dan Weisberg, up to give some remarks. 

First Deputy Chancellor Dan Weisberg: Good morning. Thank you, deputy mayor and congratulations. I understand this is day two, and she reminded me we were colleagues once upon a time, where she was indeed back at the Department of Education, where she was indeed a superstar, I can tell you, mayor. I do recall that. And I want to thank Principal Navarro. Thank you so much for hosting us and for all the great work that you do. And Dr. Katz. Where is Dr. Katz? Our great partner to my left, and Superintendent Sherman as well. Thank you so much for being here.  

And I just want to echo a couple of things that the mayor said. And first, thank him for his strong leadership. I can tell you that from day one, this is a mayor who has prioritized the mental health of our students, not just at press conferences like this, but behind the scenes, when he is talking to the chancellor and I about priorities, and yet takes resources to open clinics like this. And I'm going to talk about the expansion of our school-based mental health clinics in a minute. That takes resources. That takes the mayor prioritizing those resources for something that is really, really important.  

But also, as he said, he's also making sure that the food we serve in our schools, that we take great pride in, is as healthy as possible, because that actually supports mental health. That our students understand breathing exercises and yoga, which will help them to regulate. We all actually need that. We're all under stress. So I really appreciate, mayor, all you do to keep our students and their mental health front of mind all the time. It makes a huge difference.  

The other thing I want to echo is, as Chancellor Aviles-Ramos and I go to schools, which we have the great pleasure to do all the time, we always talk to students. Sometimes it's just passing in a hallway, sometimes at their desk, sometimes it's a formal meeting with the student government. We always ask, what can we do better? What can the school system do better? And one of the issues that comes up over and over and over again, as the mayor says, is mental health. And often it's in the form of, sometimes it's, I need that help. Most of the time it is, I have a friend, I have a classmate, I have a family member who is struggling with mental health, we need more help. So that is why I'm so excited about this announcement and the fact that this school and their wonderful principal and parent coordinator are bringing these services to the students here.  

But this is part of a continuum of resources that we are prioritizing. So we have partnered with a New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene to oversee 215 school-based mental health clinics. They serve nearly 170,000 students across the city, and as the mayor said, concentrated in those schools where we have higher suspensions, higher interventions necessary.  

The number of school-based mental health clinics in this administration has increased by over 40 percent. And again, that's because the mayor and his team have prioritized these resources.  

But it isn't just the specific mental health clinics, it's about the entire network of care that we're able to provide to our students. So over 145,000 of our students have access to mental health services through school-based primary care clinics. We also have great partnerships with our CBOs, with our community-based organizations. So we have about 130 of those partnerships that reach more than 317,000 students.  

But I want to mention another piece of the puzzle that's so important, and that's our school counselors, our social workers, our psychologists, our parent coordinators. It's the people. And we have increased the number of social workers, psychologists, and guidance counselors in our schools by over 1,000 just in the last five years. The number of social workers alone has increased by over 25 percent in the last five years. That's in direct response to what we are hearing from our families and from our students. We need more help.  

And so I want to close talking about that human element, because I threw a bunch of numbers at you, but of course it's not the numbers, it's the relationships in our schools between adults and students. And so it's that school aide who notices that a child is crying in a corner during lunch and makes sure to talk to the child, makes sure that child gets help. It is the high school teacher who's giving up her lunch to sit down with a child who's going through a tough breakup and is feeling depressed. That's happening thousands and thousands of times every day. What we want to make sure we do as part of this administration is give them all the help that they need in the form of clinics like this. So I couldn't be more excited. Thank you, everybody, for being here today. 

Deputy Mayor Miles-Gustave: Thank you, First Deputy Chancellor Dan Weisberg. And now let me bring up Dr. Mitch Katz, our present CEO of Health and Hospital Corporation to say a few words. 

Dr. Mitchell Katz, CEO and President, NYC Health and Hospitals: Good morning, everybody. And I want to thank you, Mr. Mayor first. Two things, great choice on the new deputy mayor, but also for funding this program for us. You know, I wish everybody in the audience could watch the mayor when he's interacting with a young person, because he is the most natural mentor. It's totally empowering, it's not a sort of paternalistic relationship when he talks to a young person. He has that sense of, you know, how do I help you to be the best you can be? I've watched him offer jobs and internships and opportunities, and I think this is just an extension of how he feels about it.  

In my couple of moments, I want to talk a little bit about the brain chemistry of this, since I'm the doctor on the panel, and just make sure everybody understands that mental illness is not a static thing. Our brains are wired to change. Our brains are wired to respond to positive interactions and to negative interactions. And that's why clinics like this are so important, because if somebody is on a negative pathway of thoughts, where they're having recurrent negative thoughts, they're reliving traumas that they've had, what's going to happen is that those thoughts are going to continue on negatively, and they're going to shape the brain negatively. It's going to color their daily interactions, whereby interactions that might have been neutral are going to seem negative. And you're just going to build those brain circuits. I mean, this is true of all of us, but it's especially true of young people, because their brains are developing more rapidly.  

When you interrupt those negative circuits, and you instead replace them with positive circuits, with positive thoughts, positive relationships, and occasionally medications if necessary, what you do is you change the brain chemistry in a positive way. So then experiences that might otherwise have seemed neutral might now seem positive. And so there's a tremendous opportunity through clinics like this. This is our 16th one. This one is closely aligned with Lincoln Hospital. All of the information is protected under HIPAA. And in fact, mental health, substance abuse, and sexual health records all have an additional protection.  

As users of healthcare, if any of you had signed a consent for your medical records to be released, we still could not release your mental health records. Mental health records require an additional and specific consent. You have to say, I want you to release my mental health records. And that's because, as the mayor spoke, there is a stigma, there's a lot of misunderstanding. We should feel that young people who come forward and say, I'm feeling sad, I've had bad experiences, they are the healthiest of the young people. They are the most well-adapted young people.  

What we want to be is a place where people feel comfortable coming forward. This clinic will be very much that, and we're so happy to be in partnership with the school district and this particular school to have it. Thank you so much.  

Deputy Mayor Miles-Gustave: Thank you so much, Dr. Katz. So today's announcement really shows the strength in supporting New Yorkers through our partnerships. So we can meet young people where they are and to offer support at a time and a space that's accessible for them. But to put a finer point on the individual interactions that will occur here, I want to have Counselor Scheel come up and share their experiences as a counselor in these programs. Thank you. 

Natalie Scheel, Social Worker, NYC Health and Hospitals: Good morning, everyone. My name is Natalie Scheel. My pronouns are she/they, and I work for NYC Health and Hospitals Woodhall as a social worker. So I have the privilege of opening one of our first school-based mental health clinics in Brooklyn. So I work with children from kindergarten to eighth grade at P.S./I.S. 384 Frances E. Carter.  

Prior to the launch of the program, I actually had the opportunity to really prioritize building trust with the school community and getting to learn their culture. So with that, I conducted a professional development for teachers. I liaised with the staff and the administration to identify the specific needs of the school, because every school is different. And I also hosted parent workshops where I talked about the program and how we could best serve the children there. I think as Dr. Katz mentioned, I've also provided a lot of reassurance to families and parents and caregivers that all of the services are confidential and covered under HIPAA and also that NYC Health and Hospitals will treat everyone regardless of identity, immigration status, or ability to pay.  

When a child first comes to therapy, they are not cognitive beings. They're feelers, and their natural language is play. They can't talk about their feelings like you or I could in a one-on-one therapy session, so we have to meet them where they're at. So I use a lot of elements of play therapy in the work that I do, which actually allows the child to take the lead in a safe space where I provide encouragement and validation and really provide them the support that they need in order to play through their feelings. Eventually, there are themes that emerge within that space, and then I can identify those feelings with the child, and we can process it together.  

In sessions, I also help children develop emotional and behavioral regulation skills. They're very catered to each child. What one child needs, maybe the other doesn't, so that could look very different depending on the child. Maybe it's getting all of our energy with a physical activity. Maybe it's more sensory deprivation where we sit with the lights down low in the tent and we do deep breathing together. By actually meeting the children where they're at, we can develop a space for them to feel safe and work to continue to grow and thrive.  

I also provide crisis interventions for the schools, so that can look like a child who is in distress in the classroom and maybe doesn't have their learning brain on and needs additional help. I can pull them aside, give them that one-on-one individualized attention, help them regulate their emotions, and then return to class. This actually ensures that there's a more stable learning environment for all students and teachers alike because the student is getting their individualized support and teachers can focus on teaching.  

The response from parents, the school community has been overwhelmingly positive. A school psychologist recently told me that I was like a superhero, so I'm living out like one of my childhood dreams too. There are teachers that have asked if I could stay in the classroom permanently, and I think every single one of my first graders has asked, when are you going to pick me up? I don't have the heart to tell them that some of them don't require this level of service.  

But, all that to say, I really do feel like it speaks to the impact of this work and the need for mental health clinics in schools. I also support teachers by providing essential skills like trauma-informed care and de-escalation strategies. They really create a more resilient and supportive classroom environment for everybody involved. Our school-based mental health clinics also support families by eliminating access barriers to care. Families, caregivers, parents all work so hard already. It's another thing to then have to add attending appointments and arranging transportation and paying for transportation to get there. Having a school-based mental health clinic right there eliminates that barrier too. They can receive services on-site and parents don't have to take time out of their already busy day to ensure a child is making their appointments.  

So many children can benefit from one-on-one therapy, I think adults as well. But it's been incredibly rewarding working with schools and children to uplift their confidence and give them the tools they need to grow and thrive. Children, they're our future. We can't make the world a better place unless we invest in them. Thank you. 

Deputy Mayor Miles-Gustave: Thank you, Counselor Scheel. So again, we're just excited to add even more capacity to reach even more young people with today's announcement and mark Mental Health Week. So with that, I'll turn things back over to the mayor to take on-topic questions. 

Mayor Adams: Thank you. Thank you so much. 

Question: I wanted to actually ask Counselor Scheel. What do you find are the most common concerns for the children? Is it social media? Is it issues at home? What is the common [inaudible]? 

Scheel: I think the most common presenting symptoms that I personally have dealt with are symptoms of anxiety, depression, trauma, ACEs, adverse childhood experiences. And I do find an increase in eating disorders as well. So we are seeing a bit of that, PTSD, and just adjustment disorders. Being a child is hard. 

Question: Mayor, I was just wondering if you could provide an update on two related mental health initiatives. If you had any more information about where the lawsuit against social media companies is out? It was announced more than a year ago. I was wondering if anything substantial has come about that? And then where are you at in your deliberation around cellphones in schools, which of course has a mental health impact? 

Mayor Adams: Yeah, no, so true. Both of them are great questions. The wheels of justice grind slow, but exceedingly fine. And right now, the corp counsel is still pursuing this lawsuit, and we're seeing that other municipalities are interested in this because we have to really deal with the role of social media. I think that all of us, when we were children, we had the common problems that come with childhood. But social media has used algorithms and methods to draw our children into dark places, and we have to really address that, and there needs to be some responsibility that's attached to their behavior. And so the lawsuit is still moving forward. Corp counsel is still engaged.  

We strongly believe cell phones should be banned in school. The science is clear that cell phones are really distracting our students, our teachers. It's adding to bullying, it creates an unhealthy environment. We gotta get it right. Other administrations attempted to do it, just to have to withdraw and pull back. And so now, I'm happy to see the governor is very much engaged, because in our conversations, we communicated with the UFT, with other teachers. There's a cost attached to it. Many of these phones, I learned the other day when I bought one, they could be $1,000. And so when we start collecting those phones, we have a real responsibility to make sure that we can safeguard them properly.  

What are some of the ways that other municipalities are doing by using the pouches, do we allow the students to keep them? And I don't know if many of you realize, students are amazingly smart. Using watches to other devices, cutting the pouch open and restitching it up. I mean, the methods that they would think of. So we want to get it right. And it’s our hope to do it, but we have to get it right so we don't have to reverse it. 

Question: Is your goal to have a policy by next school year, six months or so from now? 

Mayor Adams: That is the goal. And the help from the state will help a lot. The dollar amount that the governor put in to accomplish this is not going to meet the real financial challenge. But that is our goal. We would like to go into the next school year with a real plan.  

And Dan could help me here, but we already have schools who have no cell phone policies. It's always great when it comes from a natural environment. If we could have parents, student bodies, all come together to come up with a plan that's in place to do it, it's always easier. 

Because I don't know if you know New Yorkers like I do. When you try to force New Yorkers to do something, it's a whole different mindset. And so if we can get everyone engaged, I think if we educate parents, educate students, educate the teaching population who are already there, I think we have a more natural, organic way to say there's no place for phones in our schools.

And we've got to lead by example. Because we can't tell little Johnny, don't use your phone, and then the teacher is texting away on their phone. We've got to lead by example. If it's a zero phone policy, then everyone must get the phone out of the school. 

Question: Is there any incentive policy that you would build into that? If kids don't use their phones for the day, there's sort of some reward or something? 

Mayor Adams: One child asked me that, and he says, if I don't use my phone for a day, would you give me an upgraded iPhone? So we're looking at any and everything. We know we have to do this for the health of our children and for educational reasons. Thank you.