Rally For Healthy Minds, Healthy Kids
a part of HMHK’s State Budget Advocacy Week
Wednesday February 22nd, 2023 | 11:00am
Our Rally for Healthy Minds, Healthy Kids mobilizes advocates and champions, like you, to be a part of our movement to end New York’s mental and behavioral health crisis.
Our rally brought together advocates, caregivers, youth, service providers and elected leaders to call on Governor Hochul and the State Legislature to ensure that state budget investments prioritize children, youth and families amid decades of chronic disinvestment in the children’s behavioral health system.
Speakers & Host
(in order of appearance)
Carlos F. Rosales – Citizens’ Committee for Children of New York
Alice Bufkin – Associate Executive Director for Policy and Advocacy at Citizens’ Committee for Children of New York
Brad Hansen – Public Policy Director at Families Together in New York State
Shoshana Hershkowitz – Statewide Organizer at Citizen Action of New York
Shannon Zielinski – Care Coordinator at Villa of Hope; Board Member at the New York State Coalition for Children’s Behavioral Health
Preem Cabey – Member of our HMHK Community Leadership Council
Nura Anwar – Advisor for our HMHK Community Leadership Council
Christina Hauptman – Member of our HMHK Community Leadership Council
Tiara Springer-Love – Director of Youth Power at Families Together in New York State
Mashrafi Anwar – Member of our HMHK Community Leadership Council
Diane Tanner – Member of our HMHK Community Leadership Council
Tamara Begel – Member of our HMHK Community Leadership Council
Cathy Salazer – Member of our HMHK Community Leadership Council
Carol Murdie – Member of our HMHK Community Leadership Council
Cody Hauptman – Member of our HMHK Community Leadership Council
Why This Matters
For nearly four years our campaign has championed and advocated for the needs of New York’s children, youth and families amid decades of chronic disinvestment in the children’s behavioral health system.
Despite the promise of significant behavioral health investments in Governor Hochul’s proposed budget, our coalition must underscore the reality facing tens of thousands of families every day in our state.
The percentage of children who have anxiety or depression in New York grew from 8.9% in 2016 to 10.9% in 2020, a 22.5% increase. Half of youth with major depressive episodes in the past year did not receive treatment, and death by suicide is the second leading cause of death for youth age 15-19 in our state. This crisis was further exacerbated by the many economic and social harms heightened by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Frighteningly, families throughout the state are facing waitlists in the hundreds or more, forced to wait months for services they desperately need today. For instance, one provider in Western New York has a seven-month wait for outpatient clinic services, while another capital region provider of community-based services has twice as many children waiting for services as they have capacity to serve. We are hearing similar stories throughout the state of impossibly long waitlists and families unable to access care.
It is clear that we must ensure that children, youth, and families are prioritized in this year’s State Budget to correct a decades-long behavioral health crisis driven by the lack of investments in our mental and behavioral health system for children and families.
