The City’s First Lady Chirlane McCray has a passion for mental health awareness, and has invested much time and energy in both public policy and touring hospitals, schools and community centers to talk about it.
“It’s absolutely essential to get the word out about mental health and how common it is,” said McCray. “Mental health affects one in five people and it’s all treatable. People don’t need to feel so much shame and stigma.”
That’s why she’s the point person tomorrow kicking off the first-ever Weekend of Faith for Mental Health. The idea is to that a 1,000 interfaith houses of worship will devote weekend services to the issue of mental health, reaching a quarter of a million New Yorkers over the course of the weekend.
The citywide tour will include McCray. City Commissioners and elected representatives visiting houses of worship to share information about ThriveNYC, New York City’s $850 million plan to improve mental health services and promote mental wellness.
Clergy have an important role to play in improving the mental health of their communities. ThriveNYC recognizes this and provides a number of programs to train and build skills for clergy including:
- A virtual learning center for community based organizations. The web-based learning center, which will host a skills training library, educational videos, tip sheets, links to resources and more, will have material designed to meet the needs of clergy.
- The City has already developed a toolkit specifically for clergy and hosted coaching sessions to assist them with delivering positive messages about mental health to their houses of worship.
- The City is working closely with houses of worship to host mental health first aid trainings, so New Yorkers can be trained in places where they are comfortable and with people that they trust.
- The Administration sponsored five mental health first aid sessions, one in each borough, specifically to train clergy in anticipation of this weekend.
“Clergy are New York City’s frontline workers and first responders for mental distress in all of its forms. Whether it is a widow with her grief turned to severe depression, a mother worrying about her daughter’s sudden change of personality or a husband overwhelmed by his wife’s anxiety, New Yorkers tend to consult their faith leaders,” said McCray.
“This weekend, one quarter of a million New Yorkers will hear from leadership they trust that mental illness and substance abuse disorders are treatable. And to have so many respected faith leaders speak openly to their congregations about a subject that has been taboo for so long will go a long way to lift the stigma around mental illness and substance abuse disorders.”
McCray will deliver remarks on mental health awareness tomorrow in Brooklyn starting at 11 a.m. at Bethel Seventh Day Adventist, 457 Grand Avenue. Then at noon she’ll bet at the East Midwood Jewish Center, 1625 Ocean Avenue. before finishing her Brooklyn day at 1 p.m. at the Emmaus Seventh Day Adventist Church, 1144 Flatbush Avenue.
