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Strengthening Our Mental Health Care System

“No issue that I’ve worked on over the past few years has been more important than reversing decades of
disinvestment in mental health care in New York. Or more urgently needed." - Micah Lasher

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What Micah’s Done

As New York State’s Director of Policy, Micah helped devise the Safe Options Support program to get care and housing for the homeless and mentally ill individuals; the program has placed more than 450 individuals in housing. Micah helped craft a plan to invest $1 billion in mental health services, reversing decades of State disinvestment. This included 1,000 new or recovered inpatient beds, thousands of units of supportive housing, and a significant expansion of outpatient services. He also worked to fund a dramatic expansion of school-based mental health services and advance legislation to stop some of the most pernicious practices of social media platforms that take a toll on the mental health of our young people.

 

What Micah Will Do

Micah knows that reversing decades of disinvestment and inattention to the continuum of mental health care will require progress on many fronts:

• Invest in increasing mental health care capacity at all levels — in-patient beds, supportive housing, out-patient services

• Address significant mental health care staffing shortages by increasing pay to make it easier to recruit and retain mental health care workers

• Demand a more deeply integrated approach between mental health professionals, police, and social workers

• Expand funding for programs like “court navigators” who connect defendants in court with mental health care and substance use treatment

• Fight to pass the SAFE for Kids Act to protect young people from the worst aspects of social media

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