Speaking at John Jay College's "From Punishment to Public Health" conference at Brooklyn Borough Hall, First Lady Chirlane McCray announced a new plan on Wednesday to address a growing "mental health crisis," in the city, reports the Observer.
McCray not only discussed her daughter's publicized struggles with depression and substance abuse, but recounted her own parents' struggles with mental instability, as well as her husband Mayor Bill de Blasio's past challenges with clinical depression.
She said, through the Mayor's Fund to Advance New York City, a new plan would be rolled out by this summer that provides a "roadmap" to deal with mental illness as a public health crisis, with an emphasis on low-income communities.
"This administration is not going to walk on by and pretend the mental health crisis doesn't exist. We're going to make a plan. And then, we're going to back that plan up with people and programs," she told the audience, many of them prospective donors to the Fund.
"I hope you will consider partnering with us. If you like where we're headed, will you please raise your hands?"
