“As Chair of the New York Senate Mental Health Committee, I recognize that we are still in the midst of a mental health crisis in New York. It touches every corner of our state, affecting the lives of children, families, and adults alike. Teachers see it in the classroom. Parents feel it at home. Mental health providers feel it in their caseloads. And too many New Yorkers feel it in their daily lives.

To confront a crisis this widespread, we must also understand it at the community level. That’s why I joined Assemblymember Sarah Clark in securing $100,000 in state funding to sponsor Common Ground Health’s Monroe County Behavioral Health Needs Assessment 2025.

Mental health challenges don’t look the same in every neighborhood. The barriers, the pressures, the gaps in services are shaped by local conditions, local history and local needs. That’s why this assessment matters. It gives us real data, gathered directly from the people who live here, and it tells us where the system is failing, where it is working, and where we must invest.

While reading the findings from this assessment, it is clear that crisis intervention was the most highly requested service by a wide margin. According to data and the focus areas in this assessment, crisis intervention plays a key role in addressing many of our community’s needs. 

My legislation, Daniel’s Law (S3670), offers a crisis response solution that also incorporates other focus areas in this assessment, including care coordination and peer support services. Daniel’s Law uses peer-led, trauma-informed teams to assist individuals experiencing a mental health or substance use crisis. It also connects individuals in crisis with clinical and non-clinical staff that are not only trained in de-escalation tactics, but can recommend effective, voluntary services to help individuals heal and recover.

Daniel’s Law, which centers compassionate care, also reduces the stigma associated with seeking mental health care. When individuals in crisis and their loved ones know they will be met with therapeutic intervention teams instead of brute force, they are more likely to make the call for help.

This report is a roadmap for building a stronger, more accessible, more compassionate behavioral health system. I am committed to seeing that through.”