Hello, I am urging your office to call upon the Mayor's Office and DOHMH to roll out public awareness campaigns surrounding the new 9-8-8 mental health crisis line. In the meantime, we would like you to go to the NAMI-NYC YouTube channel or social media channels and share onto your platforms and newsletters the public awareness videos they have prepared in order to dispel myths and promote awareness of the new crisis line. By increasing awareness via social media and other means, the hope is that New Yorkers will stop using 9-1-1 when they need a mental health crisis intervention through 9-8-8. Additionally, I hope that your office will consider legislation in the near future that will amend the current B-HEARD model to adopt Correct Crisis Intervention Today of New York City's evidence-based, non-police response model that deploys 1 peer and 1 independent EMT to respond to mental health crisis calls, and here's why: The police and 911 dispatchers are not best suited to respond to mental health crisis calls. While both B-HEARD and the new 9-8-8 crisis number attempt to rectify the problem of the police responding to mental health calls, we know from Greg B. Smith's recent article in the City that non-police response teams only handled 16% of mental health crisis calls. Instead, the vast majority of mental health calls (75% to 78% as of March 2022) are still going straight to the NYPD in the precincts where B-HEARD operates. As much as we need clinicians, many of them have been trained to rely on the police in times of emergencies. The fact that most of mental health emergency calls are still going to the NYPD is UNACCEPTABLE, especially given the fact that we've lost 19 lives since 2015 while the NYPD responded to mental health crisis calls. Most of those lives were those of Black and Brown individuals, including sons, daughters, fathers, mothers, community servants, public school teachers and more. We need our legislature to ACT NOW during BIPOC Mental Health Month to change this harsh reality by ensuring that the correct crisis response model gets implemented before B-HEARD expands further. We also need a commitment from our public officials so that New Yorkers know they can use the new 9-8-8 number for mental health crisis situations. We need to be treating mental health emergencies as serious as we do heart attacks because both crises can end up with lives lost. Can I count on the legislator to address this issue so that not one more life will be lost during a mental health crisis? Thank you for your time and consideration, [INSERT YOUR NAME HERE]

Hello, I am urging your office to call upon the Mayor's Office and DOHMH to roll out public awareness campaigns surrounding the new 9-8-8 mental health crisis line. In the meantime, we would like you to go to the NAMI-NYC YouTube channel or social media channels and share onto your platforms and newsletters the public awareness videos they have prepared in order to dispel myths and promote awareness of the new crisis line. By increasing awareness via social media and other means, the hope is that New Yorkers will stop using 9-1-1 when they need a mental health crisis intervention through 9-8-8. Additionally, I hope that your office will consider legislation in the near future that will amend the current B-HEARD model to adopt Correct Crisis Intervention Today of New York City's evidence-based, non-police response model that deploys 1 peer and 1 independent EMT to respond to mental health crisis calls, and here's why: The police and 911 dispatchers are not best suited to respond to mental health crisis calls. While both B-HEARD and the new 9-8-8 crisis number attempt to rectify the problem of the police responding to mental health calls, we know from Greg B. Smith's recent article in the City that non-police response teams only handled 16% of mental health crisis calls. Instead, the vast majority of mental health calls (75% to 78% as of March 2022) are still going straight to the NYPD in the precincts where B-HEARD operates. As much as we need clinicians, many of them have been trained to rely on the police in times of emergencies. The fact that most of mental health emergency calls are still going to the NYPD is UNACCEPTABLE, especially given the fact that we've lost 19 lives since 2015 while the NYPD responded to mental health crisis calls. Most of those lives were those of Black and Brown individuals, including sons, daughters, fathers, mothers, community servants, public school teachers and more. We need our legislature to ACT NOW during BIPOC Mental Health Month to change this harsh reality by ensuring that the correct crisis response model gets implemented before B-HEARD expands further. We also need a commitment from our public officials so that New Yorkers know they can use the new 9-8-8 number for mental health crisis situations. We need to be treating mental health emergencies as serious as we do heart attacks because both crises can end up with lives lost. Can I count on the legislator to address this issue so that not one more life will be lost during a mental health crisis? Thank you for your time and consideration, [INSERT YOUR NAME HERE]

Hello, I am urging your office to call upon the Mayor's Office and DOHMH to roll out public awareness campaigns surrounding the new 9-8-8 mental health crisis line. In the meantime, we would like you to go to the NAMI-NYC YouTube channel or social media channels and share onto your platforms and newsletters the public awareness videos they have prepared in order to dispel myths and promote awareness of the new crisis line. By increasing awareness via social media and other means, the hope is that New Yorkers will stop using 9-1-1 when they need a mental health crisis intervention through 9-8-8. Additionally, I hope that your office will consider legislation in the near future that will amend the current B-HEARD model to adopt Correct Crisis Intervention Today of New York City's evidence-based, non-police response model that deploys 1 peer and 1 independent EMT to respond to mental health crisis calls, and here's why: The police and 911 dispatchers are not best suited to respond to mental health crisis calls. While both B-HEARD and the new 9-8-8 crisis number attempt to rectify the problem of the police responding to mental health calls, we know from Greg B. Smith's recent article in the City that non-police response teams only handled 16% of mental health crisis calls. Instead, the vast majority of mental health calls (75% to 78% as of March 2022) are still going straight to the NYPD in the precincts where B-HEARD operates. As much as we need clinicians, many of them have been trained to rely on the police in times of emergencies. The fact that most of mental health emergency calls are still going to the NYPD is UNACCEPTABLE, especially given the fact that we've lost 19 lives since 2015 while the NYPD responded to mental health crisis calls. Most of those lives were those of Black and Brown individuals, including sons, daughters, fathers, mothers, community servants, public school teachers and more. We need our legislature to ACT NOW during BIPOC Mental Health Month to change this harsh reality by ensuring that the correct crisis response model gets implemented before B-HEARD expands further. We also need a commitment from our public officials so that New Yorkers know they can use the new 9-8-8 number for mental health crisis situations. We need to be treating mental health emergencies as serious as we do heart attacks because both crises can end up with lives lost. Can I count on the legislator to address this issue so that not one more life will be lost during a mental health crisis? Thank you for your time and consideration, [INSERT YOUR NAME HERE]

Hello, I am urging your office to call upon the Mayor's Office and DOHMH to roll out public awareness campaigns surrounding the new 9-8-8 mental health crisis line. In the meantime, we would like you to go to the NAMI-NYC YouTube channel or social media channels and share onto your platforms and newsletters the public awareness videos they have prepared in order to dispel myths and promote awareness of the new crisis line. By increasing awareness via social media and other means, the hope is that New Yorkers will stop using 9-1-1 when they need a mental health crisis intervention through 9-8-8. Additionally, I hope that your office will consider legislation in the near future that will amend the current B-HEARD model to adopt Correct Crisis Intervention Today of New York City's evidence-based, non-police response model that deploys 1 peer and 1 independent EMT to respond to mental health crisis calls, and here's why: The police and 911 dispatchers are not best suited to respond to mental health crisis calls. While both B-HEARD and the new 9-8-8 crisis number attempt to rectify the problem of the police responding to mental health calls, we know from Greg B. Smith's recent article in the City that non-police response teams only handled 16% of mental health crisis calls. Instead, the vast majority of mental health calls (75% to 78% as of March 2022) are still going straight to the NYPD in the precincts where B-HEARD operates. As much as we need clinicians, many of them have been trained to rely on the police in times of emergencies. The fact that most of mental health emergency calls are still going to the NYPD is UNACCEPTABLE, especially given the fact that we've lost 19 lives since 2015 while the NYPD responded to mental health crisis calls. Most of those lives were those of Black and Brown individuals, including sons, daughters, fathers, mothers, community servants, public school teachers and more. We need our legislature to ACT NOW during BIPOC Mental Health Month to change this harsh reality by ensuring that the correct crisis response model gets implemented before B-HEARD expands further. We also need a commitment from our public officials so that New Yorkers know they can use the new 9-8-8 number for mental health crisis situations. We need to be treating mental health emergencies as serious as we do heart attacks because both crises can end up with lives lost. Can I count on the legislator to address this issue so that not one more life will be lost during a mental health crisis? Thank you for your time and consideration, [INSERT YOUR NAME HERE]

Hello, I am urging your office to call upon the Mayor's Office and DOHMH to roll out public awareness campaigns surrounding the new 9-8-8 mental health crisis line. In the meantime, we would like you to go to the NAMI-NYC YouTube channel or social media channels and share onto your platforms and newsletters the public awareness videos they have prepared in order to dispel myths and promote awareness of the new crisis line. By increasing awareness via social media and other means, the hope is that New Yorkers will stop using 9-1-1 when they need a mental health crisis intervention through 9-8-8. Additionally, I hope that your office will consider legislation in the near future that will amend the current B-HEARD model to adopt Correct Crisis Intervention Today of New York City's evidence-based, non-police response model that deploys 1 peer and 1 independent EMT to respond to mental health crisis calls, and here's why: The police and 911 dispatchers are not best suited to respond to mental health crisis calls. While both B-HEARD and the new 9-8-8 crisis number attempt to rectify the problem of the police responding to mental health calls, we know from Greg B. Smith's recent article in the City that non-police response teams only handled 16% of mental health crisis calls. Instead, the vast majority of mental health calls (75% to 78% as of March 2022) are still going straight to the NYPD in the precincts where B-HEARD operates. As much as we need clinicians, many of them have been trained to rely on the police in times of emergencies. The fact that most of mental health emergency calls are still going to the NYPD is UNACCEPTABLE, especially given the fact that we've lost 19 lives since 2015 while the NYPD responded to mental health crisis calls. Most of those lives were those of Black and Brown individuals, including sons, daughters, fathers, mothers, community servants, public school teachers and more. We need our legislature to ACT NOW during BIPOC Mental Health Month to change this harsh reality by ensuring that the correct crisis response model gets implemented before B-HEARD expands further. We also need a commitment from our public officials so that New Yorkers know they can use the new 9-8-8 number for mental health crisis situations. We need to be treating mental health emergencies as serious as we do heart attacks because both crises can end up with lives lost. Can I count on the legislator to address this issue so that not one more life will be lost during a mental health crisis? Thank you for your time and consideration, [INSERT YOUR NAME HERE]