Mental health is a key pillar of our well-being, yet it remains one of the most underfunded areas in health care. There is a growing need for mental health services for New Yorkers suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety, and other serious mental health concerns. You can help by supporting nonprofits that promote emotional well-being, reduce stigma, and advocate for better access to support.
Mental Health Services for Vulnerable Communities
Mental health affects everyone, but quality care can be hard to find. This is especially true for young people, immigrants, and low-income people. Many New Yorkers are still living with mental health challenges from the pandemic, and many newly arrived young immigrants have experienced trauma. Giving to the groups below can make a difference in the lives of the many New Yorkers who rely on mental health care services.
The Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Community Center (The Center) is a multi-service center and primary provider of care to New York’s LGBTQ+ community. It was one of the first places in New York to offer group support to gay men in the early 1980s during the HIV/AIDS crisis and has long provided individual and group counseling to low-to-moderate income LGBTQ+ community members. With Trust support, it plans to open the East Coast’s first state-licensed mental health clinic at an LGBTQ+ center.
New York School-Based Health Foundation helps school-based health centers provide primary, behavioral, and dental care to students where they are: at school. It is helping thousands of migrant students receive mental health care, cope with trauma, and settle into their new schools and communities.
Service Program for Older People (SPOP) is the city’s only community mental health agency with a mission to serve older adults. It provides services in multiple languages and is a preeminent resource on mental health care for older adults, whose need for services to address loneliness and depression has increased since the pandemic.
LONG ISLAND: Family Service League of Long Island provides mental health and substance use counseling, as well as housing and other social services, to Long Islanders of every age group and socioeconomic background. In addition to longer-term counseling, it runs suicide prevention programs and hotlines to help individuals in crisis.
Building the Social Work Field
Social workers play a critical role in connecting New Yorkers to services and addressing trauma, isolation, and economic hardship. Social work education has increased its emphasis on resilience, cultural competence, and social policy to prepare its workforce to tackle growing mental health needs and advocate for social justice in their communities. These nonprofits are helping to grow and support the field.
Bronx Defenders represents low-income Bronx residents in criminal, family, and immigration courts using interdisciplinary teams of lawyers, paralegals, and social workers. Its holistic defense model, which integrates care from social workers, has significantly reduced incarceration among participants.
Kingsbridge Heights Community Center is a leading settlement house in the Bronx that serves low-income immigrants. It trains bilingual Spanish-speaking social workers to work with clients at its five locations, improving the cultural competency of its services and increasing professional opportunities for social workers.
Social Workers for Justice gathers social workers across sectors to influence legislation and public policy affecting the profession. Its membership engages racially and geographically diverse social work activists throughout New York State to advocate for a more equitable, just, and empowered field.
Advocating for Better Services
Mental health advocates raise public awareness about and advocate for solutions for much-needed improvements in how we care for people living with mental health disorders, helping New Yorkers secure better services.
InUnity Alliance is a policy and advocacy membership group for New York’s behavioral health community. It provides policy, advocacy, training, and strategic partnership to more than 100 community-based mental health and substance use disorder providers that serve more than 600,000 people annually throughout the five boroughs.
WESTCHESTER: the harris project supports young people who live with both mental health disorders and substance use challenges. As co-occurring disorders among young people rise, the Harris Project works with providers to develop programs that can lead to better outcomes by addressing both mental health and substance use issues together.
This list is not exhaustive. There are many incredible nonprofits helping make our region a better place for all; we seek to highlight a few that may not be on your radar. Please reach out to our philanthropic advising department at advising@thenytrust.org if you are a donor seeking customized recommendations based on your charitable goals.
