Navigating a Better Path Forward on Mental Health
By Michael Jacobson, Executive Director, CUNY ISLG, and Councilmember Carlina Rivera, NYC Council District 2 in Manhattan and Chair, the Council’s Criminal Justice Committee
The following is an excerpt from a blog originally posted on Gotham Gazette based on the Neighborhood Navigators, which aims to connect people living primarily on the street with mental health, substance use, housing, and other services. It is funded through the Criminal Justice Investment Initiative (CJII), a partnership between CUNY ISLG and the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office.
Every day on the Lower East Side and throughout the city, teams of dedicated, trained outreach workers walk the streets, searching out folks who seem like they may need a helping hand.
Perhaps the people they meet are unhoused and would benefit from a hot meal, fresh clothes, or a medical check-up. Maybe they display signs of mental health issues but don’t know how or where to find the right services that would steer them away from harming themselves or others. Or perhaps they simply need a human connection.
Through proven methods, their own lived experiences, and endless reserves of patience and perseverance, these outreach experts help those who may be in crisis navigate the maze of social service agencies and programs. The end goal is as simple as it is essential: to connect people to voluntary services and support to help them flourish.
This “navigator” model has shown great success in the past, and represents a refreshing break from a failed status quo that has time and time again failed to provide a meaningful solution to our communities’ needs. For far too long, the default response to addressing unhoused people struggling with mental health or substance use challenges has been the criminal legal system — so much so that, in 2020, one in five people sent to Rikers was unhoused and experiencing mental health challenges.
But this isn’t a case of applying a band-aid to a gaping open wound, to use a common analogy: it's actually the equivalent of ripping open a deep laceration even wider. These individuals — so often our neighbors, our relatives, our friends — don't need jail; they need treatment, hospitals, and supportive programs. By tossing them into a carceral system that is incapable of addressing the root of these problems, their struggles and conditions will only worsen. To ignore their needs is to condemn people to an endless doom spiral between the streets, shelters, and incarceration that can – and has – resulted in catastrophic tragedy for themselves, or innocent bystanders around them.
Thankfully, there is a better way to dramatically improve — and often save — countless lives, and it's now getting a huge shot in the arm. A new program launched through the Criminal Justice Investment Initiative (CJII) will invest $6 million in a mental health initiative to immediately reach New Yorkers with deeply entrenched needs. The plan deploys networks of navigators like the ones described above who will build relationships – and trust – with people where they are. A rapport is first established by connecting people living on the streets with immediate needs, such as food. Growing the relationship leads to the next round of healthy support and engagement: connecting people to a wider range of wraparound services, like housing assistance and treatment for mental health and substance use disorders. This progression of engagement, fueled by emerging trust, ultimately makes them and their neighbors safer.