NYC launches website to connect residents with mental health care
New York City has launched a website to help residents find mental health and substance abuse services, giving users a centralized place to explore care options based on their needs, insurance coverage and appointment availability.
NYC Mental Health Connect, launched Friday by the city’s health department, allows residents to search services from more than 600 providers through a brief online questionnaire. The tool helps users identify programs that serve their age group, use their language and accept their insurance.
The website also lists outpatient clinics, rehabilitation programs, crisis services and support for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities, and connects users with services addressing related needs, such as housing, food security, employment and legal assistance.
“Finding an accessible, affordable mental health provider should be simple, but for too many, the difficulty of finding care can prevent them from seeking the help they need,” Mayor Zohran Mamdani said in the announcement. “With NYC Mental Health Connect, our administration is providing New Yorkers with the tools to find local or virtual services quickly, and we are removing unnecessary obstacles that have prevented so many in need from accessing critical, and often lifesaving, mental health care.”
The launch comes amid documented barriers to accessing care throughout the metropolis.
A 2024 reportby the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene found that 24% of the city’s teens who needed or wanted mental health care did not know where to find it. More than 40% of adults who reported struggling to function because of their mental health said “not knowing who to contact or where to go” was a barrier to treatment.
The department provided $5 million in one-time funding to develop and launch the platform.
“At this critical time, we must confront the long-standing stigma and discrimination against mental health and substance use care, as well as address long-standing inequities in care, while investing in and designing new systems of support and connection centered in the community and focused on prevention,” Ashwin Vasan, DHMH commissioner, wrote in the report.
The initiative also builds on the city’s efforts to make public services easier to navigate through digital tools. In 2021, the city announced winners of a mental health innovation challenge aimed at developing solutions to improve mental health care and support for New Yorkers.
