Governor Kathy Hochul announced that $4.5 million in state funding was awarded to establish 10 new Youth Assertive Community Treatment teams, including Child and Family Services. Administered by the state Office of Mental Health, these multidisciplinary teams will support 360 additional youth with serious emotional disturbances who are either at risk of entering, or are returning home from high intensity services, such as inpatient settings or residential services.

“Expanding the Youth ACT program in Erie County is a vital step toward ensuring that young people and their families get the care they need — where they need it most — at home and in their communities,” said Gretchen Szymanski, Chief Clinical Program Officer at C+FS. “It’s about giving kids the chance to heal and thrive surrounded by those who matter most.”

“Children and youth living with mental illness sometimes require additional care to remain at home or return back into the community,” Governor Hochul said. “This expansion of our Youth ACT program will help provide more families with this critical support and the services they can rely on to bring their child home after inpatient care or from a residential facility.”

OMH provided $450,000 in one-time start-up funding to 10 service providers to establish the new teams, with each serving up to 36 children between the ages of 10 and 21. Award recipients include:

  • Child and Family Services of Erie County, serving Erie County
  • Access Supports for Living Inc., serving Westchester County
  • The Charles Evans Center, serving Nassau County
  • Central Nassau Guidance and Counseling, serving Suffolk County
  • Children’s Home of Wyoming Conference, serving Chenango County
  • Interborough Developmental & Consultation Center, serving Brooklyn
  • The Child Center of NY, two teams serving Manhattan and Queens
  • Jewish Child Care Association of NY, serving the Bronx
  • Richmond University Medical Center, serving Staten Island

In addition to announcing the awards, Governor Hochul also issued a proclamation designating Children’s Mental Health Awareness Week in New York State. The proclamation was presented this week during the annual ‘What’s Great in Our State’ Celebration of Children’s Mental Health event in Albany, which recognizes individuals and programs successfully advancing the cause of children’s mental health.

With the first teams established in 2022, New York was the first state nationally to adapt the successful Assertive Community Treatment model to serve youth and young adults. The state now hosts 20 Youth ACT teams in 27 counties, providing services including youth and family therapy, medication management, family and peer supports, and skill-building.

Youth ACT teams include mental health clinicians and psychiatric prescribers, peer advocates, and clinical support staff, offering 24-hour support, seven days per week. These teams are focused on improving the significant functional impairments and severe symptomatology experienced by the youth due to mental illness or serious emotional disturbance.

Child and Family Services extends our sincere gratitude to Governor Hochul and the New York State Office of Mental Health for their continued commitment to youth mental health.