22 OCTOBER 29, 2020 RIDGEWOOD TIMES WWW.QNS.COM
City launches mental health initiative to help students
BY ALEJANDRA O'CONNELLDOMENECH
EDITORIAL@QNS.COM,
@QNS
Mayor Bill de Blasio and fi rst
lady Chirlane McCray are
launching a new initiative
to help the mental health of young
people living in neighborhoods most
heavily impacted by the coronavirus
pandemic.
“Now, more than ever, we want all
of our students to know that they are
not alone, and there are compassionate,
trained professionals ready to
help them process anxiety, grief and
trauma that have intensified during
the pandemic,” said McCray.
The new initiative comes a day
after Governor Andrew Cuomo
addressed rising mental health concerns
stemming from the pandemic
telling reporters that “we have a
serious problem of the emotional
stress and anxiety that COVID has
caused, and the longer it goes on the
worst it gets.”
Governor Cuomo admitted that
at first, he did not fully understand
the expression “COVID fatigue,”
mistakenly believing it referred to
growing tired of wearing face masks
or maintaining social distance. “To
that I said, you don’t have the luxury
of fatigue because the virus isn’t
fatigued … but there are different
facets to fatigue that are frankly
more problematic.”
The pandemic has pushed 325,000
children into poverty across New
York state and 4,200 children have
lost a parent or caregiver to the virus,
according to a report from the United
Hospital Fund. The report found that
the virus has had a disproportionate
effect on communities of color with
Black and brown children having
lost parents to COVID at twice the
rate of white children. Stress over
increased food insecurity as well
as isolation and loss of routine are
also negatively impacting children’s
mental health during the pandemic,
according to Alice Bufkin, director
of child advocacy group the Citizens
Committee on Children’s Policy
Director.
The organization works with dozens
of child psychiatrists in the city,
many of whom are growing increasingly
worried over the high number
of families seeking mental health
services for their children during
the pandemic and the intensity of
their symptoms. Although Bufkin
is appreciative of the mayor’s initiative,
she thinks that more long-term
investment is needed from the city
and state in order to allow for communities
to fully mentally recover
from COVID.
“When mental health care needs
go unaddressed in childhood, we see
them get frequently exacerbated as
children become adults,” Bufkin told
amNewYork Metro.
Under the initiative, current city
mental health workers will become
specialists and lead group therapy
sessions with students at 350 schools.
Specialists will serve up to five
schools and will also educate students
and their caregivers.
Mayor Bill de Blasio Ed Reed/Mayoral Photography Offi ce
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