Brooklyn Assemblyman William Boyland Jr. Announces City’s Mental Health Mobile Response Team to Care for Students in Brownsville Who May Be Suffering From Anxiety

Parents, educators and local leaders say living in one of the country’s most underserved areas may be taking an emotional toll on some local children contributing to disproportionately high dropout and poor attendance rates

January 14, 2013

(Brownsville, NY) – Assemblyman William Boyland Jr., announced today that the city’s emergency Mental Health Mobile Response Team will be deployed at targeted schools in Brownsville where parents and educators believe anxiety-related issues connected to living in one of the country’s most economically underserved areas may be causing students to underperform in the classroom.

“Clearly, we have a situation where some of our students are not performing as well as they can because of conditions beyond their control and we need to get to the bottom of it,” said Boyland (D-Brooklyn). “We are concerned that our children are being affected by the lack of school resources and other societal problems such as unemployment and unstable homes. We feel the Mobile Response Team gives us the best opportunity to assess or to secure the proper services to ensure children in need receive the proper help and are mentally prepared to perform in school.”

The City’s Mental Health Mobile Response Team (MRT) has the authority to provide emergency intervention and follow-up care for students ages six to 18. The teams will visit each school once per week to assess students, classroom and teaching staff.

The MRT also has the authority to visit the students at home although local officials said the goal here would be to partner students with local not-for-profit agencies who provide counseling, mental health and other related services. The Brooklyn-based New York City Children’s Center headed by Executive Director June DaCosta  is one of the community groups expected to serve needy students, local officials said.

The interdisciplinary MRT consists of mental health professionals, including nurses, social workers, psychiatrists, psychologists, mental health technicians, addiction specialists and peer counselors.

City and state statistics on the number of youths suffering from anxiety-related disorders were not immediately available. However, anxiety disorders are the most common mental illnesses in the U.S., affecting an estimated 40 million adults, according to statistics from the Anxiety and Depression Association of America.

However, an estimated one-third of those suffering from anxiety go undiagnosed or untreated. Common symptoms include constant worrying, insomnia, feeling of impending doom, irritability, difficulty with concentration, chest pain, palpitations, shortness of breath and fatigue.

Assemblyman Boyland said: “We feel that there is a need to build our school’s capacity to respond to the challenges our children and school staff may be experiencing now to prevent any serious crisis from developing later. We want our children to be ready to learn but we also want them to be happy and just be kids.”

Boyland said that anxiety and other more serious mental health problems or illnesses could affect anyone’s performance no matter what their station in life.

“We need to remove the stigma from the words mental health and take action to make sure that anyone who needs help receives it in a timely manner whether they are an adult or child. I am pleased the city has made this service available and I am working with local parents and educators to make sure the community knows these services are available.”

The Mental Health MRT was established through in early January 2012 through a Memorandum Of Understanding between the NYC Department of Education and the NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene to assist parents and school staff with identifying and providing resources with students whose behavior, academic and attendance may be affected by undiagnosed mental health issues.

The program includes: consultation and classroom observation; crisis invention and protocols; teacher and parent trainings; follow-up care; outreach to engage families in school and referrals to community services.

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