New York State Assemblyman Fred W. Thiele, Jr. today announced that the enacted 2021-22 State Budget contains $175,000 to continue the successful South Fork Behavioral Health Initiative, and an additional $175,000 for the North Fork Coalition for Behavioral Health. These initiatives are a collaborative effort between school districts, Family Service League, Stony Brook Southampton, Stony Brook Eastern Long Island, and Stony Brook University Hospitals, local governments and other local service agencies, to address a lack of mental health services on the East End and a rise in suicides in school age children. 

Since their inception, these programs have made significant progress in increasing access to mental health treatment on both forks of Long Island, which have traditionally been underserved in the area of mental health services. This public-private collaboration has resulted in significant reductions in local school district use of Stony Brook Hospital’s Comprehensive Psychiatric Emergency Program (CPEP). The first phase of these initiatives focused specifically on providing crisis work, locally, rather than the traditional means of students being transported great distances by police.

“We still have a long way to go to provide the full range of help and services needed on the East End to treat mental illness. These programs have shown tremendous success toward meeting the mental health needs that exist in our communities,” Assemblyman Thiele stated. “The COVID-19 pandemic has unfortunately compounded the mental health struggles faced by many New Yorkers and has underlined the need for the accessible programs to address the mental health consequences of this crisis. I am pleased that the state funds were approved to continue these programs and build upon prior success.”