The New School’s Trauma and Global Mental Health Lab Launches Teen Mental Health Program with the NYC Mayor’s Office
Youth mental health problems are skyrocketing, and there remain major gaps in access to care. The World Health Organization (WHO) and UNICEF developed a new psychological intervention, Early Adolescent Skills for Emotions (EASE), to train non–mental health specialists, such as teachers and community leaders, to provide support to youth and caregivers. The New School’s Trauma and Global Mental Health Lab (T&GMH Lab) at The New School for Social Research (NSSR) is one of the first organizations in the United States to adopt this program.
The T&GMH Lab reimagines mental healthcare by investigating disparities in mental health issues and developing innovative solutions and interventions that can eliminate barriers to care. The lab recently partnered with the New York City Mayor’s Office of Community Mental Health and three community-based organizations in Brooklyn—Center for Community Alternatives (CCA), El Puente, and BRO Experience—to adapt EASE for the New York City community. Funding for the project is provided by a grant from the Mayor’s Office.
“Over the course of two months, my lab was so fortunate to partner with the Mayor’s Office of Community Mental Health and several community-based organizations to adapt the new WHO youth-based mental health intervention, EASE. Students, staff, and alumni from NSSR and Parsons designed and facilitated workshops to ensure that young people could help shape this work,” says Adam Brown, the vice provost for research and a professor of psychology.
The lab received funding from the Mayor’s Office to hold design workshops to ensure that the WHO intervention reflects the needs of the local community. The workshops were directed by Adam Brown with a team including NSSR research assistants Josheka Chauhan, Tina Xu, and Dana Slachevsk; Parsons School of Design student Nora Iñigo and alum Cheenar Shah; and lab coordinator Janus Wong. The workshops were held in May and June for local youth and caregivers with an in-depth understanding of the local mental health context. The participants provided feedback and guidance on the content and design of the EASE strategies to be delivered throughout NYC this fall.
These sessions were a first step toward expanding mental health services for NYC youth on the community level, and the lab is excited to carry this important work forward later this year. “The urgent challenges that so many young people face today require us to rethink what it means to provide care and how it can be accessed. I am thrilled that we will be the first to bring EASE to the U.S. I expect we will reach a lot of young people and serve as a model for other cities throughout the country,” says Brown.