Key project activities: Our group has still been in the phase of contacting potential community members for more information about their impressions of Thrive NYC. So far, all of our community contacts have been unavailable to speak with us. Since dropping contact with our initial community representatives (Families Together, Fountain House, Urban Justice Center’s Mental Health Project), we’ve attempted to reach out to Dr. Alexander William Fietzer, a clinician at Mount Sinai Hospital and a professor at Hunter College. As of today, we still haven’t heard back from him. We’ve contacted the counseling center at CCNY asking for a comment about Thrive NYC and requesting a meeting to become our community contact. Unfortunately, they admitted that they had never heard of Thrive NYC and declined to be our community contact. Kashaf’s community contact was also unaware of Thrive NYC and declined to be our contact. Because so many of our potential contacts have no strong opinions about Thrive NYC, we have met to discuss changing our tactic. Without clinicians’ input regarding the current government initiative to address mental health issues, it’s impossible to speak to the criticisms professionals have for Thrive NYC or even the awareness of noticeable changes in treatment adherence, accessibility, pathways to care, etc. We have agreed to incorporate more of a focus on the lack of advertisement and press coverage surrounding Thrive NYC into our project. In regards to our particular interests in mental healthcare, our focus has remained the same: we are still interested in comprehensive care and access to mental health services. However, we want to incorporate a discussion of how government programs attempt to transform the mental health system in New York.  In regards to our research, we’ve met to develop a comprehensive timeline of mental health initiatives in the United States, dating back to the early 19th century. We’ve found gaps in mental healthcare innovation and policy which we might incorporate into our white paper and use to illustrate the trajectory in mental health services.

Activities in progress: Instead of asking potential contacts to guide us as we continue our research, we have proposed interviewing clinicians at the Mount Sinai outpatient clinic where I work and using their input to inform our development of the white paper our final popular education product. On Thursday, April 7^th, Sam is interviewing Dr. Mike Lamb, the director of the Macaulay Wellness Program, an honors college-specific initiative designed to support Macaulay students through “direct, professional mental health counseling, services, and guidance”. In such a small community, the effects of the Macaulay Wellness Program could be very positive, but the funding could also be used ineffectively. Regardless, it could represent a role model in accessible mental healthcare, which could in turn influence our popular education product. In addition to meeting with Dr. Lamb, we’ve discussed interviewing contacts within the CCNY community. Libby will be meeting with Aashna, a contact from the Gleam project, which aims to increase accessibility to mental health services for people of low socioeconomic status. Finally, I will be reaching out to Dr. Robert Melara, the chair of the psychology department at CCNY, for a brief interview about Thrive NYC and how (or if) government initiatives inform treatment. In preparation for potential contacts, our group has met to develop pertinent questions that would help us interview community contacts and guide research in the right direction, such as:

• What resources do you offer to people with social, behavioral, and emotional challenges?
• What mental illnesses do you typically treat? Are there any good examples of such cases?
• What community-based practices are you aware of (e.g., other organizations that provide mental health services, government policies, and initiatives)?
• Do you feel that clients are getting the services and resources they need to overcome their mental health challenges? What additional services would they benefit from?
• What are your opinions about government programs like Thrive NYC and Parachute NYC? Do you think their aims are achievable, adequate, or likely to be effective?
• Are the clients you work with aware of or benefiting from these programs?
• What are these programs lacking in how they serve people with mental health challenges?
• What kinds of barriers do patients usually encounter in receiving treatment?

Challenges: We have come to the conclusion that being a community contact for the purposes of this class is a significant undertaking and requires a time commitment on behalf of our potential contacts, many of whom are clinicians or specialists in their field. The lack of contact with representatives from our organizations is understandable; mental health professions are prohibitively time-consuming, and (we hope that) our potential contacts go above and beyond to make treatment accessible for their clients. With little other to work with than a timeline of mental health and the Thrive NYC white paper, securing a contact is our main priority at the present time.

Team dynamics: Our group has met on several occasions to clarify any uncertain objectives, deliver report-backs about community contacts (or lack thereof), and discuss alternative methods of informing research. There is a clear and consistent breakdown of work and, for the most part, we are accommodating with each other’s busy schedules and willing to make up for any missed work. Each team member contributes what they are realistically capable of undertaking and is eager to contribute any experiential knowledge or prior community contacts. In order to document our discussions and ensure that there is no miscommunication, many of the important points are written in Google Docs accessible to all team members, and coordination is conducted through Facebook Messenger. These tactics have been relatively efficient in setting up meetings and assigning tasks.

Bottom line: Without a community contact, we’ve done a significant amount of research on our own. We’re quite frustrated with the lack of press coverage on Thrive NYC and we’d like to investigate why such a groundbreaking and significant initiative has almost zero visibility among mental health professionals. We’d like to incorporate that into the development of our popular education product and use Thrive NYC as an example of poor advertising.