NYC Health + Hospitals Expands Services for People Impacted by Domestic and Gender Based Violence, Opens Two New Specialized Mental Health Clinics
The clinics will be able to serve 3,000 patients each year
Oct 31, 2023
New York, NY
As part of Domestic Violence Awareness Month, NYC Health + Hospitals today announced expanded services for people impacted by domestic and gender-based violence. Two new mental health clinics for survivors are now open at NYC Health + Hospitals/Kings County and NYC Health + Hospitals/Lincoln. The $2 million clinics will provide trauma-informed mental health services, including screenings, individual and group sessions, and medication management. The clinic staffing will support nearly 3,000 patients each year. Patients can be referred to the clinics by any one of the city’s domestic violence shelters or Family Justice Centers. Family Justice Centers are walk-in centers providing critical social services to survivors.
Today’s effort builds on the Domestic Violence Shelter Mental Health Initiativeannounced in May, which will increase access to mental health services for families residing in the city’s domestic violence shelters. The $5.8 million initiative will support more than 10,000 adults and children who receive services at the city’s 55 domestic violence shelters. It will bring mental health services directly on-site to adults and children in domestic violence shelters, decreasing wait times. Counseling is provided at no cost to the resident. Initially starting at 9 shelters, the initiative will expand to all shelters by early 2025. These clinics also build on NYC Health + Hospitals’ work to provides clinical services, including assessment and treatment, onsite at the city’s five Family Justice Centers.
“These clinics are an important step forward to ensure that survivors of domestic and gender-based violence have a clinic to call their own that provides safe, private, and trauma-informed care,” said NYC Health + Hospitals Co-Deputy Chief Medical Officer and System Chief of Behavioral Health Omar Fattal, MD, MPH. “As the largest provider of behavioral health services in the city, ensuring that this population has a range of options on how to seek care, including clinical services available in their community, is critically important.”
“The opening of our clinics is a meaningful display of the city’s strong commitment to increase safe access to mental health services for adults and children impacted by domestic and gender-based violence,” said NYC Health + Hospitals Director of Domestic Violence Mental Health Initiatives Obianuju Berry, MD. “Many of our families have been marginalized in their access to quality, innovative, trauma-informed, and culturally-sensitive care. These clinics provide hope for our clients on their journey towards recovery; thus improving social, emotional, and mental wellbeing while sustaining equitable and safe access to health.”
“Today’s announcement of expanded services for survivors of domestic and gender-based violence marks a pivotal moment for NYC Health + Hospitals,” said NYC Health + Hospitals/Kings County Chief Executive Officer Sheldon McLeod. “Supporting the establishment of a new specialized mental health clinic at NYC Health + Hospitals/Kings County is not just a statement of care; it’s a commitment to healing, empowerment, and a future where every individual feels safe, valued, and supported.”
“The Domestic Violence Clinic at Lincoln Hospital will offer a place of health, healing and hope to those who need to recover from the impact of the personal and painful suffering they have endured. Our goal is to help them survive and then thrive with person-centered care and sensitive, trauma-focused recovery therapies,” said Melinda S. Lantz, MD, Chair of Behavioral Health, NYC Health and Hospitals/Lincoln.
“The opening of NYC Health + Hospitals’ new DV clinics are a significant milestone in the City’s commitment to the wellbeing for survivors of domestic and gender-based violence. These special spaces and dedicated services for adults and children will allow survivors to courageously embark on their journey towards healing,” said Eva Wong, Executive Director of the NYC Mayor’s Office of Community Mental Health. “These clinics, part of the Domestic Violence Mental Health Shelter Initiative, are a cornerstone in this administration’s broader efforts to maximize access to compassionate comprehensive care for our fellow New Yorkers, especially those who had endured hardships and deserve additional support to live safe and content lives.”
“The opening of these two new clinics exemplifies NYC Health + Hospitals’ commitment to taking meaningful and tangible steps to ensure survivors of domestic and gender-based violence have access to the high-quality, trauma-informed mental health services they deserve,” said Assistant Deputy Commissioner HRA Domestic Violence Services Carol David. “These efforts are critical to supporting incredibly vulnerable New Yorkers and addressing homelessness across the City which is, in large part, driven by domestic and gender-based violence. We are incredibly proud of our collaborations with NYC Health + Hospitals, and our other partners, to bolster access to mental health supports for families and individuals in domestic violence shelters and we look forward to building on these efforts.”
The Domestic Violence Shelter Mental Health Initiative is a multi-agency collaboration between NYC Health + Hospitals, the NYC Department of Social Services/Human Resources Administration, the Mayor’s Office to End Domestic and Gender-Based Violence, and the Mayor’s Office of Community Mental Health.
NYC Health + Hospitals is the largest provider of behavioral health in New York City. The system provides almost 60% of behavioral health services citywide serving over 75,000 patients annually across emergency, inpatient and outpatient care.
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About NYC Health + Hospitals/Kings County
NYC Health + Hospitals/Kings County is a 639-bed acute care teaching hospital located in Central Brooklyn. Among our highly specialized programs are a Level I Trauma Center, Pediatric Emergency Room, Level 3 Perinatal Center, Heart Health Center, Stroke Center, Sickle Cell Program, Behavioral Health Center, and Diabetes Education Center of Excellence. Many of our programs have received national recognition, including our cardiac, stroke and diabetes services. The hospital offers a broad array of primary and specialty care, including practices in neuroscience, orthopedics, urology and cardiology. Annually, our ambulatory care practices see well over 500,000 visits, and more than 150,000 visits in the Behavioral Health outpatient program, in addition to close to 23,000 inpatient discharges. NYC Health + Hospitals/Kings County has played a major role in providing health care to vulnerable populations in Brooklyn since 1831, and is part of NYC Health + Hospitals, the largest public health care system in the nation. For more information visit, https://www.nychealthandhospitals.org/locations/kings-county/ and stay connected on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/KingsCountyHosp or Twitter at @KingsCountyHosp.
About NYC Health + Hospitals/Lincoln
NYC Health + Hospitals/Lincoln, located in the South Bronx, is a 362-bed, Acute Care Level 1 Trauma Center and sees more than 168,000 emergency room visits and more than 600,000 outpatient visits annually. Clinical centers of excellence include: Emergency Medicine and Trauma Care; Breast Imaging; Designated Stroke Center, Diabetes Center and HIV/AIDS Center. Lincoln Hospital was the first Baby-Friendly designated hospital in the Bronx, providing clinical services and consultations for over 1,500 deliveries per year. The hospital emphasizes primary care and specialty medicine, using the latest advances in medical science. Lincoln is part of NYC Health + Hospitals, the largest public health care system in the nation. For more information visit www.nychealthandhospitals.org/lincoln and stay connected on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/NYCHealthSystem
About NYC Health + Hospitals
NYC Health + Hospitals is the largest municipal health care system in the nation serving more than a million New Yorkers annually in more than 70 patient care locations across the city’s five boroughs. A robust network of outpatient, neighborhood-based primary and specialty care centers anchors care coordination with the system’s trauma centers, nursing homes, post-acute care centers, home care agency, and MetroPlus health plan—all supported by 11 essential hospitals. Its diverse workforce of more than 43,000 employees is uniquely focused on empowering New Yorkers, without exception, to live the healthiest life possible. For more information, visit www.nychealthandhospitals.org and stay connected on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn.