Supporting families and youth in navigating mental health services

Client type

Public agency

Issue area

Mental & behavioral health

Services

Community engagement

Market research

Communications

A collaboration with the NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene

We’re honored to work with the NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (NYC Health Department) because they:

Are developing community-centered ways to engage with families and youth to make mental health services more accessible
Inform families and youth about a wide breadth of mental health services to help them find the services that work best

Opportunity

This partnership offered an opportunity to more effectively communicate with New Yorkers about the array of available mental health services so they can find and access what they need
This work can also inform the NYC Health Department’s ongoing development of activities that engage children, families, and youth about mental health services

Approach

Community engagement strategy and design
Conducting interviews with youth, family members and providers using trained moderators

Health+ Studio designed and led a series of one-on-one interviews with youth, parents/primary caregivers, and service providers to identify barriers and opportunities for New Yorkers to learn about available mental health services, decide which services meet their needs, and connect to those services.

Interviewees were recruited from different mental health programs and advisory groups to include a diverse set of participants (e.g., age, gender, experience with services, sexual identity, race/ethnicity). The Health+ team analyzed the qualitative interview data and identified themes and insights to inform the development of community-facing activities, materials, and communications.

Outcomes

Report containing community feedback and insights to inform the NYC Health Department’s ongoing development of community-facing content relating to youth and family mental health services
Recommendations for content that uses language that is easy-to-read and accessible to help community members find the mental health services they need

Let’s talk