She took a mental health first aid course in October 2014. Over the next four years, Ms. McCray would transform herself into a mental health evangelist. The city invested heavily on mental health before the de Blasio administration: For example, the Health Department spent $243 million in the 2014 fiscal year on mental health contracts. She has traveled the city urging New Yorkers, particularly in black and Hispanic communities, to open up and to erase the stigma around mental health. One indicator of the need for services: The phones at NYC-WELL ring constantly, 180,000 times in 2018, according to city data.

Source: New York Times March 22, 2019 09:00 UTC