Free up $5B in fed psych aid – Chuck

The federal government should unlock billions in aid intended to address a fast-growing mental health crisis sparked by the COVID-19 pandemic, Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said Sunday.

Congress approved roughly $5 billion in mental health grants through the American Rescue Plan signed by President Biden last month. The money includes $3 billion for mental health and drug abuse treatment and $1 billion for crisis intervention teams to treat mentally ill patients at their homes.

Schumer estimated roughly 10% of the money will be directed to New York — and urged the federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration to begin distributing the funds immediately.

“The mental health problems that people face is probably three times as large as it was preCOVID,” Schumer (photo) said at a news conference. “New York’s mental health struggles are an overall silent but devastating effect of this pandemic.”

Dr. Aspasia Hotzoglou, a psychologist at the American Institute for Cognitive Therapy in Manhattan, said isolation under lockdown has taken an immeasurable mental health toll on the city.

She also noted many survivors of COVID-19 have begun to experience psychiatric symptoms months after they recovered from the disease.

“COVID-19 has disrupted every facet of life, and people are struggling,” said Hotzoglou. “The reality is that the pandemic has blocked common coping strategies including social interactions, daily routines and planning for the future.”

Schumer said the funds ought to begin flowing by the end of May.

Mentally unstable suspects have been blamed in a string of terrifying attacks in the subway that resulted in bystanders being shoved to the tracks. A mentally ill man also confessed to a stabbing spree on the A-train line in February that left two people dead and two others wounded.