A $30 million, city-sponsored experiment in training non-professionals to provide mental health help will focus on people who work with parents of small children, the unemployed poor and young people who aren't in work or school, according to City Hall's charity arm.
Those target populations, described to The Associated Press as the city prepares to solicit proposals from community groups, flesh out plans to explore whether non-professionals can form a psychological front line in the nation's biggest city. The idea has gained some traction among mental health advocates, though they also have cautioned that it's no substitute for professional help.
"We're going to have a really good laboratory, different types of organizations, which are going to show us how we can bring to scale programs that are effective and evidence-based," city first lady and mental health advocate Chirlane McCray said in a conversation with reporters last month.
Applications are to be solicited soon, said Elizabeth DeBold, a spokeswoman for the McCray-chaired Mayor's Fund to Advance New York City.
[For more of this story, written by Jennifer Peltz, go to http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireS...-experiment-33621570]
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