Mental health advocates to protest City Council hearing over crisis program

MANHATTAN, N.Y. (PIX11) – Advocates will protest outside of City Hall on Monday to call for changes to a program that sends trained first responders instead of police officers to mental health crisis calls.

The City Council is holding a hearing on the B-HEARD 911 Mental Health Response program. The mayor’s office said the program strives to provide compassionate and appropriate care to those in need and it’s still working to refine the effort.

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Some critics argue that they want the community more involved with the program, which launched in 2021 as an alternative to deploying police officers to mental health emergency calls. B-HEARD teams include FDNY emergency medical technicians and trained mental health professionals.

B-HEARD teams have responded to 14,900 calls across parts of Manhattan, the Bronx, Queens and Brooklyn during this fiscal year, more than double from the previous years, according to city data. B-HEARD has responded to more than 24,000 calls since it launched.

One group, Correct Crisis Intervention Today, is pressing City Hall to make even more fundamental changes to the B-HEARD effort, including adding highly-trained peer workers with lived experience in the mental health system to response teams and increasing transparency. Critics claim the city has not reported new, public data on B-HEARD for a year.

B-HEARD responses result in only 6% of people being transported to community-based health care or social service intake, while 60% of people were taken to hospitals, city data showed.

One of B-HEARD’s top goals is to reduce mental health hospitalizations. Advocates plan to rally at 9 a.m. before the City Council hearing kicks off at 10 a.m.

Erin Pflaumer is a digital content producer from Long Island who has covered both local and national news since 2018. She joined PIX11 in 2023. See more of her work here.

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