City initiates youth mental health gap analysis

The city announced Thursday the initiation of a project to survey the mental health of its youth to identify where they face mental health barriers and need additional treatment services.

At a City Hall news conference, Mayor Harry Rilling noted that the city has for the past several years allocated around $1.5 million to youth mental health issues. The additional investment in the analysis, Rilling said, is intended to find out what else is needed, where the gaps are, and what services are needed that we don’t necessarily have right now.

The analysis is being undertaken as a joint effort with Norwalk Public Schools, Silver Hill Hospital in New Canaan, the Norwalk Community Health Center, and Norwalk ACTS.

In a news release, the city said the project will collect data from behavioral health providers who serve youths ages 13 to 25 to better understand the current landscape of mental health services and resources.

The information gathered, it says, will be used to create a service map outlining existing mental health services for Norwalk youth and a report identifying gaps in services.

Pointing to the need to break the stigma related to mental health and wellness, Greg Burnett, City Council member at-large, said we need to create the environment that says, if you have a mental health situation, we’re here to help you.

In her remarks at the news conference commending the project, schools’ Superintendent Alexandra Estrella said the school system cannot work in isolation dealing with the mental health issues of its student body.

We need a community of people surrounding us to do this work effectively, Estrella said.

Burnett said that through the project’s partnership of these great agencies working with the city, “we can break that stigma and we can send the message that we want to make a difference in each and every young person’s life.”

The city’s chief of community services, Lamond Daniels, said the collection of data to perform the analysis is being funded with $15,000 from Norwalk’s operating budget and $5,000 from Silver Hill Hospital, which specializes in mental health therapies and services.

“Mental health has been an issue that needed resources for many decades,” said Dr. Andrew Gerber, president and medical director of Silver Hill Hospital. “And so it gives me great pride to be part of a team that is identifying those needs and then working together to make sure the resources get there.”

The analysis is scheduled to be completed early next year.

Updated on 9/20 at 12:10 pm with additional information