Mental health is integral to overall health and well-being at all stages of the lifespan. At NYAM, our research addresses the influence of social and economic factors on mental health and informs programs to address the mental health needs of New York’s diverse population in schools, healthcare settings and communities.

Selected Work

YouthWorksNYC Virtual Community for Youth in Foster Care
NYAM is partnering with the New York City Administration for Children’s Services (ACS) to promote health equity among youth in foster care and juvenile justice settings. Through this partnership, ACS and NYAM launched YouthworksNYC, a virtual community program that focuses on health and well-being for older youth in foster care during COVID-19. Following a successful pilot in 2020, the program expanded in 2021 to reach more youth with funding from the Mother Cabrini Health Foundation.
Visit the YouthworksNYC Website

A Population Health Approach to Mental Health in Schools
NYAM was the evaluation partner on an innovative five-year project that was started in 2016 to support mental health in New York City schools. The 100 Schools Project, a collaboration that included the healthcare, education and social service sectors, was developed to support the mental health needs of adolescents in selected NYC middle and high schools with disproportionately high numbers of students living in poverty. The qualitative evaluation was published in Health Behavior and Policy Review in 2021.
Read the Paper

Advancing Prevention Project
Since 2013, NYAM has been an active contributor to shaping and providing technical assistance for implementation of the New York State Prevention Agenda. The Advancing Prevention Project (APP), which ran through 2018, was an innovative training and technical assistance program that supported local-level implementation of the Prevention Agenda goals by building the capacity of local health departments and hospitals to carry out their Prevention Agenda plans. APP used a public health approach to promote mental health in a variety of community settings through one-on-one coaching, webinars and learning collaboratives, as well as curated events and resources.
Visit APP Microsite

Related Publications, Events & News

Protecting Mental Health of Healthcare Professionals

Around the Table: Protecting the Mental Health of Frontline Healthcare Professionals: A Call to Action

Integrating Mental Health in Child Care

Integrating mental health in the comprehensive care of children and adolescents: prevention, screening, diagnosis and treatment

Supporting Mental Health in Schools

Supporting Mental Health in School Settings: Findings from a Qualitative Evaluation

Information Processing Using Mental Health Tools

Information processing by community health nurses using mobile health (mHealth) tools for early identification of suicide and depression risks in Fiji Islands

Meet the Team

Linda Weiss, PhD

Alexandra Kamler, MPH

Vimla Patel, PhD, DSc, FRSC

Maya Scherer, MPH