Overview
In this interview, Dr. Jorge Petit, Executive Deputy Commissioner and Director of Community Services for the Division of Mental Hygiene at the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, discusses what has changed and what remains constant in New York City’s behavioral health landscape, how the Division is tackling health equity, the youth mental health crisis, and workforce pressures together, and what success will look like a year into his tenure.
Interview Transcript
This transcript has been lightly edited for clarity.
David Minot: Hi, and welcome to the Behavioral Health News Spotlight on Excellence series, where we feature exceptional leaders and innovative health care solutions that are raising the standards of care in the behavioral health community. My name is David Minot, and I am the Executive Director of Mental Health News Education, the nonprofit organization that publishes Behavioral Health News and Autism Spectrum News. Our mission is devoted to improving lives and the delivery of care for people living with mental illness, substance use disorder, and autism, while also supporting their families and the professional communities that serve them.
Today, we’re speaking with Dr. Jorge Petit, Executive Deputy Commissioner and Director of Community Services for the Division of Mental Hygiene at the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. Dr. Petit, thanks so much for being here with us today!
Jorge Petit, MD: Thanks, David, for having me. It’s really a pleasure and an honor to be with you.
David: You served in the Division of Mental Hygiene as Associate Commissioner back in 2004 through 2007, and now you’ve returned as Executive Deputy Commissioner. What has genuinely changed about New York City’s behavioral health landscape, and what remains frustratingly the same? And what are your top priorities now that you’re a few months into the role?
Jorge: That’s a great question, David. Coming back to the Health Department is a bit of a homecoming for me. I served here as Associate Commissioner back in the mid-2000s, and I’ve spent the years since then working across public sector behavioral health systems, as a psychiatrist, executive, and physician leader, before coming back to lead this division. At the Health Department, we know that mental health is health. That’s not just a phrase we say – it’s how we try to organize our work.
What I’ve noticed over the last 20 years is that we’ve seen tremendous investment in behavioral health services, and real, significant progress in normalizing mental health. That’s allowing more people to seek support and find options that actually meet their needs, whether we’re talking about developmental disabilities, serious mental illness, substance use disorders, perinatal and youth mental health, or just creating more pathways to access for anyone seeking care. The system today is fundamentally more robust than it was when I was last here.
The good news — and I want to say this clearly — is that New York City actually has one of the most comprehensive behavioral health systems in the country. That’s not something we say lightly. It’s the product of sustained investment and a lot of people doing hard work over a long period of time.
What hasn’t changed, despite all of that progress, are the persistent inequities in access to care. Too many New Yorkers still don’t know what’s available to them. And that gap, between what we’ve built and what people actually know about and can reach, is something I think about constantly. We did not get here overnight, and closing these gaps is going to take dedicated effort and time. But the Health Department continues to work diligently at it, every day.
As for my priorities in this role, it’s really about strengthening early intervention, getting people into care faster, and chipping away at the stigma that still keeps too many people from asking for help in the first place. Health doesn’t exist in a vacuum, so a big part of what I want to do is break down the silos, not just within behavioral health itself, but between behavioral health and the broader systems of care that shape people’s lives every day. We know that environmental factors like income level and housing instability contribute directly to adverse health outcomes. No one should have to choose between getting mental health care and meeting their basic needs. That’s just not a choice any New Yorker should be forced into.
And I want more New Yorkers to know that the Division of Mental Hygiene is here to help, that there is no wrong door when it comes to accessing care. We offer low-barrier, place-based behavioral health support specifically because we know we need to meet people where they are, both physically and emotionally. That’s not just a tagline for us. It’s how we actually try to design all of our services.
David: For those who may not know the Division’s full footprint, can you walk us through what the Division of Mental Hygiene actually does? Who you serve, what you fund, and how you work alongside state agencies like the Office of Mental Health and the Office of Addiction Services and Supports?
Jorge: The Division of Mental Hygiene is a state-designated local government unit, and as such, we take a really holistic approach to meeting the diverse needs of New Yorkers. All of this work happens in service of our HealthyNYC goals, which are about increasing both life expectancy and health span for everyone in this city.
The Division of Mental Hygiene manages a budget of over $960 million, with over 700 staff. We work with and fund more than 200 community-based providers to deliver more than 800 programs, spanning mental health services for adults and children, substance use disorders, services for justice-impacted populations, and community outreach. We also have a very sizable portfolio of supportive housing, more than 13,000 supportive housing units.
All of this work happens as a local partner to state agencies, as well as sister city agencies, including the Department of Social Services and NYC Health + Hospitals. We work very closely with the State Office of Mental Health, OASAS, and OPWDD, where we oversee state-licensed mobile crisis and ACT teams, manage local naloxone distribution efforts, and support syringe service programs and providers. We also have a significant number of city-funded teams doing direct outreach in communities, engaging justice-involved New Yorkers, and running workshops that build day-to-day understanding and mental resilience.
And I want to be clear that the division is just one arm of a much larger agency. We work together across the Health Department to support a healthier city overall. Mental health is health, and that’s not just a phrase, it’s how we actually try to integrate our work.
David: Three of the biggest pressure points for the Division right now seem deeply connected: advancing health equity, meeting the youth mental health crisis, and supporting a provider workforce that, as we all know, is stretched thin. How are you thinking about these three challenges together, and where does the Division have real leverage?
Jorge: That’s a great question, and it’s something I’ve been working toward my entire career in the public sector. Equity is woven into every aspect of our work. It’s driven by both data and community input, and the goal is always to make sure the communities most impacted are the ones actually receiving support, not just in theory, but in practice.
On youth mental health, I come to this work not only as a psychiatrist and a public health leader, but as a parent. And I know how important it is to meet young people where they are, in ways that actually resonate with them. We support youth mental health through programs, research, technical assistance, and guidance to providers and to New Yorkers more broadly. That includes partnering with agencies like NYC Public Schools, which host site-based mental health clinics, and training youth-serving providers to strengthen how they respond to young people’s needs.
We also launched a youth suicide prevention program with Health + Hospitals, specifically to follow up with young people after they’ve been seen in an emergency department for suicide-related behaviors, because that moment matters enormously. And we convene a Youth Committee on Mental Health, made up of young people between 15 and 24, so we’re hearing directly from them on our policies, our programs, and our strategy, not just designing things for them from the outside, but really bringing them in to help shape how we design and implement these programs.
On workforce, New York City is proud to work with providers on the ground to support employment pipelines, and that includes recent funding announcements expanding support for perinatal mental health and for peer certifications specifically. I want to highlight our peer workforce in particular. We just celebrated the 20th anniversary of our peer conference, which we’ve held for 20 years now, and I think it’s genuinely one of the most valuable assets we have. We’re proud to uplift more than 630 peers across the behavioral health workforce and direct employment throughout the Health Department’s work. These are people with lived experience who reach New Yorkers in ways that traditional clinical roles sometimes can’t. We’re really trying to meet people where they’re at, as much as possible.
David: I’m so glad to hear about the emphasis on supporting the peer workforce. When we check back in a year, I’d love to chat with you again after some time has passed. What would need to be true? What would have to have happened for you to feel like this was a good first year for the Division of Mental Hygiene?
Jorge: That’s a great question, and one I grapple with all the time. Honestly, I think what’s going to be important for me is how we close the gap between what we know works and what people are actually experiencing on the ground.
I want a New York City where no one falls through the cracks — not because they didn’t know where to turn, not because the door they knocked on wasn’t the right one, and not because the system simply gave up on them. We have real infrastructure in this city, and I want to make sure we’re deploying it in a way that meets people where they are, not where we expect them to be.
I believe truly that government has a fundamental obligation, a moral one, to be a resource for all the people we serve, including those who have fallen through every other safety net. And I want to make sure we’re supporting New Yorkers living with serious mental illness, those in acute distress, those with substance use disorders, and those impacted by housing instability, with real dignity and respect. They have preferences. They have histories. They have things that matter to them. Our job is to honor that humanity even as we’re providing support.
If I can look back a year from now and say we made real, measurable progress on that, that fewer people fell through the cracks, that more people found the right door the first time, that’s what success will look like to me.
David: Dr. Petit, it’s clear that the Division of Mental Hygiene is in very good hands. I know I speak for many when I say we’re all excited to see how things evolve under your leadership. Thank you for your time and for sharing your vision with us today.
Jorge: Thank you, David, for the interview. Good seeing you.
David: For those who want to stay up to date on what’s happening at the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, follow NYC Health on social media, and visit nyc.gov/health. And to everyone watching, thank you for joining us today, and stay tuned for our next Behavioral Health News Spotlight on Excellence interview.
