Gounardes’ Mental Health Townhall
Senator Andrew Gounardes held a virtual “Health Townhall” on Zoom. See here
The goal was to discuss grief, fear, financial anxiety and isolation. Did it do that? Four people stated some general information about anxiety or being alone….that’s not a townhall.
The format for a townhall is quite different, but I guess Senator Gounardes wanted to check-off that he had townhall meeting. Doesn’t anyone that works in his office know what a townhall meeting is? Why wouldn’t someone tell him that he was just have an information session, not a townhall?
Update: Comments left here say that this was a webinar.
The two speakers were:
1) Matt Kudish, Executive Director of NAMI NYC-Metro (National Alliance for Mental Illness). NAMI provides education and advocacy for people with mental health issues. Kadish’s big push was: The stress you are feeling is valid. Reach out to your treatment provider when you need to talk to someone.” NAMI has a free helpline from Monday to Friday: 212-684-3264
2) Dr. Nicoletta Pallotta, MD, LCSW founder of Brooklyn Counseling Service. BCS has several locations in Brooklyn. They do free group counseling on their website.
Why didn’t Gounardes invite someone from THRIVE NYC? NYC invested so much money setting up Thrive.
Senator Gounardes asked if group therapy on Zoom was helpful? Dr. Pallotta said it was good for people, who are grieving to share their experience.
Councilman Brannan asked about what parents, who are spending all day with their families, should do. Both experts suggested that they should talk with others, but were vague on where parents could get help. It was almost like the speakers weren’t aware of the question before the discussion.
Kusish thought NAMI’s website had something for parents, but there wasn’t anything online. Strangely, they have online groups, but parent support wasn’t one of them.
NAMI-NYC’s website has this meeting, but it wasn’t mentioned.
The last topic Gounardes asked was about the Asian community receiving negative comments/about over the coronavirus. Matt said that is trauma and anyone who experiences that should seek therapy for that so they can move on from it. Dr. Pallotta said that many Asian people don’t reach out for therapy, but they should seek help.
Hugs,
marlene
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