Brooklyn College, part of The City University of New York (CUNY), has received\u202f$800,000\u202fin\u202fCongressionally Directed Spending in\u202fFY 2026\u202fto advance its\u202fIntegrated Care Model for Perinatal Mental Health Initiative, a comprehensive academic and community-based effort to address New York City\u2019s maternal mental health crisis and expand access to culturally responsive care in\u202funder-resourced\u202fcommunities.<\/p>\n
Championed by\u202fSenator\u202fCharles Schumer,\u202fthis federal funding\u202fbuilds on support\u202fin FY 2024\u202ffrom Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso, which launched the development of a perinatal mental health curriculum, strengthen partnerships with city health agencies, and support an annual education and advocacy summit in Brownsville.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe deeply appreciate Senator Schumer for championing this funding,\u201d said \u202fMichelle J. Anderson<\/a>, President of Brooklyn College. \u201cWe are committed to translating knowledge into community action and ensuring\u202fthat mental health is treated as an essential component of maternal care.\u201d<\/p>\n Perinatal mental health conditions are the\u202fleading cause of\u202fpregnancy-associated\u202fdeaths in New York City, disproportionately affecting Black and\u202funder-resourced\u202fcommunities. In Brooklyn and the Bronx, Black and Brown communities experience\u202fpregnancy-related\u202fmortality at rates\u202fapproximately nine times higher than white communities, driven in large part by untreated mental health conditions rather than obstetric complications alone.<\/p>\n Despite the prevalence of\u202fPerinatal Mood and Anxiety Disorders (PMADs),\u202fwhich affect up to one in five new mothers,\u202fscreening and treatment remain inconsistent, and the shortage of trained perinatal mental health providers is severe. Kings County currently has only\u202f20 maternal mental health providers, far below what is needed to meet population demand.<\/p>\n An Integrated,\u202fCommunity-Centered\u202fSolution\u202f<\/p>\n Brooklyn College\u2019s\u202fIntegrated Care Model for Perinatal Mental Health Initiative\u202faddresses these gaps through a multitiered approach that combines academic training, interdisciplinary collaboration, and deep community engagement.<\/p>\n At the core of the initiative is the College\u2019s\u202fplanned\u202fAdvanced Certificate in Perinatal Mental Health, a one-year, synchronous online, credit-bearing graduate program designed for professionals across perinatal and early childhood systems.<\/p>\n The program includes\u202fsix graduate\u202flevel courses, ongoing reflective supervision, and\u202f120 hours\u00a0of supervised perinatal mental health clinical training, with a focus on PMADs, substance use disorders, social determinants of health, and cultural humility. No comparable\u202fcredit-bearing\u202fcertificate program exists in the New York metropolitan area.<\/p>\n \u201cDrawing on Brooklyn College\u2019s longstanding expertise in early childhood education and early intervention, we recognized that mental health lies at the core of many challenges facing families and professionals alike,\u201d said Brooklyn College Professor of Early Childhood Education\/Art Education Jacqueline Shannon<\/a>. \u201cThe need for a dedicated curriculum became increasingly clear\u2014one that\u00a0builds on\u00a0the foundational PMH curriculum while addressing critical gaps in training. This program bridges rigorous academic preparation with real-world impact and reflects our commitment to a compassionate, community-centered approach to perinatal care, with a strong clinical focus on supporting maternal mental health across professions.\u201d<\/p>\n With its integrated, community-anchored design, the initiative is poised to serve as a\u202fmodel for improving maternal mental health outcomes across New York State and nationally,\u00a0demonstrating\u00a0how higher education, public investment, and community partnership can drive lasting change.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Brooklyn College, part of The City University of New York (CUNY), has received\u202f$800,000\u202fin\u202fCongressionally Directed Spending in\u202fFY 2026\u202fto advance…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":129316,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[98,100,99,55671,55672,9,24,63,55673],"class_list":["post-129315","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-brooklyn","tag-brooklyn","tag-brooklyn-headlines","tag-brooklyn-news","tag-early-childhood-education-art-education","tag-jacqueline-d-shannon","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc","tag-perinatal-mental-health"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/129315","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=129315"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/129315\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/129316"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=129315"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=129315"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=129315"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}