The New York State Office of Mental Health today announced that the Daniel’s Law Task Force will host the first among a series of stakeholder meetings intended to help improve the way communities engage individuals experiencing a behavioral health crisis. Established in response to the death of 41-year-old Daniel Prude in 2020, the task force is charged with developing recommendations to guide behavioral health crisis response and explore avenues for related diversion services.

“The Daniel’s Law Task Force is providing New York with an opportunity to be a leader when it comes to behavioral health crisis response,” Office of Mental Health Commissioner and Task Force Chair Dr. Ann Sullivan said. “This stakeholder engagement session is aimed at gathering our first feedback from the public and those who have personally encountered an individual suffering a behavioral health crisis or experienced one themselves. This input will be a critical component of the task force’s work to improve crisis response across our state.”

The first stakeholder engagement session will be hosted virtually from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. on Monday, Nov. 20, with a link to participate in the virtual session posted to the Daniel’s Law Task Force website. Additionally, the next Task Force member meeting has been scheduled for Tuesday, Nov. 28, 2023, at the Empire State Plaza in Albany, and will be streamed live online.

The task force first met in August and is now gathering statewide input from communities, governmental entities, and the public on the best practices for engaging individuals in crisis, with a specific emphasis on equity. The task force will also examine a variety of models –both national and international –that could be used in developing a crisis response system.