Photo Courtesy of Ed Reed/Mayoral Photography Office
“With these new appointments, we will tackle this longstanding and long-ignored crisis with compassion, urgency, and forward-thinking solutions,” Mayor Adams said.
By Forum Staff
Mayor Eric Adams on Monday announced the appointment of Eva Wong as director of the Mayor’s Office of Community Mental Health (OCMH) and Brian Stettin as senior advisor for severe mental illness. Wong and Stettin will join those in the administration — including leaders in the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DOHMH) and at NYC Health + Hospitals (H+H) — working to promote the mental health of New Yorkers every day.
According to the administration, Wong brings over 15 years of professional experience in direct clinical services, program management and operations, and community development. Wong has a breadth of experience in advocacy and developing programs, including crisis intervention with a special focus on historically marginalized groups. As director, Wong will bring her experience in sustained, authentic conversations with New Yorkers, including young people, families, members of the LGBTQIA+ community, and those hit hardest by the pandemic to lead the City’s work promoting mental health wellness, de-stigmatizing mental illness, and delivering equitable access to mental health services with communities of color across the five boroughs.
Stettin is a veteran of state government, Adams noted, returning to New York after 13 years as a prominent national advocate for mental health reform. He has drafted and led successful campaigns for improved treatment laws in numerous states and guided jurisdictions of every type and size in establishing Assisted Outpatient Treatment (AOT) programs. Stettin will serve as a senior advisor to Deputy Mayor for Health and Human Services Anne Williams-Isom. In this role, he will work to expand and strengthen the city’s in-patient psychiatric programs, ensure the city’s utilization of AOT is as effective as possible, and work with DOHMH, OCMH, and across city agencies to support New Yorkers with severe mental illness.
“Bringing mental health care to every New Yorker who needs it, especially our most vulnerable neighbors, is more urgent than ever,” Adams said. “Eva’s experience and dedication to making mental health care as accessible as possible is exactly what New York City needs, and I’m confident that, in her role as OCMH director, she will coordinate with our agency and community partners to ensure people have access to quality care they need. Brian has an impressive record of helping government meet the needs of people with severe mental illness and I know he will be an invaluable leader as we build a stronger system of treatment and support. It isn’t just our responsibility to support our most vulnerable New Yorkers, but also to also shatter the stigma surrounding mental health illness. With these new appointments, we will tackle this longstanding and long-ignored crisis with compassion, urgency, and forward-thinking solutions.”
DOHMH Commissioner Dr. Ashwin Vasan added, “We’re excited to welcome Eva and Brian to the administration to bring more hands into this fight, and to strengthen our team as we address both immediate and structural issues in our mental health system, and the underlying social and economic drivers of rising mental health needs in our city. We need everyone to step in and step up to the challenges, and we’re grateful to Eva and Brian for their service at this critical time.”
