The government of New York City is offering counseling and support services for its city workers who are feeling “distressed” or “vulnerable” following last month’s elections. In an email sent to city government employees last week and obtained by THE WEEKLY STANDARD, a coalition of agencies offered to “share information and resources and to provide support” for workers.
“Many New Yorkers may be feeling distressed or vulnerable following the election results,” the message begins. “We have seen the concerns expressed on social media and we are monitoring them closely.”
The email, which contained the subject line, “Feeling stressed? Resources for City employees”, included the letterhead of three organizations: the New York City Employee Assistance Program; Thrive NYC (the city government’s mental health initiative); and Work Well NYC, which runs the city workers’ health plan. But plenty of other government agencies are involved in the initiative to help New York city employees.
“[T]he Office of the Deputy Mayor for Strategic Policy Initiatives and Thrive NYC have partnered with the Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs (MOIA), the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DOHMH), the Department of Education (DOE), the Department of Youth and Community Development (DYCD), the Office of Labor Relation’s Employee Assistance Program (OLR EAP), providers and others to share information and resources and to provide support,” the email reads. “We hope to maintain resilience, raise awareness of symptoms to support early intervention, and provide information about available resources, including NYC Well, the City’s 24/7/365 connection to care, which offers with interpretation services in over 200 languages.”
The email contains links to several such resources, including literature on “coping with stressful events”, helping children cope with stress, and “tips for self-care.” The city’s department of education is “also developing supportive activities in schools and working with Thrive NYC’s School Mental Health Consultants program to promote our students’ mental wellness,” according to the email.
In November’s presidential election, Republican Donald Trump lost every borough in New York except for Staten Island. He earned just 10 percent of the vote in Manhattan, where Trump and his business are based. He would go on to lose the state of New York to Hillary Clinton, who served as one of its United States senators from 2001 to 2009.
The mayor of New York, Bill de Blasio, is a Democrat who supported Clinton.
