Bill Text: NY A07395 | 2023-2024 | General Assembly | Introduced
Bill Title: Provides for definitions of mental health and family and youth peer advocates and requires the office of mental health to establish peer service qualification programs.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)
Status: (Engrossed) 2024-02-13 - REFERRED TO MENTAL HEALTH [A07395 Detail]
Download: New_York-2023-A07395-Introduced.html
STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 7395 2023-2024 Regular Sessions IN ASSEMBLY May 19, 2023 ___________ Introduced by M. of A. DARLING -- (at request of the Office of Mental Health) -- read once and referred to the Committee on Mental Health AN ACT to amend the mental hygiene law, in relation to providing defi- nitions of mental health and family and youth peer and requires the office of mental health to establish peer service qualification programs The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem- bly, do enact as follows: 1 Section 1. Section 7.03 of the mental hygiene law is amended by adding 2 six new subdivisions 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8 to read as follows: 3 3. "Mental health peer" or "MHP" means an individual with lived-exper- 4 ience who is actively in recovery from a mental health condition and has 5 self-disclosed their mental health journey. 6 4. "Family peer advocate" or "FPA" means an individual with lived-ex- 7 perience as the biological, foster, or adoptive parent or primary care- 8 giver of a child or youth with a social, emotional, behavioral, mental 9 health, or developmental disability. 10 5. "Youth peer advocate" or "YPA" means an individual who self-identi- 11 fies as a person with first-hand experience with mental health and/or 12 co-occurring behavioral challenges as a young person or has received 13 services in any one of the child-serving systems or programs pursuant to 14 this chapter. 15 6. "New York state certified peer specialist" or "NYCPS" means a 16 mental health peer who has specialized training and holds a credential 17 from a certifying authority recognized by the commissioner. 18 7. "Credentialed family peer advocate" or "CFPA" means an individual 19 verified to have met the criteria for a family peer advocate as defined 20 in subdivision four of this section and who holds a credential from a 21 certifying authority recognized by the commissioner. 22 8. "Credentialed youth peer advocate" or "CYPA" means an individual 23 verified to have met the criteria for a youth peer advocate as defined EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [] is old law to be omitted. LBD07364-01-3A. 7395 2 1 in subdivision five of this section and who holds a credential from a 2 certifying authority recognized by the commissioner. 3 § 2. Subdivision (d) of section 7.07 of the mental hygiene law, as 4 added by chapter 978 of the laws of 1977, is amended to read as follows: 5 (d) The office of mental health shall foster programs for the training 6 and development of persons capable of providing the foregoing services, 7 and for the qualification of persons capable of providing peer services 8 as defined in subdivisions three, four, five, six, seven, and eight of 9 section 7.03 of this article and in accordance with criteria established 10 by the commissioner. 11 § 3. This act shall take effect on the one hundred eightieth day after 12 it shall have become a law.
