NYC Mental Health Resources
If you or someone you love is struggling, you don’t have to sort out the system before you can ask for help. Call the Mental Health Hotline at 866-903-3787, any hour, and we can help you find a starting point in New York City, in whichever borough you call home.
If this is an emergency
If you or someone else is in immediate danger, call 911.
If you are in emotional distress or thinking about suicide, call or text 988 to reach the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline, available 24/7.
In New York City, calls and texts to 988 reach NYC 988, the city’s own line, and the person who answers can send a mobile crisis team to you if you need someone there in person.
The Mental Health Hotline is an information and referral service. It is not a substitute for emergency services.
It’s possible to live surrounded by millions of people and still feel like no one knows what you’re going through. Maybe it’s you, or maybe it’s a roommate, a parent or a friend who has pulled away and won’t say why. Whatever brought you here, you don’t need a diagnosis, a referral or the perfect words to start asking for help.
New York has a new kind of door this year. In April 2026, Services for the UnderServed opened a Supportive Crisis Stabilization Center at 2862 Fulton St. in East New York. It’s open 24/7, it looks more like a living room than a hospital, and you can walk in without an appointment and stay for up to a day while things settle. And across all five boroughs, NYC 988 is the city’s single number for mental health help. Interpreters are available in more than 200 languages, and the line can arrange a mobile crisis visit to your home.
Cost is where a lot of people stall. About one in ten working-age adults in the city has no health insurance, and federal changes in July 2026 ended Essential Plan coverage for roughly 230,000 more New Yorkers. If that’s you, NYC Care offers care through NYC Health + Hospitals, including mental health services, with fees based on what you can pay, starting at $0 and regardless of immigration status. NYC 988 and the NAMI-NYC Helpline are free. If insurance is the question, here’s more on mental health insurance coverage.
You don’t need to know which of these is right before you reach out. Whether you’re calling for yourself or for someone you love, the Mental Health Hotline can help you sort through the options at 866-903-3787, and there’s guidance on supporting someone who’s struggling if that’s where you are. More New York mental health resources are collected on the state page.
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Where to Get Help in New York City
Some of these are for the hardest nights and some are for an ordinary afternoon when you just need someone to talk to, and both are good reasons to reach out. If you’re wondering what happens when you dial, here’s what 988 actually does.
Mental Health in New York City, by the Numbers
Three figures that say something about how connected, or not, many New Yorkers feel. They’re context for the resources above, not a description of anyone’s situation.
Figures come from the CDC PLACES 2025 release, which models city-level estimates from 2023 BRFSS survey responses for adults 18 and over. New York City ranks 7th of the 100 cities in this series for adults who lack social and emotional support, where 1 is the highest rate, and 18th for loneliness. Model-based estimates describe a population, not any one person in it.
In a city this size, it’s easy to assume someone else has it worse or that your problem can wait, but you don’t have to wait your turn. The Mental Health Hotline can answer your questions and help you choose a first step in New York City, at any hour. Call 866-903-3787 when you’re ready.