Westchester County Health Committee Meeting on Mental Health Stigma in Communities of Color — September 16, 2026

On Wednesday, September 16, 2026, the Westchester County Board of Legislators Committee on Health met from 11:07 a.m. to 12:22 p.m. in the Committee Room at the Michaelian Office Building, White Plains, NY. Chair Jewel Williams Johnson presided; Legislator Erica Pierce was present, and Committee Vice Chair Barr and Legislators David and Mamora joined during the session. The committee heard invited testimony and held a discussion on stigma surrounding mental health in communities of color. No formal votes were taken.

Discussion Items

• Chair Johnson opened the meeting and introduced the guests: Dr. Theddeus Iheanacho, Associate Professor of Psychiatry at Yale University; Ify Ezinwa, President & CEO of Echoes Africa Initiatives; and Dr. Christopher John and Michelle Hart, Program Directors from the Westchester County Department of Community Mental Health.
• Ify Ezinwa described her personal history as the daughter of a mother with lifelong mental health struggles and said a culturally informed intervention could have improved her mother's care. She stated that 'one size does not fit all' in mental health and that Echoes Africa Initiatives has conducted education and advocacy because community members often feel providers do not understand their backgrounds.
• Dr. Iheanacho said mental health stigma is widespread and manifests at personal, societal, and systemic levels, including among psychiatrists regarding substance use. He explained that stigma prevents people from seeking help and delays care.
• Dr. Iheanacho cited county data showing that close to 35% of Westchester residents speak a language other than English, which he called important for mental health access. He noted that Westchester is a wealthy county with many resources, but wealth can mask pockets of poverty and unequal access.
• He recommended identifying neighborhood-specific barriers—cost, language, insurance, transportation, and trust—and aligning policies and services to those needs. He noted that children in lower-income households tend to have worse mental health outcomes and that income affects even small copays.
• On substance use, Dr. Iheanacho said overdose deaths are higher among Black residents and that opioid overdoses are largely preventable with medications such as buprenorphine, methadone, and naltrexone and with naloxone. He estimated that only about 25%, or at best 40%, of people with opioid use disorder receive treatment. He described Connecticut efforts to initiate buprenorphine treatment in emergency rooms and to integrate buprenorphine treatment into churches, with church-based health workers and telehealth.
• Chair Johnson highlighted Pat White's Soul Shops, which train faith leaders in churches of color across Westchester and neighboring counties. Dr. John confirmed that engaging faith-based leaders in mental health training has been successful and is growing.
• Vice Chair Barr said Port Chester's school-based clinics are valuable, but students avoid being seen walking to mental health services. She described the Carver Center as an effective partner because mental health support is integrated into teen and after-school programs, making it less stigmatizing.
• Dr. Iheanacho endorsed combining universal mental health education with access to specialists, adding that co-designing services with the community is essential.
• Ify Ezinwa recounted a case of a 14-year-old student in New York City whose school did not detect mental health struggles because he behaved differently at school and at home. She argued that teachers and schools also need training to recognize warning signs.
• Legislator Pierce said her human services work shows that many young people use substances at home, and she supports training staff and parents on how to use Narcan so interventions can begin at home.
• Dr. John and Michelle Hart said Westchester has conducted Narcan trainings in libraries and community centers in English and Spanish, sometimes with parents bringing their children. They noted a reduction in overdose deaths and emphasized that not everyone who overdoses is an addict.
• Dr. Iheanacho described additional models: integrating mental health into primary care and homeless services for veterans, using a community van and home visits, and delivering buprenorphine in homeless shelters. He also described integrating addiction treatment into ACT teams and working in Nigeria.
• On policy, Dr. Iheanacho proposed normalizing help-seeking, bringing care closer to communities, and reducing insurance and transportation barriers. He noted that some doctors only accept cash because of insurance paperwork, and he suggested county-level Medicaid arrangements and peer navigation to support providers and patients.
• Ify Ezinwa said Echoes Africa's workshops are generating requests for services; Dr. Iheanacho has reactivated his New York license and is moving to New York in October, and Echoes Africa is working on insurance and Medicaid so culturally informed care can be offered.
• In response to a question about culturally competent care, Dr. Iheanacho stressed cultural humility and curiosity, and said providers should ask patients about their lives and what their symptoms mean rather than assuming a one-size-fits-all diagnosis. He noted that the experience of depression can differ across cultural and gender contexts.
• Dr. John expressed concern that Black residents are overrepresented in crisis response, police contact, emergency room transports, and non-admissions rather than prevention. Dr. Iheanacho agreed and said Black and Latinx communities often do not view existing services as being 'for them'; services should be co-designed and adapted, such as his Connecticut project adapting contingency management for cocaine use disorder for the Black community.
• Dr. John added that the Black community may be offered fewer positive, reward-based treatment options and face more punitive responses, and that assessments should place cultural understanding at the center.
• Dr. Iheanacho outlined a model for community engagement: co-design with affected populations, pilot testing, data-driven adjustments over 6 to 12 months, scaling to additional sites, and planning for sustainability. He recommended public dashboards to show outcomes and using Medicaid data to track economic and treatment impacts.
• At the end, Dr. Iheanacho identified everyday signs of stigma: social withdrawal, fear of community judgment, self-stigma, and added pressure for immigrants. He encouraged families and communities to check on people who withdraw.
• Chair Johnson closed by saying that seeking help is not weakness but strength, care, and hope, and that support is available through trusted family members, faith leaders, community resources, and mental health professionals.

Key Outcomes

• No formal votes or legislative actions were taken; the meeting was informational.
• Chair Johnson said she would review Dr. Iheanacho's slides and plan a follow-up meeting to continue exploring culturally informed mental health services and policy ideas.
• Committee members and county mental health leaders identified existing Westchester programs, such as Soul Shops, school-based clinics, the Carver Center, mobile crisis teams, and Narcan trainings, as foundations for further work.