Earlier on May 31st, Governor Kathy Hochul met virtually with parents from advocacy organizations across New York State to discuss her ongoing efforts to combat the youth mental health crisis. The Governor highlighted her push for nation-leading legislation addressing online safety and the harmful impacts of social media in the final days of the 2024 State Legislative Session.

The roundtable was made up of parents and representatives from organizations whose work spans across the State of New York. They include:

Kyle McCauley Belokopitsky (Moderator), Rensselaer County, Executive Director of the NYS Congress of Parents and Teachers

Dr. Ann Sullivan, Commissioner of the Office of Mental Health

Susan Fox, Brooklyn, Founder of Park Slope Parents

Stephanie Stevens, Chautauqua County, President of the YWCAs of New York & Executive Director of YWCA Westfield

Scott MacLeod, Tompkins County, Co-Founder of The Sophie Fund, Inc.

Jenny Dembrow, Manhattan, Executive Director of the Lower East Side Girls Club

Julie Scelfo, New York City, Founder of Mothers Against Media Addiction

Elise Gold, Ulster County, Founder of the Maya Gold Foundation

Bernice Tsai, New York City, Representative of Common Sense Media

Meisha Porter, Bronx, President and CEO of the Bronx Community Foundation

Kathleen Spence, Suffolk County, Teacher at Brentwood East Middle School

Arron Muller, Queens, CEO of Modify Wellness, Inc.

VIDEO of the event is available on YouTube here and in TV quality (h.264, mp4) format here. VIDEO of the Governor's opening remarks is available on YouTube here and in TV quality (h.264, mp4) format here.

AUDIO of the event is available here. AUDIO of the Governor's opening remarks is available here.

PHOTOS of the event are available on the Governor's Flickr page.

A rush transcript of the Governor's remarks is available below:

Good morning, everyone. It's great to be with all of you today. Thank you for giving some of your time to talk about what I believe, and you believe is one of the defining issues of our time. And that's how we are protecting our children. And over the last — literally — the year, I have gone out and convened gatherings of parents and mostly young people in their classrooms and in community centers, from the Bronx to Buffalo.

And I've talked to them and parents about social media and the addictive algorithms that really govern the platform — where our children spend so much their lives. And what is so disturbing to me is that it really seems to be taking over their lives and governing their mental health as well. And I know there's a lot of parents on this call.

I want to thank our great Commissioner, Dr. Ann Sullivan from the Office of Mental Health, for what she is doing to champion this issue. But I think it's not a secret to anyone that I'm the first mom-to-be-Governor of New York. I'm also a fairly new grandmother and we all know that we really want our kids to be safe, protected and we cannot fail them in this.

And this is something where a lot of times parents and teenagers disagree on things, but I'm really starting to see a change in the attitudes of the young people we've spoken to. This is something that teenagers and parents are agreeing on. And a lot of these young people know that they're feeling lonelier and isolated — anxiety and depression — like they never had before. Perhaps even their older siblings might not have, because they are in this generational collide where they're the first generation in 100 years to be dealing with the effects of a global pandemic, which created incredible isolation. It had to, they were on their own at home. Their only social connections were through social media.

But also, then this rise in the addictive algorithms. We really can see where there's a close connection between these influences and the onslaught of low self-esteem and desperation and depression, and social media platforms like Instagram — and they just keep pulling our kids into this virtual darkness and they need help.

This is not from me. This is literally from them, and I cannot ignore the fact that I remember this voice so clearly when a young woman said, “You have to save us from ourselves. We need you to help us put this down” because the peer pressure is so powerful that they can't say, “I know this is not good for me, I need to focus on my work during the school day. I'm going to be the one person in my class who doesn't engage.”

That is a death sentence for our kids. They cannot be that one person or the small group of people because of the incredible pressure. So, we said enough is enough.

Last October, I was joined by our Attorney General Tish James, Senator Andrew Gounardes and Assemblymember Nily Rozic and parents. Many of you represented parents from across New York, and we announced that we had legislation that would prohibit minors from being exposed to addictive social media algorithms and dangerous feeds. And protect them from online entities collecting and making money off their personal data for a teenager, minor.

So, this is my top priority at the end of session, just a few days left. If we don't listen to them and give more power back to parents as well, to be able to shut it all off at midnight till 6 a.m., our kids are sleep deprived. This affects their ability to be resilient to the stresses of the next day. They need their rest. If we, as the elected adults and the adults who care deeply about them from all across New York, if we don't listen to their cries for help and see the damning data, then we have failed in one of our most important, what I would say instinctive responsibilities, our duties, which is to keep our children safe.

So, we've had a big overhaul of the mental health system since I became Governor two years ago. Safeguarding kids is a centerpiece of that $1 billion for mental health, and we've been expanding mental health. For young people dealing with eating disorders, for example, and youth suicide prevention, $10 million.

And what's so important to me is opening more school based clinics because I've been to them and I've talked to young people who say they never would have been able to get help or adult who understands if it was left up to their parents to take time off their jobs during the school day, drive sometimes a great distance to find a provider, try to do this every week for a long time. It never would have happened. This is the reality. You help the young people in school, starting whether it's in middle school or high school, and if we can identify and stop some of this negativity and these mental health challenges while they're young, we can save them from a lifetime of needing care, and that's what I want to do. We're going to have over 1,200 around the state, these school based clinics. Every child who wants to access help and their parents who want them to get help should have it.

With these bills, we're in the homestretch. We're building on that progress. We're treating these symptoms that cause so much distress as an outgrowth of this. And I want to thank all of you for joining us. I want to hear your voices and your experiences. And as you answer the questions, I thank Kyle for being our moderator today, because I will do my job better from listening to the people like all of you who care so deeply of who have joined us here today. Let me let Kyle take it away.

Thank you.