January 18, 2018–Christine Garcia still vividly remembers one of the first young patients she cared for when she began her job as a social work assistant with VNSNY’s Home-Based Crisis Intervention program (HBCI), some 16 years ago. The ten-year-old boy’s parents were not available to him, and he had been sent to live with his aunt and her family in Brooklyn. After his discharge from an emergency psychiatric care setting, he was referred to HBCI, a part of VNSNY’s Community Mental Health Services (CMHS), to get home care treatment for deep depression. The referral came too late for the boy’s new home situation to be stabilized, though, and he was forced to re-enter the system. “It was heartbreaking,” said Christine. “If VNSNY had been involved earlier, we might have changed his life.” At the same time, she adds, “that case planted a seed for me, by showing that there is real potential