Elevate You Youth Mental Health Clinics Highlighted in New Episode of NYC Health + Hospitals Podcast The Remedy
May 05, 2026
NYC Health + Hospitals today released a new episode of its podcast, The Remedy, featuring leaders and health care providers from the nation’s largest municipal health care system. In Season 3 Episode 7: Inside Elevate You Mental Health Clinics Dr. Michael Shen is joined by Dr. Rajvee Vora, NYC Health + Hospitals/Woodhull’s Chief of Behavioral Health, Dr. William Coe, Medical Director for Woodhull’s Elevate You clinic, and Karen Lenard, Vice President of Behavioral Health at MetroPlusHealth to discuss how the public health care system is working to keep young people engaged in mental health services as they transition into adulthood — one of the most critical gaps in adolescent patients’ care. The episode explores how Elevate You clinics in Brooklyn and Queens are connecting 16- to 25-year-olds to mental health care, counseling, social services, and creative therapy, delivering comprehensive, youth-centered support that goes beyond traditional care models. Season 3 Episode 7: Inside Elevate You Mental Health Clinics is available now on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, iHeartRadio and other podcast platforms.
“Too many young people fall out of care during one of the most important transitions in their lives,” said The Remedy Host Dr. Michael Shen. “This episode highlights how the Elevate You team is creating a space where youth feel seen, supported, and empowered to stay connected to care.”
“Youth mental health needs a different approach — one that recognizes the full context of a young person’s life,” said Dr. Rajvee Vora, NYC Health + Hospitals/Woodhull Chief of Behavioral Health. “Elevate You is designed to meet young people where they are, providing not just clinical care, but a sense of belonging and stability during a pivotal stage of their lives.”
“When we saw that 90% of our youth members leave care after they turn 21 it was clear that the traditional system wasn’t working for this population,” said Karen Lenard, Vice President of Behavioral Health at MetroPlusHealth. “By investing in services that go beyond what insurance typically covers, we’re helping young people stay engaged, build confidence, and see a future for themselves.”
“Our goal is to bridge the gap between child and adult systems of care,” said Dr. William Coe, Medical Director of the Elevate You Clinic. “By offering flexible, personalized support —including mental health services, peer connection, and career guidance — we’re helping young people develop the skills they need to thrive independently and as they enter adulthood.”
NYC Health + Hospitals’ role as a public hospital system and the major safety net health care system for New York City offers a singular voice that no other health care podcast can. It shows how the public health care system provides care for all patients, regardless of their ability to pay; offers exciting ways to support patients, including new models of care to address behavioral health needs; and responds to the challenges that face New York City, including homelessness and the climate crisis. The host and guests are all employees of NYC Health + Hospitals with a special perspective on the work they do for patients.
Previous episodes of The Remedy cover the following topics:
Season 3
- Season 3 Episode 1: Healing Through Art: Creative Therapies at Rikers Island covers NYC Health + Hospitals/Correctional Health Services’ Creative Arts Therapy program, the oldest and largest jail-based arts therapy program in the nation.
- Season 3 Episode 2: Inside NYC’s Award-Winning Nursing Homes highlights the often-overlooked world of post-acute care.
- Season 3 Episode 3: Behind the Scenes at the Simulation Center covers how doctors, nurses, and staff rehearse everything from trauma and cardiac arrest to opioid overdose.
- Season 3 Episode 4: Redefining Mental Health Support with Bridge to Home covers how the first-of-its-kind transitional housing initiative supports patients with severe mental illness by providing a stable, home-like environment with onsite clinical and behavioral health care.
- Season 3 Episode 5: How Art Provides Healing in NYC Hospitals highlights how arts and creativity improve patient care, trust, equity, belonging, and combats health care worker burnout.
- Season 3 Episode 6: Inside NYC’s Sustainable Health Care Revolution highlights how the public health care system is transforming its hospitals, community health centers, and nursing homes by making them more sustainable, resilient, and efficient
Season 2
- Season 2 Episode 1: Community Health Workers covers these workers’ vital role in bridging the gap between medical care and social needs like housing, food, and transportation. With over 250 community health workers, NYC Health + Hospitals has built one of the largest programs in the nation.
- Season 2 Episode 2: How NYC Care Helps Uninsured New Yorkers highlights how the program provides health care to low-income and uninsured New Yorkers — regardless of immigration status or ability to pay.
- Season 2 Episode 3: Treating Violence covers the critical work the public health system’s Hospital Violence Interruption programs (HVIP) do to prevent violence, save lives, and heal communities.
- Season 2 Episode 4: The New Ellis Island highlights the historic work of NYC Health + Hospitals’ Arrival Center, a central intake facility for all newly arriving asylum seekers run by NYC Health + Hospitals’ Humanitarian Emergency Response and Relief Center (HERRC) program.
- Season 2 Episode 5: Street Medicine in NYC covers the efforts of social workers the public health system’s Street Health Outreach + Wellness (SHOW) program, a street medicine program that provides medical care, behavioral health, and social services to New Yorkers who are experiencing homelessness or historically disconnected from care.
- Season 2 Episode 6: How AI Will Transform Healthcare in NYC covers how the public health system is using artificial intelligence to enhance patient care, improve efficiency, and support its workforce.
- Season 2 Episode 7: No Wrong Door: Addiction Care in NYC covers how NYC Health + Hospitals is treating substance use disorder with a comprehensive approach—whether someone walks into an emergency room, seeks help at a methadone clinic, or connects through community outreach.
Season 1
- Season 1 Episode 1: The Power of Primary Care features three primary care doctors on how working with their patients informs their roles in leadership at NYC Health + Hospitals.
- Season 1 Episode 2: Food is Medicine recognizes that plant-based eating is powerful medicine – it can lower high blood pressure and bring type 2 diabetes into remission – and considers how hospitals can help their patients pursue a plant-based diet.
- Season 1 Episode 3: Ready for the Next Pandemic considers how New York City’s public hospital system has consistently answered the challenge of Ebola, COVID-19, and mpox all while staying ahead of the latest health crisis.
- Season 1 Episode 4: Women’s Health considers how New York City’s public hospital system is expanding access to women’s health care in a time when many women across the country are facing restricted access to care.
- Season 1 Episode 5: Caring for the Newest New Yorkers covers how the staff at NYC Health + Hospitals are rising to the challenge of caring for the over 175,000 asylum seekers who have come to our city since spring 2022.
- Season 1 Episode 6: Caring for Homeless Patients covers how NYC Health + Hospitals serves its over 70,000 patients who are experiencing homelessness.
- Season 1 Episode 7: Helping Healers Heal covershow NYC Health + Hospitals supports the mental health of its more than 40,000 health care workers.
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About NYC Health + Hospitals
NYC Health + Hospitals is the largest municipal health care system in the nation serving more than a million New Yorkers annually in more than 70 patient care locations across the city’s five boroughs. A robust network of outpatient, neighborhood-based primary and specialty care centers anchors care coordination with the system’s trauma centers, nursing homes, post-acute care centers, home care agency, and MetroPlusHealth —all supported by 11 essential hospitals. Its diverse workforce of more than 46,000 employees is uniquely focused on empowering New Yorkers, without exception, to live the healthiest life possible. For more information, visit www.nychealthandhospitals.org and stay connected on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn.