The Mount Sinai Department of Health Education offers programming, training, content development, technical assistance and capacity building services to our health system colleagues and community partners, centering our commitments to health equity and justice at the core of everything we do. For our health system colleagues, we provide expert internal consultation and support to ensure all aspects of patient care and experience are infused with health literacy best practices. In partnership with the community, we also provide high-quality health education and empowerment programming for youth.

Internal Consultation for Our Mount Sinai Health System Colleagues
Leveraging our shared commitments to patient and community health, we work collaboratively and synergistically to enhance efforts across the hospital system for maximum impact on individual, family, and community health.

We apply our expertise in health literacy and communication to strengthen programming and improve health outcomes through:

• Health education needs assessments for departments, teams, and initiatives, incorporating collaborative approaches to identifying barriers and designing solutions, including but not limited to implementing and facilitating leadership steering committees, patient advisory panels, and focus groups
  • Learn more about the Health Communication Hub partnership model: HCH Partnership with The Selikoff Centers for Occupational Health; HCH Partnership with The Epilepsy Division 
• Developing print and digital patient-facing content which incorporates health literacy best practices and meets standards around accessibility, inclusivity, and branding
• Developing provider-facing tools and resources to support effective, patient-centered communication
• Professional development offerings for all staff roles, ranging from Grand Rounds lectures to introductory trainings and interactive workshops
  • Training offerings include:
    • Health Literacy 101: An Introduction
    • Addressing Health Literacy to Advance Health Equity
    • Developing Health Literate Communications Workshop
    • Introduction to Motivational Interviewing
• Contribution to initiatives and programs which would benefit from our unique perspective and expertise

Learn more about our effort to better serve undocumented workers under the health system’s Road Map to Address Racism, Strategy 3.

Community-Based Programs
All of our community-based programming is designed, implemented, and evaluated in partnership with stakeholders to ensure we are consistently meeting the most pressing needs of our community through approaches that are relevant, effective, and sustainable.  

The Public Health and Racial Justice Program: This award-winning education and empowerment program was designed by the department in the spring of 2020, in direct response to the COVID-19 pandemic and Black Lives Matter movement, both of which illuminated the critical and insidious impact of racism on community health. This innovative program serves girls of color between the ages of 15-18 years, introducing participants to the expansive field of public health through a racial justice lens, with an emphasis on the importance of activism, community advocacy, civic engagement, and a diverse public health workforce.

Learn more about this program by reading our report on the summer 2023 session.

Youth Mental Health Programming: The Mount Sinai Department of Health Education has developed a mental health program for youth of color in response to the changing social-emotional needs of adolescents since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic and the broadening national conversation around racism. The goals of this program are to teach students about emotional health, build skills around mental health advocacy, cultivate peer and community connection, and build self-efficacy and self-esteem. 

We would be honored to partner with you
To learn more about the Mount Sinai Department of Health Education, please contact our Director, Alyssa Gale at alyssa.gale@mountsinai.org