The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration awarded $73.2 million to expand children’s mental health services, strengthen suicide prevention efforts and support assisted outpatient treatment programs for adults with serious mental illness.
Here are three things to know:
1. The funding includes $44.3 million for the Children’s Mental Health Initiative, which provides comprehensive community-based mental health services for children, youth and young adults from birth through age 21 with a serious emotional disturbance, according to a July 31 news release from the agency.
2. SAMHSA also allocated $17.6 million to help healthcare systems implement the Zero Suicide framework for adults at risk of suicide. Another $11.2 million will support assisted outpatient treatment programs for adults with serious mental illness, an effort the agency said advances the President’s Executive Order Ending Crime and Disorder on America’s Streets.
3. The agency said the grants are intended to increase access to behavioral healthcare by backing evidence-based, community-driven programs that improve treatment and suicide prevention services for people living with mental illness.
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