Asheville, N.C.-based Mountain Area Health Education Center was awarded a $4 million grant from the state's Department of Health and Human Services, ABC affiliate WLOS reported June 1.
The funding will help expand the center's behavioral health clinic, the report said. It is also expected to bolster services for school-based therapists.
"I think there's a recognition nationally that people with mental illness and substance use disorders are underserved," the center's psychiatry department chair Steve Buie, MD, told WLOS. "Not enough people are reaching out for care, and people who do reach out for care often can't access care because there aren't enough providers."
The grant was made available through the American Rescue Plan Act, the report said.