Tennessee to put $6.5 million into children, youth mental health
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — The Tennessee Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services is putting $6.5 million into expanding mental health services.
A news release says the funds are being divided among multiple programs aimed at increasing early intervention services for children from birth to 8-years-old.
“Tennessee is a state blessed with a wide variety of resources and challenges when it comes to children’s mental health. That’s why we took a bottom-up approach to this funding opportunity to empower the amazing mental health providers we work with to design approaches to meet the biggest needs that they see in the communities they serve,” said TDMHSAS Commissioner Marie Williams, LCSW. “We are so grateful to Governor Bill Lee for his vision in budgeting this funding and to the members of the General Assembly for their investment in the mental health of our state’s most precious resource.”
Programs receiving a portion of the funds includes:
- $500,000 for Pathways in West Tennessee
- $424,000 for Frontier Health
- $1.1 million for the McNabb Center
- $900,000 for Volunteer Behavioral Health in southeast Tennessee and the Cumberland Plateau
- $623,000 for TN Voices in Davidson County
- $594,000 for Volunteer Behavioral Health in Middle Tennessee
- $200,000 for the Prevention Coalition for Success
- $426,000 for Youth Villages
- $609,000 for TN Voices in Middle Tennessee
- $1 million for TN Voices in Shelby County
Pathways is using its portion to expand its observational and consulting services, and add a new School-Based Behavioral Health Liaison and four project liaisons.
You can find the full news release on tn.gov.
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