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Peer Support Certification, CCBHC Support Among White House Initiatives to Address Mental Health
The White House this week announced a series of actions it is taking to advance the mental healthcare system improvement strategy introduced by President Joe Biden. Strengthening the nation’s mental health workforce and system capacity is among the areas of focus.
In a fact sheet published Thursday, the White House highlighted several workforce-related initiatives, including the following:
Peer support certification. The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) will release a new set of standards to certify peer support workers. The National Model Standards for Peer Support will be “designed to improve consistency across peer certifications and promote quality of the growing number of peer workers across the nation,” the White House said in a news release. The new standards are expected to be released “in the coming weeks,” the administration said.
Additional CCBHC support. The Department of Health and Human Services is awarding 15 one-year planning grants to help states develop their capacity needed to compete to participate in the Certified Community Behavioral Health Center (CCBHC) Medicaid demonstration. CCBHCs provide comprehensive behavioral healthcare to individuals regardless of their ability to pay. The administration is currently working to expand the number of CCBHCs operating and help more states get involved with the program.
Crisis response enhancement. SAMHSA has announced the availability of more than $200 million for states, territories, call centers, and tribal organizations to strengthen their 988 crisis response services. Later this month, SAMHSA plans to announce more than $9 million in awards in cooperative agreements for community response partnerships to support mobile response teams that improve access to care for adults and youth experiencing mental health crises in high-need communities.
Funding for school-based services. To date, the Department of Education has awarded more than $280 million in funding through the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act to bolster the pipeline of mental health professionals serving in schools and expand school-based mental health services. On Monday, the White House announced that $95 million of those funds were used for grants across 35 states to increase access to school-based mental health services and strengthen the mental health professional pipeline in high-need areas. The grants are projected to create more than 14,000 mental healthcare professional positions within US schools.
In its fact sheet, the White House also noted the Behavioral Health Equity Challenge, launched by SAMHSA in April, which will provide up to 10 awards to community-based organizations for their “innovative outreach and engagement strategies that help members of underserved racial and ethnic communities engage in culturally and linguistically responsive services across the continuum of care for behavioral health.” Additional information about the equity challenge is available on the SAMHSA website. Submissions for entry are due June 8.
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