Biden-Harris Administration Announces More Than $200 Million To Support Youth Mental Health – HHS.gov
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Builds on unprecedented investment through President Biden’s Unity Agenda to tackle the mental health crisis and support community-based behavioral health care and treatment.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), through the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), and the Administration for Children and Families (ACF), announced $206 million in grant awards towards youth mental health. Also today, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) will make more Medicaid funding available for school-based health services in Virginia, improving health care access, including mental health services. Combined, these awards will help expand access to mental health services for students in schools, bolster the behavioral health workforce, and improve access to mental health prevention and treatment for children and youth in communities across the country. And they represent a key next step in President Biden’s Unity Agenda, which is making unprecedented investments to tackle the mental health crisis and transform how mental health is understood, accessed, treated, and integrated in and out of health care settings.
The investments include the following:
“The Biden-Harris Administration is deeply committed to tackling the mental health crisis facing America, particularly among our young people. Expanding mental health care services to ensure that everyone who needs help can access care when and where they seek it is a key element of President Biden’s Unity Agenda,” said HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra. “We are transforming mental health and substance use treatment across the country by providing equitable access to services for all Americans. These tools and resources will help families struggling to meet the mental health care needs of their children.”
Recent data confirms that young people need more support to address their mental health and substance use disorder challenges. The most recent Youth Risk Behavior Survey found that nearly three in five U.S. teen girls felt persistently sad or hopeless in 2021 – representing a nearly 60% increase over the past decade. It also found that 22% of high school students seriously considered attempting suicide during the past year.
“These awards reflect the extraordinary commitment of the Biden-Harris Administration to addressing youth mental health,” said Deputy Secretary Andrea Palm. “The tools and resources that we are providing will help children who are struggling by meeting them and their families where they are, and ensuring there is no wrong door to behavioral health care.”
Supporting at Risk Youth and Families
$131.7 Million from SAMHSA to Support At-risk Youth and Families
Expanding Access to Youth Mental Health Care
$55 Million from HRSA for Expanding Access to Youth Mental Health Care:
Center to Support Mental Health Services in Child Welfare
$20 Million from ACF to Launch First National Center to Support Mental Health Services in the Child Welfare System:
Expanding School-Based Health Services
If you or someone you know is struggling or in crisis, help is available. Call or text 988 or chat 988lifeline.org.
To learn how to get support for mental health, drug, and alcohol issues, visit FindSupport.gov.
Anyone seeking treatment for mental health or substance use issues should call SAMHSA’s National Helpline at 800-662-HELP (4357) or visit findtreatment.samhsa.gov.
For more information on ACF’s behavioral health initiatives and resources, please visit: https://www.acf.hhs.gov/behavioral-health.
Reporters with questions for SAMHSA should email media@samhsa.hhs.gov, for HRSA should email Press@hrsa.gov, for ACF should email media@acf.hhs.gov, for CMS should email media@cms.hhs.gov.
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