SAMHSA Announces $46.8M in BH Funding Opportunities

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), through the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), announced $46.8 million in notices of funding opportunities to promote youth mental health, grow the behavioral health workforce, improve access to culturally competent behavioral care across the country, and strengthen peer recovery and recovery support.

This critical funding supports the Biden Administration’s efforts to address the mental health and overdose crises, as well as furthers HHS’s Overdose Prevention Strategy. The grants additionally fuel each of SAMHSA’s strategic priorities for the agency: preventing substance use and overdose, enhancing access to suicide prevention and mental health services, promoting resilience and emotional health for children, youth, and families, integrating behavioral and physical health care, and strengthening the behavioral health workforce.

The funding opportunities invest in a range of critical behavioral health efforts. Individual articles summarizing the grant opportunities that would be eligible for Ohio Council member organizations to apply are further below:

• Minority Fellowship Program – $15.4 million – This program aims to reduce health disparities and improve behavioral health care outcomes for racial and ethnic populations.
• Cooperative Agreements for the Garrett Lee Smith State/Tribal Youth Suicide Prevention and Early Intervention Program – $14.9 million – This program supports states and Tribes with implementing youth (up to age 24) suicide prevention and early intervention strategies across the systems of care.
• Addiction Technology Transfer Centers Cooperative Agreements – $9.0 million – This program develops and strengthens the specialized behavioral health care and primary health care workforce that provides substance use disorder (SUD) treatment and recovery support services.
• The National Center for Mental Health Dissemination, Implementation and Sustainment Cooperative Agreement – $7.5 million – This opportunity will build the capacity of grant recipients, as well as organizations that oversee or directly provide mental health services, to improve the implementation of evidence-based change management processes that guide mental health services.

The goal of these funding opportunities is to improve the quality of care for underserved populations and will enhance the accessibility of evidence-based, effective behavioral health care services.