HHS awards nearly $245 million to support youth mental health, train PCPs

HHS announced that it has awarded nearly $245 million to support youth mental health programs and help the health care workforce address the growing challenges of mental health in adolescents.

According to CDC data, in 2021, more than 37% of high school students said they experienced poor mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic, while 44% had reported feeling sad or hopeless in the last year.

“Investments from the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act will support critical programs for youth and their mental health, including school-based programs that meet children and families where they are,” HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra said in a press release. “Advancing youth mental health is a top priority for HHS and this administration, and we’re encouraged by the continued bipartisan support of these critical programs.”

The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) will provide $185.7 million of the funding, while the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) will provide about $60 million.

The investments from SAMHSA will be distributed to several initiatives and training programs in schools and communities, which include:

• $73.6 million for Project Advancing Wellness and Resiliency in Education, which will develop and support school-based mental health programs and services;
• $57.7 million for Mental Health Awareness Training grants that will help train emergency first responders, school staff and law enforcement on recognizing early signs of mental health challenges;
• $14.9 million for School-Based Trauma-Informed Support Services and Mental Health Care for Children and Youth to increase access of evidence-based trauma support services for students;
• $19.5 million for the National Child Traumatic Stress Initiative, which provides services and treatments for youth and families who have experienced traumatic events; and
• $20 million for Resiliency in Communities after Stress and Trauma grants, which will promote resiliency, equity and peace in communities that have recently dealt with collective trauma and civil unrest.

The $60 million award from HRSA will support the integration of mental health training among primary care physicians, with a specific focus on the treatment of mental health of youth and adolescents.

“Often the first person you turn to when you or your kids need mental health support is your trusted primary care provider — yet for too long, we haven’t given those primary care providers the mental health training they need to help,” Carole Johnson, HHS administrator of the HRSA, said in the release.

According to a survey published last year in Primary Care Companion For CNS Disorders, PCPs expressed at least some comfort in only four of 14 psychiatric disorder-related questions and seven of 19 treatment-related questions.

Now, investments are being made “so that there is no wrong door when your family needs support,” Johnson said.

Healio recently spoke with several experts about how primary care is integrating behavioral health into practice amid the mental health crisis in youth. To learn more, click here.

References:

• HHS awards nearly $245 million to support youth mental health and help the health care workforce meet families’ mental health needs. https://www.hhs.gov/about/news/2023/01/09/hhs-awards-nearly-245-million-support-youth-mental-health-and-help-health-care-workforce-meet-families-mental-health-needs.html. Published Jan. 9, 2023. Accessed Jan. 10, 2023.
• New CDC data illuminate youth mental health threats during the COVID-19 pandemic. https://www.cdc.gov/media/releases/2022/p0331-youth-mental-health-covid-19.html. Accessed Jan. 12, 2023.
• Stilwell K, et al. Prim Care Companion CNS Disord. 2022;doi:10.4088/PCC.21m03020.