Virginia Invests Heavily in Mental Health Reform Efforts
Virginia’s commitment to a comprehensive overhaul of its mental health system continues with a series of proposed budget amendments aiming to strengthen crisis response and expand access to care.
Expanding Crisis Response Capacity
Governor Glenn Youngkin has proposed nearly $70 million in new funding, earmarking the largest chunk – $35 million – to relieve overcrowded hospital emergency rooms. This funding would place special conservators of the peace, individuals authorized to handle specific public order tasks, in those emergency rooms.
The move directly addresses a key concern of Youngkin’s “Right Help Right Now” initiative: preventing individuals experiencing mental health crises from ending up in jail.
Currently, individuals waiting for mental health assessment and treatment in emergency rooms can face hours-long waits, exacerbating their crises and often leading to law enforcement involvement.
Conservators of the peace will allow law enforcement officers to step back from these potentially volatile situations, freeing them to respond to other emergencies while ensuring individuals in crisis receive appropriate care.
Other Key Proposals
The governor’s budget amendments also allocate:
- An additional $15 million for school-based mental health services, directly addressing the needs of young people struggling with mental health challenges.
- A total of $8.6 million for Medicaid waiver programs supporting people with developmental disabilities and serious mental illnesses. These waivers help cover essential non-medical services crucial to their well-being.
Celebrating the second anniversary of his “Right Help Right Now” initiative aimed at transforming Virginia’s mental health landscape, Youngkin emphasized the initiative’s progress.
“When we started this journey, we set a goal to reduce response times to under an hour. We now have over 100 mobile response teams operating statewide, 24/7, with an average response time of just 50 minutes,” he said.
He further highlighted the growth in crisis receiving centers, stabilization units, and therapeutic homes, noting an increase from 216 slots to 663.”
Building a More Comprehensive Safety Net
Youngkin emphasized the need for a multi-pronged approach to mental health care, noting a 60% increase in peer support recovery specialists last year and a staggering 152% increase this year. These specialists, whose own experiences overcoming addiction realistically connect with individuals struggling with substance abuse, play a critical role in guiding them toward recovery.
The governor pointed to legislative actions, such as “Irvo’s Law,” which grants family members access to loved ones in custody following a mental health crisis, as evidence of Virginia’s commitment to addressing the criminal justice system’s intersection with mental illness.
Other measures, including the deployment of special conservators of the peace to hospital ERs and stepped-up training for law enforcement and first responders, further aim to de-escalate situations and prevent unnecessary criminalization of mental health crises.
Looking Forward
Youngkin expressed confidence that Virginia’s efforts are moving in the right direction, stating:
“I believe what we are doing now is comprehensive, and I believe it’s working. I do believe that as our infrastructure for crisis response and capacity increases
