*This report was replaced in its entirety by the Secretary of Health and Human Services on January 16, 2023.

The Commonwealth of Virginia and the United States are facing a behavioral health crisis. To address this crisis, a transformational approach to behavioral health is needed to support all Virginians and their families. Ensuring timely access to care and supporting needs related to mental health, substance use, and developmental disabilities is critical. These challenges in access and support are distributed inequitably across the Commonwealth—disproportionately impacting the most vulnerable Virginians—and occur across the full continuum of care.

To achieve these goals, the multi-year “Right Help, Right Now" Behavioral Health Plan was developed through extensive stakeholder engagement, which included over 40 listening and engagement sessions with stakeholder organizations and five population-specific surveys.(*1) More than 2,800 responses were submitted to the surveys. In addition, the Plan is built on analysis of the current behavioral health system and a review of best practices in other US states. The Plan scales what has been proven to work and reflects a bold approach to addressing Virginia’s behavioral health challenges.

The Plan focuses on pre-crisis prevention services for behavioral health conditions to provide help for Virginians as early as possible. In doing so, the Commonwealth will reduce the strain on individuals, families, law enforcement, communities, and the behavioral health system itself. Pre-crisis prevention will create greater upstream capacity, allowing the public behavioral health system to better support the needs of all Virginians—including those in need of acute care and support.

Within pre-crisis prevention services, the Plan focuses on youth mental health through promotion, prevention, school-based service delivery, and tele-behavioral health in K-12 and higher education settings. In addition, it ensures all Virginians know “who to call" by investing in 988 crisis call centers, “who will help" if in crisis by scaling crisis care response services, and “where to go" so there is “no-wrong-door" to access crisis care. The Plan increases support for post-crisis recovery by helping Virginians who are transitioning out of crisis to reenter and rebuild within their communities, including through added capacity in mental health group homes. Furthermore, the Plan focuses on breaking down barriers such as stigma and workforce constraints through new roles (e.g., peer support) and engaging the broader care ecosystem, including faith-based organizations. These efforts will help deliver community-based, prevention-focused behavioral health care for all Virginians in a way that best matches their individual needs.
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(*1) See the Appendix for stakeholder organizations; surveys were sent to individuals who interact with adult behavioral health, child behavioral health, forensic, developmental disability, and substance use disorder services.