Op-Ed: Mental Health Awareness Month 2026 – Hope is Growing Across Tennessee
This Mental Health Month, we pause to reflect on where Tennessee has been, where we are today, and where we are going.
At the Tennessee Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services, we are grateful and humbled by the opportunity to partner with amazing community behavioral health providers to serve Tennesseans with the least means and the greatest needs. Over the last eight years, with the support of Governor Bill Lee and the Tennessee General Assembly, our state has made historic progress in expanding mental health and substance use services.
The result is more than numbers on a page. It is lives saved, families restored, communities strengthened, and hope carried forward for generations.
When Governor Lee took office, Tennessee had fewer options for people facing a mental health crisis. There was less access to mental health treatment, suicide prevention, substance use treatment, rural care, school-based services, faith-based efforts and support for people leaving incarceration. There were also fewer opportunities for people with lived experience to use their own recovery stories to help others.
Today, the picture is much different.
Across Tennessee, we now have eleven crisis walk-in centers and stabilization units for adults, along with three for children and youth. These centers give people a place to go in a mental health emergency where they can be assessed, supported, and connected to care without having to start in a hospital emergency room.
We have expanded essential mental health services for adults and created a new program focused on uninsured and underinsured children and youth. We helped launch the 988 Lifeline, where Tennessee’s call centers are leading the nation in answering calls, texts, and chats 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Recent research on the effects of 988 have linked the Lifeline to a double-digit drop in suicide among children, youth, and young adults, showing that hope is truly on the horizon.
We have also seen incredible growth in our School-Based Behavioral Health Liaison program. What began with a couple dozen liaisons in a handful of counties has grown to nearly 400 liaisons serving students across the state, with parent permission, right where children spend much of their day. Thanks to investments from the Lee Administration and the General Assembly, we’ve seen a 250 percent increase in students receiving direct services which lead to less truancy, fewer discipline issues, increased educational attainment and graduation rates.
In rural Tennessee, we know distance can be a major barrier to care. That is why Project Rural Recovery has been such an important step forward. Four mobile clinics now serve 20 underserved rural counties, bringing mental health and substance use services closer to people who might otherwise go without care.
We have increased housing options for people living with mental illness, substance use disorder, and those reentering their communities after incarceration by more than 14,000 during the Lee administration. Stable housing is often the first step toward recovery, healing, and a better future.
And as Tennessee has faced wave after wave of the opioid crisis, we have continued to respond with urgency, compassion, and partnership. Thanks to the hard work of so many across our state, Tennessee has contributed to a 31 percent decrease in overdose deaths. Every life saved matters. Every family spared that grief matters.
We have also seen faith communities step forward in powerful ways, with hundreds more recovery-friendly congregations and organizations joining this work. Their message is simple and strong: recovery is possible, and no one has to walk the road alone.
As a department, we accomplish all of these amazing achievements in partnership and collaboration with a host of non-profit partners (Tennessee Association of Mental Health Organizations (TAMHO) and Tennessee Association of Alcohol Drug and other Addiction Services (TAADAS)) who are community-based and connected to the needs of the people they serve. We have a wealth of consumer (Tennessee Mental Health Consumers’ Association), family (NAMI-TN and affiliates), and advocacy groups (Mental Health America) doing incredible work to make sure no one is left behind by advances in treatment, technology, and funding. It is this communication and openness which makes our public behavioral health system truly one of the best in the nation.
This Mental Health Month, I want every Tennessean to hear this clearly: no matter where you are today, you are not alone. Help is available. Recovery is real. Hope is alive. If you or someone you love is experiencing a mental health crisis, call or text 988 or chat at 988lifeline.org. Trained, caring professionals are ready to listen, support you, and help you find hope for tomorrow.
Marie Williams, LCSW
TDMHSAS Commissioner