Nashville, TN—Today, the Tennessee Department of Education and the Tennessee Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services (TDMHSAS), in partnership with several statewide organizations, announced the COVID-19 Emotional Support Line is now available for all Tennessee educators.

Tennessee moved up eleven spots to a ranking of 28th in responding to the mental health needs of its citizens according to the 2021 State of Mental Health in America report published by Mental Health America. The annual ranking of all 50 states and the District of Columbia examines data trends in various categories relating to prevalence of mental illness, substance use disorder, thoughts of suicide, and access to care for both adults and youth.

TDMHSAS is receiving a new federal grant to expand criminal justice alternatives for Tennesseans living with addiction. The $6 million grant from the U.S. Department of Justice will cover ten project sites including Anderson, Blount, Bradley, Cheatham, Cocke, Dickson, Grundy, Montgomery, Roane, and Tipton Counties.

New federal funding coming to Tennessee will continue a successful program in Sullivan County aimed at ending the cycle of drug overdose. The Sullivan County Overdose Response Team (SCORT) is receiving almost $900,000 from the U.S. Department of Justice Bureau of Justice Assistance to continue its work for the next three years.

Tennesseans have an opportunity to safely and securely dispose of potentially addictive prescription medications at the upcoming National Prescription Drug Take Back Day. Take back events offer an opportunity for anyone to properly dispose of medications that are no longer needed or expired including potentially addictive prescription opioids.

TDMHSAS has secured an additional $7.2 million in federal grant funding to respond to mental health and addiction concerns caused by COVID-19 and recent natural disasters.

Two of Tennessee’s four Regional Mental Health Institutes (RMHIs) are getting new Chief Executive Officers. Josh Carter is the new CEO at Western Mental Health Institute in Bolivar, and Jeff Coons is the new CEO at Memphis Mental Health Institute.

TDMHSAS is expanding its School-Based Behavioral Health Liaison program to all 95 counties in the state. Governor Bill Lee budgeted and the Tennessee General Assembly appropriated an increase of $3 million for the current fiscal year to expand the program.

TDMHSAS and its community mental health provider partners are excited to expand the state’s Behavioral Health Safety Net to uninsured children. The program offers an array of essential mental health services for uninsured Tennessee children age three to 17.

The Tennessee Recovery Navigators are celebrating two successful years of connecting people who come into emergency rooms with treatment for substance use disorder. Navigators are people with lived experience of addiction and at least two years in recovery who are able to use their history to relate to the patients they meet.

Tennesseans are pausing this last day of August with people around the world to remember, reflect, and recover from the effects of overdose.

TDMHSAS is receiving almost $1,000,000 from the federal government to support the mental health needs of Tennesseans living through the COVID-19 pandemic.

Tennessee’s healthcare workers and first responders who are on the front lines of the COVID-19 pandemic response have a new resource to reach out to about feelings of stress, anxiety, sadness, or depression related to work. The COVID-19 Emotional Support Line for healthcare workers is available to call at 888-642-7886.

TDMHSAS has been awarded $200,000 to recruit physicians to the state’s four Regional Mental Health Institutes. The funding is from the Tennessee Center for Health Workforce Development (TCWD), a subsidiary of the Tennessee Hospital Association.

As the calendar turns to May, our awareness month for mental health arrives with new emphasis. It is true that we all have mental health, and as our normal has been upended over the last two months, we all have become keenly aware of that.