FSSA Announces New Funding For Mental Health Services, Launch Of Indiana 988 For Crisis Response

The Indiana Family and Social Services Administration’s Division of Mental Health and Addiction is providing new funding to help build and support projects in Indiana to improve mental health services for Hoosiers. This includes funding appropriated by the Indiana General Assembly in House Enrolled Act 1001, and additional funding from the federal American Rescue Plan Act and other sources.

DMHA is working with partners in the private sector, the health care system and community and philanthropic organizations to provide grassroots support and funding alongside DMHA’s statewide mental health programming, through grant funding for community programs, the launch of Indiana 988, and a partnership to integrate mental health care into pediatric care across the state.

“One serious, lingering result of the COVID-19 pandemic that has been widely-recognized by experts all over the country is a worsening of our mental health crisis,” said Dan Rusyniak, M.D., FSSA secretary. “This major infusion of funds, spread throughout Indiana, will provide more access to mental health care, expand the mental health workforce, and invest in our state’s mental health infrastructure.”

The largest investment is in Community Catalyst Grants provided to 37 recipients. The $54.8 million provided in these grants includes $22.3 million of local and grantee match dollars as well as $32.5 million in federal funds. The goal of these grants is to enhance the quality, integration and access of mental health prevention, intervention, treatment and recovery services across the state. These funding infusions are intended to build out the care continuum and improve mental health and substance use disorder outcomes for many local and diverse organizations. Grant recipients include:

• Dove House, to expand its inpatient and outpatient substance-use disorder treatment for women in Marion and Dubois counties
• La Porte Community Resource Intervention’s substance use, instability and suicidal support outreach program, for the formation and development of outreach teams as well as a crisis intervention team and cultural competency training for law enforcement officers
• The Marion County Reentry Coalition for a holistic model using public defenders and the criminal justice system to help Hoosiers with mental health challenges as they reenter society
• Courageous Healing in Allen County for a program to provide mental health treatment to uninsured and underinsured people

On Saturday, 988 will go live in Indiana and around the United States as a new national three-digit dialing code to reach the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline. In Indiana, Hoosiers experiencing mental health-related distress may call 988 to connect to a trained crisis specialist. In the coming years, that service will be expanded to include a response team and locations where people can go for help. The work to develop this complete system is well underway and will continue over the next seven to 10 years.

Additionally, Indiana is entering into an $8 million partnership with Riley Children’s Health to provide mental health services at pediatric primary care officers across the state, removing barriers to access. This includes $4 million in matching funds from Riley Children’s Health

Through this partnership, mental health services will be embedded within primary pediatric care settings around the state of Indiana, directly addressing the growing child mental health crisis.

Other funding includes:

• $27.6 million in workforce stabilization grants to community mental health centers around the state
• $4.4 million provided to the Indiana University School of Medicine to fund psychiatrist residency (training) slots, and fellowships for psychiatrists and internships for psychology students.
• $15 million in grants to help Indiana’s community mental health centers transition to the new Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinic model.