Tennessee announced that it received an additional $53 million in federal funds for COVID-19-related mental health and substance abuse treatments. The Tennessee Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services (TDMHSAS) will rely on that funding for the next four years. $27 million of those funds will go to mental health services, and almost $26 million will go to substance abuse services.
The funds come from President Joe Biden’s American Rescue Plan. Biden allocated $3 billion for mental health and substance abuse services nationwide.
CDC research found that the number of Tennesseans experiencing issues with their mental health, such as anxiety and depression, doubled during the first few months of the pandemic to over 40 percent. Additionally, Tennessee experienced a significant increase in the number of drug overdoses during the first few months of the pandemic. TDMHSAS Commissioner Marie Willams said in a press release that these newly-awarded funds would help combat those spikes.
“With the outpouring of support for mental health and substance use [sic] needs in our state, we have a priceless opportunity to bring about significant change and make a difference for Tennesseans who are struggling. The mental health and substance abuse impacts brought on by the stresses of the pandemic are with us, and these generous investments at both the state and federal levels are going to make sure we and our community behavioral health providers can continue to rise to meet the need,” stated Williams.
Since the beginning of the pandemic, TDMHSAS reported an additional $55 million in federal COVID-19 relief funds. Governor Bill Lee and the Tennessee General Assembly also increased TDMHSAS’s budget to over $44 million for the next year.
The Tennessee Star inquired with TDMHSAS if individuals seeking treatment had to have mental health or substance abuse issues related to COVID-19 to be treated, and how TDMHSAS would determine this to be true. We also inquired whether any of these funds would go toward services for unaccompanied migrant children within shelters, like counseling. Their spokespersons didn’t respond by press time.
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Corinne Murdock is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and the Star News Network. Follow her latest on Twitter, or email tips to [email protected].
I wonder how many tax dollars were burned to end up with $53 million in redistributed funds. I am guessing well over $100 million without including the interest on the money being borrowed because of the federal deficit spending.