Governor Glenn Youngkin marked the second anniversary of his Right Help Right Now mental health initiative at the capitol Wednesday. But the rollout of record funding has been bogged down by an issue facing most industries across the Commonwealth: the workforce shortage.
Governor Glenn Youngkin’s Right Help Right Now is a holistic attempt to address numerous mental health crises across Virginia, and two years in he has some things to celebrate:
“We’re seeing great progress, collaboration and, of course, state-wide movement in meeting the needs of Virginians,” Youngkin told reporters Wednesday.
Among his accomplishments is the growth of the state’s 988 emergency response system which he said had seen response times cut down to under an hour.
“Even in areas where we may not have a physical mental health professional be able to be there, we can get them on the phone,” he said.
They've also exceeded an earlier set goal of 70 Mobile Crisis Units, creating 102.
But one of Youngkin’s biggest success was $300 million in new spending, approved by the Democratically led legislature in the 2024 budget. The money is supposed clear the backlog of over 3,400 people on the developmentally disabled waiver wait list.
But workforce shortages were somewhat baked into the waiver list funding, with those hundreds of slots being released incrementally as the state’s workforce of support providers grows to meet new demand. The waivers started going out in July. As of November, Tonya Milling with the Arc of Virginia said about 90% of the allotted waivers -a few hundred in the first quarter- had been given out.
Arc of Virginia is part of a national organization to support the developmentally disabled community. Milling praised the waiver funding after the 2024 legislative session, but she’s seen recipients struggle to understand what comes after getting access to support.
“That’s peer process, and it's not even the people working to provide services, it's just to get their slot going, a case manager, a support coordinator,” she told Radio IQ.
Milling said she’d also like to see more support for advocates who support families and individuals during the complex process of gaining access to new waiver supports, especially considering many have been on the waitlist for decades.
“There’s a difference when an advocate comes into a meeting with you, with a family, it's a different level of empowerment.” she said.
Youngkin used the anniversary of Right Help Right Now to propose $70 million in new funding for mental health services as part of his amended budget. More than half, $35 million, goes to law enforcement agencies to create special conservators of the peace to help transport and manage those facing a crisis.
“If we can meet people where they are, with mobile crisis teams, coupled with crisis teams with law enforcement, it helps us deescalate,” the governor said.
Tazewell Sheriff Brian Hieatt was at the capital Wednesday to also praise Youngkin.
"Just cause law enforcement is there doesn't mean it's a criminal matter," Hieatt said. He who spoke to the strained resources rural law enforcement faces when it comes to answering calls involving a mental health crisis.
"A police officer, whose main goal is to conserve safety, sometimes has to act as a mental health counselor and ultimately take that person into custody to get help," he said. "Those special conservators of the peace can stay with those in crisis while mental health professional can find the appropriate places for them to find help."
Milling praised Youngkin's additional proposal of $1.2 million for crisis co-response teams, mental health counselors who travel with police. She's also looking forward to working with Youngkin to see waiver administration get additional funds as well.
“[The waiver system] might start slowing down if there’s not more spent on support coordination,” she said, noting the hundreds of waivers distributed since July likely represent a year’s worth of waivers for some local mental health administrators.
“At some point they’re going to need to make an investment to make the investment work,” Milling said.
Senator Creigh Deeds has long been an advocate for mental health services. In an interview ahead of Youngkin’s announcement Wednesday, he said every mental health region in Virginia is considered underserved in part because of that workforce shortage
“We can pay for services all day long, but if we don’t have people to provide the services it isn't going to happen,” he told Radio IQ.
Youngkin said legislative changes in 2024 should make "new stepping-stones into the behavioral and mental health workforce, like what we did with nurses."
Those new workforce pipelines should start to open in early 2025.
This report, provided by Virginia Public Radio, was made possible with support from the Virginia Education Association.
