State mental‑health department details Families First grant to support youth crisis follow-up

Deputy Commissioner Matt Yancey of the Tennessee Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services presented a Families First grant to the House Finance, Ways and Means Committee on Feb. 17, describing a two‑year, $8,528,866 award to support the Family Empowerment Initiative.

Yancey said the grant, administered through the Tennessee Department of Human Services' Families First program, will provide two‑generation, community‑based support after a child engages in a mental‑health crisis service. The initiative aims to decrease emergency‑room boarding for youth in psychiatric crisis and provide care coordination, wraparound services and family peer support.

Yancey listed four existing youth mobile crisis providers who will partner under grant contracts: Youth Villages, Mental Health Cooperative, the McNabb Center and Frontier Health. He said the department expects providers to be serving over 1,300 children and youth and about 1,800 adult caregivers per year. Yancey said the grant totals $8,528,866 over two years, with first‑year funding of $4,264,400, and that no new state positions are being requested; salary lines will support existing staff while service delivery will be outsourced to grant contractors.

In committee Q&A, a vice chairman asked whether $304,200 in salary funds would be used for new hires or existing personnel and whether service delivery would be outsourced. Yancey confirmed the funds support existing department staff and that most service delivery will be provided by the named contractors under grant agreements.

Yancey closed by noting the department’s focus on youth suicide prevention and identifying partners in the audience, including Clark Flatt of the Jason Foundation.

The committee had no further questions following the presentation and returned to session.