Alexandria charity gets $1.9 million in federal funds for substance abuse and mental health services

An Alexandria charity has been awarded $1.9 million in federal funds to train behavioral health professionals to work with people suffering from racial disparities, drug addicts, and students with mental health disorders.

The funding was announced today in a joint statement by Virginia’s U.S. Senators Mark Warner and Tim Kaine. It’s part of a $2.2 million package to fund education programs in Alexandria, Richmond and Harrisonburg.

The funding will come from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), according to the statement.

“Helping those who struggle with behavioral health needs starts with adequately funding programs to recruit, educate, and train the first responders and behavioral health professionals who will be on the front lines,” the senators said in the joint statement. “This over-$2.2 million in grant funding will help us do that, and we will continue to do all that we can to bring resources to Virginia to support the mental health of our communities.”

Kaine is a member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee.

The funds will be given to the following:

• $1,924,595 to the Alexandria-based Foundation for The Advancement of Human Systems via the Minority Fellowship Program to recruit, train and support master’s- and doctoral-level students in behavioral health care professions to address services disparities for racial and ethnic minority populations
• $199,939 to Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond to recruit and train first responders in rural areas on how to provide trauma-informed, recovery-based care for people with substance use disorders (SUD), and co-occurring substance use and mental health disorders (COD), in emergency situations
• $101,716 to Eastern Mennonite University in Harrisonburg to strengthen mental health services for college students, including increasing protective factors that promote mental health, as well as reducing risk factors for suicide

Last month, Kaine and Warner announced $3.5 million in federal funds to combat substance abuse and promote mental and behavioral health, of which $600,000 was allocated to Neighborhood Health in Alexandria.