Governor Glenn Youngkin Announces Transformational Behavioral Health Care Plan for Virginians

RICHMOND, VA - Governor Glenn Youngkin today unveiled his three-year plan to transform Virginia’s behavioral health system, entitled “Right Help, Right Now.” This is a six-pillared approach to address our behavioral health challenges, encompassing crisis care, law enforcement burden, substance use disorder support, behavioral health workforce and service delivery innovation. The current behavioral health system is being overwhelmed and failing to meet the needs of Virginians in crisis with an outdated model of care that relies too heavily on hospitals. Year one of this three-year comprehensive plan invests over $230 million in Virginia’s behavioral health system, which will be proposed in the Governor’s budget amendments on Thursday.  

“We are facing a behavioral health crisis across Virginia and the United States. This crisis is present throughout our society, at home, in schools and in the workplace. The three-year ‘Right Help, Right Now’ vision to revolutionize our behavioral health delivery system starts with a giant leap forward offered in my amended budget. It’s crucial that we get this moving, right now,” said Governor Glenn Youngkin. “We incorporated best-in-class models of behavioral health from across the country. This is a top priority for my administration, and we will not stop until we have a system that delivers the ‘Right Help, Right Now’ to the people who need it most.” 

Click here to read more.