Missouri Department of Mental Health receives $650K Center for Mental Health Services Projects of Regional and National Significance grant from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration

Behavioral health partnerships for early diversion of adults and youth - the southeast Missouri early diversion initiative will expand mental health and substance use diversion services across cape girardeau, bollinger, madison, Mississippi, perry, scott, and ste. Genevieve counties, a 3,534-square-mile area with 202,863 residents. The project will serve adults at risk of criminal justice involvement who have or show warning signs of mental illness or co-occurring substance use disorders, including individuals with elevated suicide risk. Through validated screening and risk-assessment tools, crisis response, trauma-informed engagement, mobile outreach, telehealth, and rapid linkage to care, the initiative will strengthen coordination among behavioral health providers, law enforcement, courts, ems, hospitals, housing providers, 988, and the va. It will serve 150 unduplicated adults in year 1, 225 in year 2, 255 in year 3, and 350 annually in years 4–5, totaling 1,330 over five years. Goals include expanding community outreach and mobile treatment, improving referrals to evidence-based treatment, reducing pre-booking arrests through early linkage, and strengthening data collection and cross-system communication. Activities will include mental health first aid, question, persuade, refer suicide prevention, crisis intervention team training, quarterly reporting, annual continuous quality improvement cycles, and a year 3 sequential intercept mapping update.