MEDIA ADVISORY — Leaders from the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services and state legislators will join the NC Council on Developmental Disabilities on Thursday, May 2, for a town hall to discuss key priorities for North Carolinians with intellectual and developmental disabilities, including choice and access to community-based services.
Topics Related to Mental Health
PRESS RELEASE — As part of an ongoing effort to transform North Carolina’s behavioral health crisis response system, the NC Department of Health and Human Services today announced a $22 million investment to expand community crisis centers and peer respite care across the state. This investment will increase North Carolina’s capacity for community-based crisis treatment by 20%, helping to ensure people experiencing a behavioral health crisis have alternative options to emergency departments or community and state psychiatric hospitals when seeking care.
MEDIA ADVISORY — North Carolina Health and Human Services Secretary Kody H. Kinsley will be the keynote speaker at the second annual ‘Why Us Kids?’ rally in Franklin, NC. The event was created by Gracie Parker, an 11-year-old youth mental health activist who shares her lived experience to raise awareness of the ongoing youth mental health crisis and advocate for school-based, trauma-informed support services for students of all ages across the state.
MEDIA ADVISORY — Leaders from the NC Department of Health and Human Services, NC Department of Public Instruction and State Board of Education will join a roundtable with Guilford County Schools on Wednesday, April 24, to discuss the importance of school-based resources in improving physical and behavioral health outcomes for North Carolina children and families. NCDHHS received a historic $835 million to transform behavioral health care in North Carolina, with $80 million specifically focused on children and family well-being. Of that funding, this year, NCDHHS is investing $7 million in services like school-based telehealth to ensure children have better access to behavioral health support and treatment.
PRESS RELEASE — Tailored Plans are a new kind of NC Medicaid Managed Care health plan for approximately 210,000 beneficiaries with a serious mental illness, a serious emotional disturbance, a severe substance use disorder, an intellectual/developmental disability or a traumatic brain injury in North Carolina. They will cover doctor visits, prescription drugs and services for mental health, substance use, I/DD and traumatic brain injury in one plan. Eligible North Carolinians who are covered by NC Medicaid Direct will be covered by a Tailored Plan beginning July 1. The name of their Medicaid plan will change but the services covered remain the same. A bilingual toolkit with accessible resources is now available for people impacted by the transition to Tailored Plans.
PRESS RELEASE — The North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services (NCDHHS) and Disability Rights North Carolina (DRNC) today jointly announce an agreement in the Samantha R. et al. vs. NCDHHS and the State of North Carolina litigation. This development signifies the commitment of both organizations to ensure all North Carolinians with intellectual and developmental disabilities (I/DD) have the resources they need to live healthy, independent lives in communities of their choosing.
PRESS RELEASE — As part of an ongoing commitment to improve behavioral health and resilience in North Carolina, the NC Department of Health and Human Services is investing in transforming the state’s behavioral crisis response system to ensure people experiencing a behavioral health emergency have alternatives to emergency departments when seeking the care they need. NCDHHS today announced a two-year plan to invest approximately $15 million in nine behavioral health urgent care centers across North Carolina. This investment will increase the state’s capacity to provide behavioral health urgent care by nearly 50%.
PRESS RELEASE — The North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services today published the 2024-25 Olmstead Plan to improve community inclusion for people with disabilities. Designed in partnership with key stakeholders and people with lived experience across the state, the plan advances the work to ensure people with disabilities have the resources they need to live and thrive in the communities of their choice.
PRESS RELEASE — The North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services today announced the launch of Inclusion Connects, a first-of-its-kind initiative in the state to better connect people with intellectual and developmental disabilities and their families with community-based services which are essential to supporting their health and well-being.
PRESS RELEASE — The North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services is hosting three resource fairs where adaptive equipment and resources to make recreational and leisure activities accessible to people of all ages will be showcased.