Funding to Benefit Youth with Serious Mental Health Challenges

ATLANTA - The Georgia Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities (DBHDD) is the recipient of a $480,000 grant from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA). The grant will fund the Healthy Transitions Initiative that is designed to support youth and young adults with serious mental health challenges. The grant will be awarded for up to five years.

“We are extremely excited to be named as an award recipient,” said Dawne Morgan, Director of Federally Funded Programs. “These resources help us to further enhance our service delivery system for youth and young adults. This opportunity will allow us to test a recognized model program in the Savannah area to support successful adulthood transitions for the young people we serve.”

The Georgia Healthy Transitions Initiative Youth to Adult (YTA) project will help improve outcomes for youth and young adults ages 16 to 24 with serious mental health conditions and transition them to adulthood in areas such as education, employment, housing and other services designed to enhance their well being. The YTA program will provide individual service planning and pair young people with “coaches”. The coaches, along with project staff members, will support each young person by identifying his or her transition goals and coordinate community supports and resources to help them meet their needs. A family liaison will also be there to help support family members. Continuation of these funds will be determined by availability of funds and progress achieved by awardees.

For additional information about the SAMHSA grant award visit www.dhbdd.georgia.gov or go to http://www.samhsa.gov/grants/.

Contact Information:

Kristie Swink ([email protected])