Gov. Glenn Youngkin, like the governors who preceded him, inherited a tattered mental health system that did not meet the pressing needs of commonwealth residents. Though Virginia made welcome progress on this issue in the last decade, the services available were inadequate and too frequently resulted in the worst outcomes.
The Republican governor may not have entered office championing a determined focus on improving mental health services, but he embraced that challenge and did not waiver from it. As a result, his successor — and the public — will be on firmer footing as a result of his administration’s laudable efforts.
Like other states, Virginia has struggled throughout its history to strike a proper balance for providing mental health services for its residents. It cycled over the years through institutionalization (effectively criminalization), hospitalization and what could be charitably described as social integration before developing a network of community-based organizations to provide services to those who need them.
Those organizations, known as Community Service Boards, were intended to be a single point of entry for mental health services, but varied considerably from one to the next. Some served one locality while others handled as many as 10 communities. Funding was uneven and gaps were evident, but reform wasn’t a priority in Richmond.
Regrettably, only tragedy prompted the commonwealth to act.
The 2007 shooting at Virginia Tech exposed inexcusable flaws in a number of areas, including systems integration, information sharing and inadequate funding. Lawmakers set to work and, informed by a task force that followed in the wake of Virginia Tech, committed to a series of steps and funding increases to strengthen the system.
Then, in 2012, the son of state Sen. Creigh Deeds attacked his father and died by suicide after the family was unable to find an available psychiatric bed for him during a period of crisis.
What followed was the most extensive reform and funding effort to equalize the availability of services across the commonwealth, ensure available beds for those in crisis were readily available and expand the number of services available to residents. Called STEP-VA, the legislative commitment to improvement was, indeed, a big step forward.
But the job wasn’t done and, in 2021, Youngkin took office with a mental health system that was vastly improved, but still in need of considerably more work. Acute concerns about youth mental health were on the rise, Virginia still couldn’t assure those in need of timely access, and the quality of services still varied from one end of the commonwealth to the other.
In December 2022, the governor announced his “Right Help, Right Now” plan, a three-year blueprint to bolster access and affordability of services, improve crisis care, expand substance abuse treatment care and reduce the burden on law enforcement, who too often were tasked with dealing with those who slipped through the cracks.
Importantly, Youngkin solicited buy-in throughout the commonwealth from relevant stakeholders and members of both parties. His ambitious hopes for improving mental health care in Virginia depended on additional funding — some $230 million in the first year alone — and lawmakers, to their credit, answered the call.
Last month, the governor marked three years of that effort, and the progress is undeniable. Mobile crisis teams respond to the new 988 mental health hotline, ensuring help comes quickly throughout Virginia. Law enforcement officers spend far less time dealing with issues involving mental health. More communities enjoy access to expanded services, and have the money to pay for them. Overdose deaths have declined, and more young Virginians have the support they need to handle challenges.
As when Youngkin entered office, there is still much to do. But the commonwealth is in a far better place than when he was elected, and the “Right Help, Right Now” plan was key to that progress.
It now falls to his successor, Abigail Spanberger, and lawmakers in the General Assembly to make sure the commonwealth’s commitment to improving mental health services remains robust and does not waver.