A governor is uniquely situated to look across the state and coordinate action among state agencies, communities and stakeholders. Many governors are actively engaged in aligning multiple health delivery system reform efforts with broader population health strategies and exploring economically sustainable models. One focal point of the NGA work with states is in establishing or scaling up cost-effective programs for individuals with complex care needs. Many of those individuals have unmet behavioral health (mental illness and/or substance misuse) and social service needs that are better served in the community and outside of acute care or institutional settings. To that end, NGA is providing states technical assistance around a number of policy priorities in behavioral health including:
- Improving outcomes and reducing cost of care for complex populations
- System-level behavioral health and primary care integration
- Capacity building in rural and underserved areas
- Supportive housing
- Behavioral health in criminal justice involved
NGA Resources
DPAD Learning Collaborative
In January 2023, participants from Illinois, Nevada, North Carolina and Pennsylvania attended the kickoff meeting for the National Governors Association’s (NGA) Learning Collaborative on Strategies to Support the Development of ...
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governors and states meet to talk prevention and resilience in youth mental health
On October 18-19, 2022, in Salt Lake City, Utah, National Governors Association (NGA) Chair New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy and NGA Vice Chair Utah Governor Spencer Cox held the first ...
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Supporting Workers with Disabilities by Addressing the Mental and Behavioral Health Workforce Shortage
A lack of psychiatrists, clinical social workers, therapists and other healthcare workers severely limits a state’s ability to serve workers experiencing stress, anxiety, depression and other mental health conditions that ...
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National Recovery Month – 2022
National Recovery Month, which started in 1989, is a national observance held every September to promote and support new evidence-based treatment and recovery practices, the nation’s strong and proud recovery ...
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Supporting and Sustaining Access to Harm Reduction Services for People Who Use Drugs
Harm reduction approaches are focused on minimizing the health, social and economic effects of drug use, including infectious disease spread and overdose with humility and compassion toward people who use ...
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Behavioral Health Equity for All Communities: Policy Solutions to Advance Equity Across the Crisis Continuum
As a point of interception, equitable crisis response provides an opportunity to disrupt a cycle that has perpetuated longstanding challenges in underserved communities. (Download) Introduction The COVID-19 pandemic called widespread ...
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Lessons Learned in State Collaboration to Address Substance Use Disorder and Justice-Involved Individuals
This policy brief highlights lessons learned from collaborative efforts in Hawai‘i, Pennsylvania and West Virginia between SAAs and SSAs to address SUD issues within justice-involved populations. (Download) Executive Summary A ...
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Improving Care For Stimulant And Polysubstance Use
NGA has hosted a series of learning calls with national experts, Governors’ office staff and senior officials, researchers, academics, and local organizations to better understand the current landscape and challenges ...
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Improving Outcomes for Individuals with Opioid Use Disorder on Community Supervision
A project for the development of innovative approaches to improving community supervision of individual with substance use disorder. While states have made progress in implementing and expanding access to treatment ...
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Substance Use Disorder and Addiction
Governors have long been at the forefront of efforts to prevent and treat opioid use disorder (OUD) and substance use disorder (SUD), working with stakeholders to mount a comprehensive response ...
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