U.S. Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.V.) joined Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.V.) in announcing a $250,000 State Youth Treatment Planning Grant for the West Virginia State Department of Health and Human Resources earlier this week.
The grant will be used to bolster mental health and substance abuse treatment for adolescents in West Virginia.
Essentially, the aim of the program is to encourage collaboration of all stakeholders serving adolescents to develop a comprehensive, strategic plan that will improve existing treatment and recovery services as well as provide more access to those services.
“To tackle West Virginia’s drug epidemic, we must improve drug treatment and prevention programs, especially those programs designed to help our young people suffering from addiction,” Capito said. “The State Youth Treatment Planning Grant will help address this problem by enabling West Virginia’s Department of Health and Human Resources to develop a strategic plan for improving treatment for youth struggling with substance use and mental disorders.”
The funding for the program was awarded by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Center for Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration Center for Substance Abuse Treatment.
“A spectrum of strategies is required to combat the drug epidemic,” Capito concluded. “This funding will help get us one step closer to a drug-free West Virginia.”