Project Grant H79SM091079

The Department of Health and Human Services Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration awarded Horizon Behavioral Health $428,000 on September 30, 2026, under the Comprehensive Community Mental Health Services for Children with Serious Emotional Disturbances (CFDA 93.104) program to implement Pathways to Possibility, a coordinated, evidence-based early psychosis prevention and recovery program in Central Virginia.

Horizon Behavioral Health will identify, assess, and intervene with adolescents and young adults ages 15–25 at clinical high risk for psychosis through a stepped-care model incorporating screening, cognitive behavioral therapy for psychosis, care coordination, peer support, family education, and psychiatric consultation. The program will serve 20 unduplicated individuals in year one, 25 in year two, 30 in year three, and 35 in year four, totaling 110 youth and young adults over the four-year performance period. Services are family-driven, youth-guided, trauma-informed, culturally responsive, and recovery-oriented; participants may present with co-occurring anxiety, depression, trauma-related symptoms, suicidality, and substance use disorders. The project will use evidence-based screening and assessment tools including the Prodromal Questionnaire-Brief, Structured Interview for Prodromal Syndromes, Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale, and WHO Disability Assessment Schedule.

Performance occurs in Lynchburg, Virginia and the surrounding counties of Amherst, Appomattox, Bedford, and Campbell, serving a service area of approximately 269,000 residents. The period of performance runs through September 29, 2030.