Kentucky rapid response and stabilization services-krrss - the kentucky department for behavioral health, developmental and intellectual disabilities (dbhdid), the commonwealth's state mental health…

The Department of Health and Human Services Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration awarded $750,000 to the Kentucky Cabinet for Health Services on September 30, 2026, under the Center for Mental Health Services Projects of Regional and National Significance program (CFDA 93.532) to accelerate statewide implementation of Kentucky Rapid Response and Stabilization Services (KRRSS) through the Mobile Crisis Team Partnership program.

The recipient will establish or enhance mobile crisis response teams across geographically diverse early adopter sites representing urban, suburban, rural, and Appalachian regions of Kentucky. The project addresses significant behavioral health workforce shortages, transportation barriers, and geographic disparities in access to crisis services, particularly in rural and underserved communities. KRRSS will provide rapid, community-based, behavioral health-led crisis response, stabilization, and linkage to ongoing supports for children, youth, young adults, and families experiencing behavioral health crises, with the aim of diverting individuals from emergency departments, inpatient hospitalization, law enforcement involvement, and residential treatment.

The Kentucky Cabinet for Health Services will partner with the Kentucky Department for Medicaid Services, the Innovations Institute at the University of Connecticut, and selected early adopter implementation sites. Work will strengthen partnerships among 988, emergency responders, schools, healthcare providers, child welfare agencies, juvenile justice agencies, community mental health centers, and certified community behavioral health clinics to improve diversion pathways to community-based care.

Performance period runs through September 29, 2030, with place of performance in Frankfort, Kentucky. This is a Project Grant award.

Kentucky rapid response and stabilization services-krrss - the kentucky department for behavioral health, developmental and intellectual disabilities (dbhdid), the commonwealth's state mental health authority, proposes to accelerate statewide implementation of kentucky rapid response and stabilization services (krrss) through the mobile crisis team partnership (mctp) program, which has been designed to provide rapid, community-based, behavioral health-led crisis response, stabilization, and linkage to ongoing supports. Kentucky is a predominantly rural state with significant behavioral health workforce shortages, transportation barriers, and geographic disparities in access to crisis services. Children, youth, young adults, and families experiencing behavioral health crises often encounter fragmented service systems and may rely on emergency departments, inpatient hospitalization, law enforcement involvement, residential treatment, or other restrictive interventions when timely community-based alternatives are unavailable. These challenges are particularly pronounced in rural, appalachian, and underserved communities. Mctp funding will accelerate implementation of krrss through a phased early adopter strategy involving geographically diverse communities representing urban, suburban, rural, and appalachian regions of the commonwealth. Dbhdid will partner with the kentucky department for medicaid services (DMS), the innovations institute at the university of connecticut (uconn), and selected early adopter implementation sites to establish or enhance mobile crisis response teams; strengthen partnerships among 988, emergency responders, schools, healthcare providers, child welfare agencies, juvenile justice agencies, community mental health centers, and certified community behavioral health clinics; and improve diversion pathways to community-based care. The project is guided by five goals: (1) accelerate implementation of krrss through selected early adopter sites; (2) strengthen cross-system partnerships and diversion pathways; (3) build workforce capacity, implementation fidelity, and continuous quality improvement to the mrss-informed model; (4) establish data, continuous quality improvement, and sustainability infrastructure to support statewide scale-up; and (5) ensure meaningful youth, family, and lived experience leadership throughout implementation. Project activities include implementation planning, workforce development, mobile crisis team enhancement, implementation science coaching, crisis system planning, continuous quality improvement, evaluation, and sustainability planning. Through these efforts, kentucky will improve access to timely behavioral health crisis intervention and stabilization services, improve timely access to community-based behavioral health crisis services, strengthen coordination across kentucky's crisis continuum, reduce reliance on emergency departments, law enforcement, and other restrictive interventions, and establish a sustainable, scalable framework for behavioral health-led mobile crisis response across the lifespan.